General Comments:

I just spent many hours resolving the problem of the rear heat/air fan not blowing. After checking all fuses, relays, switches, I determined it was the front climate control (manual air/heat) that was bad. When I took the normally not repairable control apart I found that one of the soldered leads from the board relay had melted away. With small soldering iron I re-soldered the lead to the board and fixed the problem and saved big money!

Faults:

The only problem, that I had, was the hatch didn't always shut properly. My husband took it apart and redid it. It took him about 1hour to do, but I didn't have any problems with it after that.

General Comments:

I bought a 1997 Mercury Villager April of 2004. When I purchased the van it already had 107,000 miles on it. It didn't leak oil, anti-freeze or any other fluids. The seats and carpet were in near mint condition. I drove it on several family vacations. I loved the rear air conditioning and so did my kids. Three days before Thanksgiving this year I was rear-ended by a large vehicle and shoved into another large vehicle. My van was totaled out to the tune of $5200. I cried the day I found out it was a loss. I wish I could find another van just like that one.

General Comments:

I've had mine since October 04, and no problems other than the brake light going on and off, but I'm going to check the brakes soon.

When I bought it from a private owner, he told me that he changed all the fluids and got a tune up, but I don't think that was true. I went ahead and did it all anyway, and when I replaced the fuel filter and air filter, there was a notable improvement in what I already thought was a fine running vehicle.

The only thing that bothers me is I can't figure out how to take out the back seat... we don't need the seats at all... I've got the middle one out, and I know the back can slide all the way up, but I still can use that extra foot or so for hauling stuff.

All in all... really nice ride. OH.. I forgot.. the driver's side door lock sometimes does not engage so I would have to push it manually.

BUT HERE'S ONE THING I HATE AND WANT TO CHANGE.. IF SOMEONE KNOWS HOW, EMAIL "SWINGPAR@MSN.COM" and that is the remote control. The car won't start unless it's opened by the remote.. are all these cars made this way?? It's a pain and dangerous, should I or the wife need to drive away in a hurry in the event of a mugging or something... Anyway... I don't like it.

Faults:

Brake pads have had to be replaced twice.

Door locks don't work that well. Oftentimes the sliding door locks while you're trying to open it, then refuses to lock when you press the remote.

General Comments:

I've been very pleased with the reliability of this car. Overall, we've just had to do routine maintenance stuff. I've been told by the dealership that some of their Mercury Villagers, which are used as courtesy vehicles, are running up to 200K miles.