2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid rated at 41 mpg in city driving

Quietly, Mercury moves up in fuel economy

The Toyota Prius and Ford Fusion Hybrid are two of the three mid-size cars that rank best in gasoline mileage for 2010.

The third car: The often-overlooked Mercury Milan Hybrid.

A roomy, attractive sedan with a four-cylinder engine mated to an electric motor, the 2010 Milan Hybrid is rated by the federal government at an impressive 41 miles per gallon in city driving and 36 mpg on the highway.

These aren’t just numbers on paper. The test Milan Hybrid was getting more than 37 mpg without me adapting my driving or concentrating on fuel mileage.

Best of all, I didn’t look like every other environmentally conscious driver with a Prius. The Milan Hybrid looks basically like a regular, non-hybrid Milan on the outside and with nicely placed, shiny, silver-colored trim, has an upscale appearance.

The Milan also is a recommended buy of Consumer Reports.

Starting retail price, including destination charge, is on the high side, though. Starting manufacturer’s suggested retail price, with destination charge, is $28,905. But an option package that adds rearview camera, 12-speaker Sony sound, leather seats and moonroof, among other things, is included automatically on the Mercury brand’s “build your own vehicle” Web site and boosts the price to $31,980.

In comparison, the 2010 Prius hatchback has a starting retail price of $22,150 with four-cylinder gasoline engine and seating for five. The five-passenger, 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid starts at $28,675.

The Milan was revamped recently at the same time as the Ford Fusion because they are sibling cars, and both are built by Ford Motor Co. Mercury, a longtime Ford Motor brand, however, has suffered over the past 15 years in trying to find and establish a consistent, winning image with consumers.

But I found I didn’t really care about the image of Mercury, because the Milan Hybrid was such an endearing sedan. Longer and wider than the Prius, the Milan Hybrid provides good space in front and back seats. There are nearly 3.5 inches more of shoulder room in the back seat of the Milan than in the Prius, and back-seat leg and headroom are a bit better in the Milan, too.

Trunk space is constrained by the battery pack at the rear seats, so it’s down to 11.8 cubic feet from the 16.5 cubic feet in a non-hybrid Milan. But this Mercury hybrid still has more trunk space than the hybrid Lexus LS 600h.

The Milan Hybrid test car was solid-feeling and mostly quiet. I didn’t notice a lot of exterior noise coming in as both wind noise and road noise were muted. Indeed, with electric power solely driving the wheels at slow speeds, the Milan Hybrid was ultra-quiet, and I found myself noticing the mild, high-pitch whine of the electric system.

Steering was acceptable, though not exactly crisp. The ride over road bumps was comfortable and never punishing. Meantime, body motions were well-managed, and the overall ride and handling seemed nicely put together. Even fit and finish on the test car was excellent, inside and out.

The 2.5-liter, double overhead cam, inline four cylinder uses the Atkinson cycle to better manage fuel economy and works well with the 106-horsepower electric motor.

The car would automatically select whether to travel in all-electric mode, all-engine mode or a combination, and the transition from one to another was smooth and pleasant.

The only transmission for the Milan Hybrid is a continuously variable tranny that’s built for fuel economy.

As in other hybrids, the Milan Hybrid could turn off the gasoline engine while the car sat at stoplights. Unlike earlier hybrid vehicles, the Milan’s startup of the gas engine never was accompanied by a shudder or sensation of the engine running roughly.

So, it was easy to forget that I was driving a hybrid — except for a couple things.

Brakes, which include a system to capture or regenerate brake energy for use by the electric motor, had a slight artificial feel at the pedal, as other hybrids do.

And the gauges in front of the driver have many hybrid power reminders, including a graph that shows whether the on-board battery for the electric motor is being tapped or refilled with energy.

The most intriguing item in the gauges, though, is a graphic vine plant that grows green leaves if a driver is making the most of fuel conservation and loses leaves if a driver is going pedal to the metal.

I didn’t expect the plant to be such an incentive to drive economically. But I felt badly when the plant, all lush with leaves, earlier during my drive, lost leaves after I surged onto a highway and passed some cars.

Overall, with city and highway travel averaged together, I wound up with 33 mpg fuel use. This compares with a city/highway average of 25 mpg in the federal government ratings for a 2010 non-hybrid Milan with four-cylinder engine.

The leather on the seats seemed durable but not as soft to the touch as in some other cars.

I felt a weird sensation at times of the front wheels binding as I made sharp U-turns, almost as if the car was all-wheel drive or four-wheel drive. But only the non-hybrid Milan is available as an all-wheel drive model.

Standard safety features include curtain air bags and stability control. The Milan Hybrid earned five out of five stars in frontal crash protection for driver and passenger as well as driver protection in a side crash. The rear passenger protection rating in a side crash is four stars.