>> Ford got out early on this idea of Hybrid SUV's, remember the Escape Hybrid low though many years ago? Well, here's its upscale
twin sister, the '09 Mercury Mariner Hybrid, let's check the tech and see how the Hybrid part has evolved.
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>> Now when you buy a Mariner Hybrid even it's just bone stock it's going to have sync, you'll have a much simpler, that's code for
uglier, black and green display much harder to deal with, we have the optional Nav so we get the LCD screen but let's start with the
map. Graphics quality is pretty darn good on this car definitely better than some Fords a couple years ago. As you can see we have
live traffic on here because this vehicle has serious travel length, now we've shown this to you before, you've got weather and you've
got the fun stuff here, fuel, movie listings, sports info. Now on to the media regardless of whether you get the Nav package or not
it's kind of the same stereo system, 6 disc in-dash CD that can also digest MP3 CD's, so that's nice, it's hard drive based, when I put
a disc in here I can rip it to the hard drive and of course, Sync Systems have USB, there's the USB jack there, I can put my thumb drive
in there but for some reason this thumb drive full of MP3 files doesn't read. This is also gonna be able to control a smart player like
and iPod and next to that the good old fashion line-in if all this high tech stuff just gets annoying. Now as often pointed out in these
reports, I'll like a technology, I think a year later I won't. A year ago I was in love with Sync, I still like it a lot but it's getting
annoying, let me show you why. You hit the button here to talk to it, [sound effect] navigation, [sound effect] destination, [sound effect]
that's what I get sick and tired of and I've got this thing set up to the least amount of annoying back and forth and it still makes you
wait for the little sound, a pause, the ding, then you can talk. [music] Let's cut to the chase, how's the MPG, it's rated at 34 city,
31 highway but we saw more like 28 miles per gallon in mixed driving. If you get a kick out of driving a Hybrid in the silent electric
mode you're not gonna get a lot of kicks here unless you barely feather the accelerator pedal, this power train quickly goes from
EV mode to running on the gas engine. I did find that turning off the AC kept the car in EV mode a lot more during low-speed driving.
I think it is fair to say this engine is a 4 that delivers the power of a V6 just not the smoothness; there's nothing really silky
about it, though it's not bad and you have to get used to high RPM's, which the CVT gear box eagerly seeks as it tries to keep the gas
engine running in that sweet spot between 3 and 5,000 RPM. Our car was a tail dragger so we didn't get a chance to try out the unusual
electrically powered all wheel drive. Let's price this '09 Mariner Hybrid, now bear in mind the Hybrid's come relatively well trimmed
so 30,500 base with destination charge. On top of that $2,000 for the navigation with Live Traffic and Sirius Travel Link, another
2 grand will get you a dual head rest, rear seat entertainment system, that's the way I like them to be done instead of a drop down
from the ceiling, 800 bucks for that moon roof by the way and if you want all wheel drive, the MSRP goes up by 1,800.
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