Get into the Milan, turn the ignition and you hear nothing! All you see is the instrument cluster light up with the speedometer needle doing a full pivot before it settles down. It’s a pretty nifty instrument cluster dubbed ‘Smart Gauge.’ It features a pair of color display screens that flank a traditional speedometer. The screens display a host of information and the driver can select one of four modes that provide different levels of detail on driving efficiency and car performance. One of the most innovative features actually measures your short-term driving efficiency using a budding plant as an indicator. As your driving becomes more efficient, more vines and leaves are displayed. Conversely, as your efficiency decreases, so do the vines and leaves. If you prefer, you can choose to see your efficiency in graph form. However, one needs to be careful not to get too distracted by these engaging images while driving!



The Milan is a spacious car, and has plenty of room upfront – as well as for passengers sitting in the rear. The boot, however, is small – a constraint that is shared by most hybrids since the batteries are stored at the rear. Having said that, the boot is big enough to swallow a couple of suitcases, and provides 11.8 cubic feet of cargo storage. The quality of the interior plastics is reasonable, and in line with what one expects to see in other mid-sized cars.

Our test car featured SYNC, the Microsoft developed interface that lets you voice activate your phone, music and navigation system. It’s a great system, which is highly intuitive and user friendly. SYNC, as the name suggests, let me play music from my iPhone through the cars’ speakers using a Bluetooth connection, which saves the hassle of connecting additional cables, etc. In the United States, more than half of Ford vehicles sold feature the SYNC system, and the company is now toying with the idea of offering it as standard fitment on all models.

On the road

Driving a hybrid takes some getting used to, and the Milan is no exception. Put the car in gear, step on the accelerator and batteries propel the Milan forward. In fact, the electric motor can propel the Milan Hybrid up to 47mph (75km/h) without starting the combustion engine. However, in reality it does this only if you’re accelerating very slowly. In normal driving conditions, both the petrol engine and the battery work in tandem to provide brisk acceleration. Although, if you’re in stop-start traffic, you can easily tweak your driving style so that you use only the battery power to maximize mileage.

In the Milan, the transition between battery power and engine power is seamless. And Ford has done a brilliant job in damping the engine, so that you barely hear it when it comes on and switches off. On the road, the Milan drives well with a comfortable ride. I did, however, find the brakes to be a little spongy. I suspect this is because of the electronic interface between the brakes and the battery, which charges the battery when the brakes are applied. Note that the Milan does not need to be plugged in to charge the battery. In addition to regenerative braking, a small part of the power from the petrol engine is also used to recharge the battery.

I spent a week with the Milan and drove it over 400 miles (650 kilometers) in varied conditions that included freeway travel, as well as city driving, and only consumed a little over half a tank of gas. On a full tank, the Milan has a range of approximately 700 miles (1,100 kilometers)! My observed fuel economy during the test was a very impressive 36 mpg (16 km/l).

Verdict

There is no doubt that Hybrid technology helps increase mileage significantly. It’s particularly effective in high traffic, slow speed situations where you can lean on the battery even more.

In the Indian context, hybrids are the ideal answer for commuting in traffic clogged cities like Delhi and Mumbai. Not only are they more fuel efficient, but they also spew out less pollution. However, their success will mainly be dependent on whether the government makes an active effort to promote them. In the US, the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) gives a tax credit to buyers of hybrid vehicles. Perhaps in India the answer could be to reduce import duties on hybrids so that manufacturers are encouraged to bring them into the country and, consequently, consumers have more efficient cars to choose from.

With the Mercury Milan Hybrid, Ford has proven that both advanced hybrid technology and clever cabin tech isn’t merely the preserve of the likes of Toyota and Honda. The American manufacturer could well be leading the way – surprising maybe, but true all the same.

Engine	:	2,500cc / in-line 4 cylinder / Atkinson Hybrid Engine
Fuel	:	Petrol
Transmission	:	CVT (Continuously Variable Transmission) / Front-Wheel Drive
Power	:	191bhp (combined)
Torque	:	166lb/ft (combined)