I had the (fleeting) idea today that my next car could/should be a "largish" sedan. By that, I mean something larger than my Civic. So while looking at the used cars on my local BMW dealer's website I came across a very low mileage (tho, perhaps, not all that low?) '06 Mercury Montego Premier AWD sedan. The price looked decent, and they had the CarFax for you to look at so I took a look. With only about 19K miles on it, it had had 2 owners. The 1st owner owned for about 3 and 1/2 years, the second? 6 months. No accidents reported and no outstanding recalls. But both owners averaged about 5-6K miles a year. Would you be at all suspicious?
Since it's AWD, I'm wondering if it was used by someone who travelled between Florida and some northern location.
Not at all in my experance all the old people car brands are bought by those affluent and demanding enough to trade/sell a perfect car because they dont like the cup holder or some other small thing. For instance I have a customer that buys a new Buick every 2 months or so because he gets bored looking at the same car every day.
My father has one. He bought it because he's old, likes Mercurys and it has a huge trunk.
It is the least inspiring car I have ever been in. I hate, hate, hate that car.
Woody,
after posting this I did some research on Montegos....on Edmunds they said something like "....has the largest trunk available...." or something like that.
I'm normally a sort of suspicious/skeptical person and I sort of like the novelty of this car (after all, Mercury is kaput) but a car with AWD in Florida, that's gone maybe 4K to 5K miles a year.......
I guess the first thing that comes to mind is that this car was so underwhelming the 1st owner gave up after 3 years, and the 2nd after only 6 months. With the weight of the AWD hardware and that "stellar" CVT to pull it all around, this car (and it's 500 sibling) doesn't have a great rep.for driving excitement. But hey, I once owned a Pinto MPG, could this be all that much worse? I'm tempted to drop by the local BMW dealer and try it out.
Oh, that reminds me: The CVT really, really sucks. Possibly the worst aspect of the car.
Will
HalfDork
6/1/11 10:59 p.m.
It's probably like driving your sofa, so as long as you're prepared for that it should be fine.
Strizzo
SuperDork
6/2/11 12:43 a.m.
a lot of AWD cars end up in florida via old retirees moving down from the snow belt then selling off their stodgy old-people car for something that goes better with their aloha shirt and bermuda shorts
In reply to Woody:
After spending 1k miles in an Altima with a CVT, I don't know how any self-respecting gearhead could actually buy and drive one. It is the anti-transmission! 
Josh
Dork
6/2/11 7:40 a.m.
The second guy probably died.
(of boredom?)
This car sold new about 60-70 miles from the dealer that is now selling it used. So it started at a (now kaput?) Lincoln/Mercury dealer in Florida, was traded(?) at a Chrysler/Dodge dealer about an hours drive from the first dealer, leaving me to believe it may have spent it's whole life here. At least that is what CarFax tells you.
ALL the consumer reviews for this AWD model were VERY good on Edmunds...though those folks aren't the sort of "discriminating" drivers that are found here.
About to get out and go by the dealership.
Stop! Save yourself!
This is a vehicle that almost made me hate cars.
it's not a bad looking car.. that is all I have to add
e_pie
New Reader
6/2/11 12:59 p.m.
BoneYard_Racing wrote:
Not at all in my experance all the old people car brands are bought by those affluent and demanding enough to trade/sell a perfect car because they dont like the cup holder or some other small thing. For instance I have a customer that buys a new Buick every 2 months or so because he gets bored looking at the same car every day.
That's what he gets for buying a Buick.
