Start with what the Mercury Montego 2nd generation is: a car with gasoline engine, built from 1972, as the oil crises and the first emissions rules rewired the industry. What it meant takes a little longer.
Under the skin
The engine is gasoline engine. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the Renault 5, the Volkswagen Passat, the Mitsubishi Lancer. Nearby in the Mercury catalogue sit the Mercury Bobcat and the Mercury Capri.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Mercury Montego 2nd generation has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.
Mercury1939
Mercury Montego1968