Donny Carlson
11-19-2004, 07:47 PM
I received mine a couple of weeks ago. It came in a cool box thingy that unfolded itself. Anywho, the gist, go drive a Mariner, and Mercury sends you a Visa Debit card worth $75. Nice.
Yesterday I went by Champion and drove one. The sales dude's son sold me my Marauder, which itself was the personal demo of the finance manager. I'ver taken her back a couple of times to show them the mods on the car, the most recent time I let them have the keys for an extended drive. (verdict: the car is amazing, but they hated the Eibach ride). He said "Look, I know you would never trade that beauty in on a Mariner, so why don't I just fill out the voucher and you can be on your way.."
I say "hell, why defraud Mercury?" Let's take one for a spin!
http://www.car-data.com/photos.previews/p.mercury.mariner.30.1.jpghttp ://www.car-data.com/photos.previews/p.mercury.mariner.30.2.jpg
Okay, it's a nice little SUV, the interior on this one was great, with black leather and light grey suede inserts (sound familiar Marty?). For a 6 cyl it was peppy... not Marauder peppy, but hey. Fit and finish was first rate. Best part of the test jaunt was passing this female jogger about half way through, who, shall we say, was very well equipped herself. The sales guy (who's older than me) says "Whoa man, I left my glasses back at the dealership, but I can see those headlights from here!" I almost drove off the road laughing so hard.
Later I drove a Magnum with the hemi (yawn). Salesman: "Marauder? I aint never heard of that car." (strike one). Salesman (during test drive) "Some people think this car looks like a hearse." (strike two). Salesman (during test drive) "I even had one woman says it looks like **** roach." (strike THREE). Verdict: Stuck my head out of the open door and had to stomp on the throttle to even hear the engine; finish of the interior parts looks cheap; lots of cool toys onboard (navigation, hands free controls) but no place other than a narrow pillar pod for gauges and the display below the speedo is retarded. I smoked the tires leaving the dealership grinning that I had a GREAT car.
Yesterday I went by Champion and drove one. The sales dude's son sold me my Marauder, which itself was the personal demo of the finance manager. I'ver taken her back a couple of times to show them the mods on the car, the most recent time I let them have the keys for an extended drive. (verdict: the car is amazing, but they hated the Eibach ride). He said "Look, I know you would never trade that beauty in on a Mariner, so why don't I just fill out the voucher and you can be on your way.."
I say "hell, why defraud Mercury?" Let's take one for a spin!
http://www.car-data.com/photos.previews/p.mercury.mariner.30.1.jpghttp ://www.car-data.com/photos.previews/p.mercury.mariner.30.2.jpg
Okay, it's a nice little SUV, the interior on this one was great, with black leather and light grey suede inserts (sound familiar Marty?). For a 6 cyl it was peppy... not Marauder peppy, but hey. Fit and finish was first rate. Best part of the test jaunt was passing this female jogger about half way through, who, shall we say, was very well equipped herself. The sales guy (who's older than me) says "Whoa man, I left my glasses back at the dealership, but I can see those headlights from here!" I almost drove off the road laughing so hard.
Later I drove a Magnum with the hemi (yawn). Salesman: "Marauder? I aint never heard of that car." (strike one). Salesman (during test drive) "Some people think this car looks like a hearse." (strike two). Salesman (during test drive) "I even had one woman says it looks like **** roach." (strike THREE). Verdict: Stuck my head out of the open door and had to stomp on the throttle to even hear the engine; finish of the interior parts looks cheap; lots of cool toys onboard (navigation, hands free controls) but no place other than a narrow pillar pod for gauges and the display below the speedo is retarded. I smoked the tires leaving the dealership grinning that I had a GREAT car.