When the Lienerts’ review of
the 2006 Mercury Mariner hybrid popped up in Autoblog’s search for all things automotive, we knew we had to share
it, especially after the reaction from readers on the Buick Lucerne and
the Lexus LS 430 to more
non-traditional reviews.
The Lienerts, for those of you who are not familiar with them, are a
husband-and-wife team whose automotive articles, both together and separately, can be found in the Detroit
News. Their last full vehicle review on Autoblog was in
September 2005. Oddly enough, the review had been on another Mercury vehicle, the new Milan.
The Lienerts
reaction to the Mariner hybrid (and winner of first
Green Car of the Year award by Green Car Journal) can be summoned in their sentence, You’d be better
served spending that money somewhere else.
Many of Paul and Anita’s issues stem from their earlier review of the Ford Escape hybrid which
the Mariner is based on. These issues—primarily on the virtual (and, according to the Lienerts, dated) identical
body design and structure—are worsened with the additional $2,000 increase compared to the Escape hybrid. And
again, they wondered if the hybrid powertrain is worth the price to a non-hybrid Mariner/Escape.