2nd Mar 2017, 03:59

(JMN) I'm back with my quarterly update, a little bit late. The Mercury has 77K miles on it. We replaced the rear sway bar and one of the reverse lights. It rides much more smoothly now. Returns around 22 MPG highway with my father driving it at 55 MPH.

20th May 2017, 16:55

(JMN) The Milan is still going with just shy of 80,000 miles. We just put new tires on it; otherwise nothing to report.

19th Aug 2017, 02:35

(JMN) The Milan is now up to 86,010 miles, which means we've driven it 35,724 miles since we took ownership 21 months ago.

My father and I have since switched cars (again!) so I have the Milan as my daily driver and he has the 2011 Ford Fusion (with about 72,000 miles on it now). I landed a new job (at long last!) and I have a highway commute for the time being; 28 miles one way. The Milan runs smoother, quieter, and better than our Fusion. I'm trying out different lumbar pillows, etc to make the driver's seat more comfortable/supportive, but still stand by my original rating of 1/10 for comfort.

Nothing new to report. See you in three months.

19th Nov 2017, 03:03

(JMN) The Milan is up to 90,820 miles, which translates to the family putting 40,084 miles on it since we bought it two years ago on 11/19/15.

I've since bought a 2014 Toyota RAV4, so I very, very sparingly drive the old Mercury anymore. The RAV4 has better engineering all around, but we'll save that conversation for my RAV4 review on another day.

Since switching to the RAV4, my chronic back pain and chronic, disabling neck pain have subsided. My father admits now that the bottom cushion of the seat is on its way out. By and far, the Mercury has been the worst car comfort-wise I've ever driven.

I've also noticed the last few months that the Mercury is getting "tired." It lags with multiple bodies on board when driving on the highway, and it's even worse with the air conditioning on. When I turned the Mercury back over to my dad, it was only getting about 19 MPG on the highway. I suspect that it will need a tune-up when it goes in for its 90K service someday.

The Mercury is still in the immediate family as my dad is rotating the driving between it and the Fusion. He is considering selling the Milan (no sense in having three cars in suburbia with only two drivers). Trade-in value is only about $1600 at the dealer, $2600 private party, so it was a pretty bad decision financially. At the moment, we haven't decided if we're going to keep running the old Mercury, pawn it off, or do a combined trade (take the Mercury and Ford, and together trade them for a different car altogether). When we make a decision, I'll write another post.

At this point, my father would definitely buy another Ford, first pick. I'm torn. I really don't think the Mercury aged as well as it could have and the seat really put a bad taste in my mouth. Thanks for following my thread!

25th Feb 2018, 04:39

(JMN) The Milan has now reached 94,000 miles.

This quarter was, unfortunately, far more eventful than quarters gone by. My father was driving to work one night a few weeks ago and suddenly lost pressure with the brake pedal. Fortunately, this was only a few blocks from the house at a low speed. My father had a caliper, two rotors, and two pads replaced. While the Mercury was in the shop, we also had a fitting on the exhaust pipe replaced because it rusted away. This work all came to just a hair under $1,000 and the dealer had it for a week.

A day later, we lost the brakes again and had the Mercury towed to the dealer a second time. This time, they replaced the hydraulic control unit, which seems to be a pinch point on these cars from reading online. This repair only cost us the deductible but the dealer kept it another three or four days.

My father likes the V6 in the 2007 Milan much better than the four-banger in his 2011 Fusion. Driving all on the highway, he gets 20 MPG in the Merc.

18th Jun 2018, 05:24

(JMN) I'm a little behind on my quarterly comment. The Mercury has 96,500 miles on it now.

Both back seat door handles have broken from the inside (meaning I have seen all four break at some point now), and the driver's-side rear door no longer opens from the inside.

As I said previously, I'm now running a newer car. I rode in the Mercury this weekend for the first time in weeks, and it is definitely showing its age: it lags considerably with four people and is quite a bit louder than it used to be.

I'm getting quite picky now, but several of the fake chrome interior accents are now peeling.

It's amazing how in two years this thing has aged quite substantially...

19th Aug 2018, 13:14

(JMN) At long last, the Milan is no more. We got rid of it on 7/30/18 with 97795 miles. The transmission line began to leak and my father said enough was enough. Trade-in value, as expected, was abysmal at $1100. He purchased a new (demo) 2017 Fusion SE. Thanks for following the thread.