About Mercury Monterey
The 2005 Monterey was the Mercury version of the Ford Freestar. It featured up to seven seats and it was offered in front or all-wheel-drive. It was discontinued in 2006 due to slow sales.
After the end of the Mercury Villager, which was a Nissan Quest with different badges, the Monterey was introduced to fill the need for large minivans of the market. But it was bad timing since the market started to switch toward the SUV segment. Meanwhile, the other competitors offered products that were more on the customer's taste.
It was built in a very traditional MPV way, with a short hood and big greenhouse. Depending on the trim level, it was offered with power-sliding side doors, which provided easy access to the middle and the last row of seats.
The interior was considered as the best key-feature of the vehicle. Even the base trim levels offered comfortable flat and wide seats, captain seats for the first and second rows. The last row was folding flat into the floor, increasing the already big trunk space. For the upper trim levels, the Monterey was offered with leather heated and cooled seats.
The only available engine was a 4.2-liter V6 mated to a standard four-speed automatic gearbox. The Monterey sales were under 35.000 units between 2003 and 2007. The 2007 vehicles were manufactured in 2006.