New wheels

2005 Mercury Mariner 4WD
Duratec 3.0L V6
Satellite Silver

I’d been eyeing the Mariner (and its twins, the Ford Escape and the Mazda Tribute) for a while. I knew that I wanted a compact SUV for their car-like handling, cargo space, and fuel economy, but the other options in that category . . . the Jeep Liberty, the Toyota RAV4, the Honda CR-V, the Subaru Forester . . . just didn’t appeal to me, for one reason or another. During a shopping trip to Meijer a couple of weeks ago, I picked up an Auto Trader-type magazine, saw an almost-new, almost-loaded silver Mariner for sale at a local independent dealership listed for $8000 less than MSRP and said “that’s my car”.

And now it is. Great ride.