I'd love to get a Mariner Hybrid, but one thing kinda bugs me - you can only get it with a "pebble" interior.
I love the two-tone Mariner interiors and black interiors available on non-hybrids, but the nice people at Mercury seem to think all hybrid owners only want one thing and that's white. God, I hate white. It may prevent me from buying one.

But I'd love to write someone at Mercury and ask them if they'll ever change this policy. Does anyone here know who and where I can communicate this (complaint / suggestion)??

By the way, the dealer suggested getting after-market black leather seats, but that still leaves me with a white dash, white steering wheel and white side panels, white carpets, etc. It's just so gay! (not that there's anything wrong wtih that)

Go out and buy a Ford Escape Hybrid. It will cost you less, and looks better on the inside, and is 100% exactly the same vehicle, minus the cosmetics.

I agree. I about puked when I saw the Mariner interior.

Yeah, I've been thinking about that all along. It's just that I like the exterior styling of the Mariner. It's a subtle difference but I like it.
Plus an even kookier reason - I'm in Canada and they don't sell them in Canada. Only Escapes. It sure would make it easier to pick out at the mall parking lot if ya know what I mean. Also the "wha da fu..." from Canadian Escape owners.

But if anyone at Mercury reads these things... get with it guys! Give your customers some options on the interior! At the very least -- the same interiors you offer with regular Mariners.

Sheesh.

The Escape Hybrid is available in only one color too; black.

The regular Escape and the regular Mariner come in either black or beige. For what ever reason, Ford desided that one hybrid would only get one color, and the other hybrid get only the other.

I probably hate black as much as you hate beige. I am old enough to remember that black was the only interior color for the bottom-of-the-line, cheap, worthless, low-end, model of a car. So, I still associate that even today with any car I see with a black interior.

So, for me, the choice between the two was obvious. The Mariner Hybrid, even without the 110v outlet.

What I don't understand, is why the Mariner Hybrid has so few exterior color choices. Fewer than even the Escape Hybrid with the premium package.

Mine is grey and my wife's is too. I've never seen a black interior.

My 4WD
Wife's 4WD

The interior was holding us back on the Mariner but we liked everything else about the Mariner much better. We went for it. I don't know if you actually have sat in a Mariner but it is far from white. It is beige. Beige like more than half the cars on the road. The only thing remotely white is the center panel of the seats and an insert in the door panels. Take a drive and see for yourself.

-Tim

2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid AWD
Black with Pebble interior
Premium Package with Nav & Moonroof



Current ODO: 26,152
Typical Drive: 20 min crosstown in heavy traffic (3.5mi there and back twice a day)


532 Gallons of gas saved
That's 10,642 lbs less CO2 emitted

"Dark Flint" sure looks pretty close to black to me.

Perhaps you need to get your eyes checked, or you were wearing these .

Mine is grey, and it was the only option offered.

2005 Ford Escape Hybrid - Titanium Green, 4WD, Appearance Pkg, Leather, Nav System

No, sorry, my eyes are doing just fine.

For example, I just went back and with my eyes, re-read the info. Until now, I didn't realize this, but apparently there are different shades of grey on the FEH interior, depending on if you get fabric, leather, or premium leather.

While the marketing folks at Ford call the premium leather interior "Dark Flint", to all us normal people, it certainly is black. That also happens to be the only interior shown in the small pamphlet Ford sent me in the mail.

It must just look black in the picture... I've got the leather and its most definitely not black... its grey.