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After spending a little over a week and a half in our test fleet, we found the 2009 Mercury Mariner Hybrid to be a good contender in this segment, but not something we’re eager to drive on a daily basis. For the new model year, Ford bumped up the power of the four-cylinder gasoline motor to 175 horsepower, but overall acceleration is still somewhat slow. On top of that, the weak engine mated to continuously variable transmission creates a really horrible noise when a lot of power is needed. The interior, however, is quite pleasant, and we're definitely not complaining about nearly 30 miles per gallon in observed fuel economy.

Click through to read all of our individual impressions of the Mariner Hybrid.

http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/080722/ford_smallcar.html?.v=2

Last week we brought you Consumer Reports’ Top Picks of 2008. Now, we’re letting you in on the worst 11. Chrysler takes a huge hit from Consumer Reports with four out of the bottom 11 belonging to the struggling automaker.

Lincoln Mercury dealers were looking for some insight into Mercury’s future from Ford execs at this year’s National Automobile Dealers Association Conference. They didn’t get it.