1999 Mercury Sable: Great car at a great price

Having previously owned a Ford Explorer XLT and Saturn SC2, I was ready for a "family" car, with 4 doors, good gas mileage and I didn't want to spend a fortune for it.

My Explorer was great, but the gas mileage was awful, and it was a bear to park in tight spaces. I decided that I was going to look at 3 or 4 different cars. I narrowed my search down to the Mazda 626, Honda Accord, Nissan Maxima, and Mercury Sable. I wanted to spend less than $15K if possible. I went to Edmunds and Consumer Reports and did all the required research. And, then I went out and test drove each of the cars.

At first, I was really focused on the Mazda 626 and Honda Accord. But, there weren't many 626s in my area that had V6s (which I wanted), and the Accords that cost less than $15K had over 60K miles and were at least 4 years old.

Then, I drove a '99 Mercury Sable LS. It's Spruce Green (interesting combination between sage green and dark gray), with a V6, two-tone leather interior, 6-disc CD changer, heated lamps, Mach stereo system, and so many other features, I can't think of them all.

My initial impression was "WOW!", what a great looking car. I had never really been a fan of the redesigned Ford Taurus and Sable body style, but Mercury had made a few updates to this year's model, so I liked the body style much better.

Once I got in the car, I was hooked. The two-tone leather seats are very comfortable and adjust to almost any position. The controls are easy to read and reach. The interior room is very adequate. Since I live in the southern US, air conditioning is VERY important. The AC on this car cools off quickly and blows out plenty of air. It did take me a little while to figure out how to use the automatic climate control, which I'd never had before.

And let me tell you about the trunk space. Having been used to an Explorer for so many years, I expected a dinky trunk. When I popped the trunk, I was awe-struck. You could fit at least 3 people in the trunk, and still have room for a few suitcases. It's very deep, almost an optical allusion as to how far it goes back.

The Sable's ride is very nice. The engine is quiet when idling, so quiet I almost can't hear it running. It gets louder when accelerating, especially when you're pushing the engine to get up to highway speed. The DOHC 24-valve Duratec V6 200 hp engine really has some pep. I can get up and go in no time. The automatic transmission is a little rough at times when shifting gears, but within acceptable limits.

A few of the cons are the gas mileage. While better than my Explorer, I usually get around 20 mpg in town, and 25 mpg on the highway. And, the gas gauge is a little off. The gas tank holds 16 gallons, but I rarely use more than 12 before the low gas light comes on. But, that could just be a fluke.

Another con is that the CD player is in the trunk. My explorer had the changer in the console, which was very convenient. It's a hassle if I want to change a CD. At the very least, there could be a single disc CD player in the dash, like many cars have.