2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid

The 2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid is a notable exception, though Ford's decision to drop the entire Mercury brand means it won't be available much longer.



The Milan Hybrid essentially starts out as a slightly better-equipped base Milan. As with the regular Milan, the Hybrid also boasts a spacious, well-finished cabin loaded with thoughtful luxury features. Highlights of the latter include dual-zone automatic climate control, rear park assist and Ford's superb Sync multimedia voice control system. As far as hybrids go, we think pretty highly of the Fusion/Milan Hybrid twins and the Toyota Prius. The 2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid comes in a single trim level. The 2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid utilizes a 2.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine that produces 156 horsepower and 136 pound-feet of torque. Fuel economy is an EPA-estimated 41 mpg city/36 mpg highway and 39 mpg combined.



The 2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid comes standard with antilock disc brakes, stability and traction control, front-seat side airbags, side curtain airbags and rear parking sensors. At our test track, the Milan's twin, the Fusion Hybrid, stopped from 60 mph in a tidy 126 feet, which is the best distance we've recorded among non-luxury hybrid cars.



The 2011 Mercury Milan Hybridhas earned very good scores in government crash tests, with a perfect five stars for frontal impacts.

We can comfortably say that the "2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid" is one of the most enjoyable hybrid sedans to drive. In fact, only its Ford Fusion Hybrid sibling and the Nissan Altima Hybrid, which is only sold in nine states, even come close. Decent acceleration, at least by hybrid standards, is the icing on the cake.



The design of the hybrid system also puts many of its competitors to shame.

The 2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid gets new standard one-touch power front windows and an outside mirror with an integrated blind-spot surface. The Milan Hybrid essentially starts out as a slightly better-equipped base Milan. The 2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid comes in a single trim level. The 2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid utilizes a 2.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine that produces 156 horsepower and 136 pound-feet of torque. The city number is a full 10 mpg better than the Camry Hybrid’s, although it’s 10 mpg shy of the Prius.



The 2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid comes standard with antilock disc brakes, stability and traction control, front-seat side airbags, side curtain airbags and rear parking sensors. The 2011 Mercury Milan Hybrid is one of the most enjoyable hybrid sedans to drive.



The Milan Hybrid is mechanically and cosmetically similar to the Ford Fusion Hybrid. Inside, the Milan Hybrid is well-equipped when compared to other affordable hybrid cars. For added green street cred, the Milan Hybrid's seats are largely manufactured from recycled materials. View more 2011 Mercury Milan photos.



Many reviewers have praised the Milan Hybrid and Ford Fusion Hybrid for their seamless engine performance. Review full 2011 Mercury Milan specifications.

Standard features available on the Mercury Milan Hybrid include anti-lock brakes, stability control, traction control, six airbags and rear parking sensors. Available options include a rearview camera and blind-spot warning system. In government crash tests, the Milan Hybrid earned a best-possible five-star rating in front-impact and side impact categories for front-seat passengers.



Base MSRP for the 2011 Milan Hybrid comes in at $28,345. Notable options include leather seats, heated front seats, navigation system and 12-speaker premium stereo.

San Jose Mercury News | San Jose Mercury Photos | San Jose Mercury Collection | San Jose Mercury Info | 21 May 2011 Info

San Jose Mercury News on History on Trial

'History on Trial,'Deborah Lipstadt's compelling account of her court battle with David Irving, is a timely book, appearing as it does amid news not only of commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, but also of resurgent anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere," writes the San Jose Mercury News in its review yesterday:


San Jose Mercury News (California)

February 6, 2005 Sunday MO1 EDITION

SECTION: BO; Pg. 6

LENGTH: 1355 words

HEADLINE: Judging the Past

BYLINE: By Charles Matthews; Mercury News

BODY:
''History on Trial,'' Deborah Lipstadt's compelling account of her court battle with David Irving, is a timely book, appearing as it does amid news not only of commemorations of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, but also of resurgent anti-Semitism in Europe and elsewhere. But the issues it raises -- of how we learn about the past and what use we make of that knowledge, and of the limits of free speech and critical inquiry -- are timeless.

Lipstadt is a professor at Emory University and director of its Institute for Jewish Studies. In the '80s and early '90s she found herself increasingly troubled by the phenomenon of Holocaust denial. There had always been anti-Semitic cranks who expressed their doubts about the testimony of survivors of the Nazi death camps. But denial groups like the Institute for Historical Review were growing more sophisticated, putting what Lipstadt calls a ''scholarly veneer'' on their publications to attract gullible readers and attention from the mainstream media.

''I did not consider Holocaust denial a 'clear and presentdanger,' but rather a future danger,'' Lipstadt writes. ''Surveys revealed that more people in the United States believed Elvis Presley was alive than believed the Holocaust was a myth.'' But in an effort to keep the deniers in check, she wrote a book, ''Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory,'' which was published in 1993 to laudatory reviews.

In the book there were, by Lipstadt's estimate, ''a couple of hundred words'' about Irving, a British historian who had written numerous books about World War II and the Third Reich. Despite an obvious pro-Hitler bias, Irving's books had been favorably reviewed by such prominent historians as A.J.P. Taylor, Hugh Trevor-Roper, the late Stanford professor Gordon Craig and military historian John Keegan. Even when they took note of Irving's bias, such reviewers praised the thoroughness of his research.

But Irving was more than a historian. He also frequently made speeches before ultra-rightist groups in Europe and the United States. In a speech in Canada in 1991, Irving claimed that ''more women died on the back seat of Edward Kennedy's car at Chappaquiddick than ever died in a gas chamber in Auschwitz.'' And in the German city of Halle, he addressed a neo-Nazi rally; his speech was interrupted by shouts of ''Sieg Heil!''

When Lipstadt's book was published by Penguin UK in Great Britain, Irving sued both author and publisher, charging them with libel. Under British libel law, which differs significantly from U.S. laws, the defendant must prove that the statements in question are true. ''In the United States Irving would have to prove I lied,'' Lipstadt explains. ''In the United Kingdom I had to prove I told the truth.'' She was faced with defending her assertions ''that Irving had lied about the Holocaust and had done so out of antisemitic motives.''