Mercury does not build many cars like the Mercury Mountaineer: a 5-door SUV with 4.0 , built from 1996 to 2010 when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard.
Where it came from
The Mercury Mountaineer is a mid-size luxury sport utility vehicle (SUV) that was sold by Mercury from 1996 until 2010. The first Mercury SUV, the Mountaineer was a divisional counterpart of the Ford Explorer, marketed above it and between the Lincoln Aviator (ultimately replacing the latter). Across its three generations, the Mountaineer was marketed exclusively as a 5-door wagon, with no counterpart to the 3-door Explorer Sport or the Explorer Sport Trac pickup truck.
For its entire production, the Mountaineer was assembled by Ford at its Louisville Assembly facility (Louisville, Kentucky); prior to 2007, additional production was sourced from St. Louis Assembly (Hazelwood, Missouri). After the 2010 model year, the Mountaineer was discontinued, becoming the second Mercury line (after the Sable) to be discontinued before Mercury was withdrawn at the end of 2010.
Under the skin
Under the skin sits 4.0 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The gearbox is a 4-speed automatic (V8 models) / 5-speed automatic (V6 models). The wheelbase is 1997: 111.5 in / 1998–2001: 111.6 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Where it sits in Mercury's history is not in doubt: it was built at Louisville, Kentucky. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Alfa Romeo 156, the Porsche Boxster, the Škoda Auto Škoda Octavia. Nearby in the Mercury catalogue sit the Mercury Bobcat and the Mercury Capri.