2001 Mercury Sable Review

The Chicago-built Mercury Sable is made in the same Ford plant as the Ford Taurus, which gets the most media attention because of its higher volume.

The front-drive Sable is an upscale version of the Taurus with minor styling differences. The Sable has more of a European-sedan feel than the Taurus, although you might expect it to be "softer" than its sister model because of its more luxurious nature.

The solidly built Sable also is more exclusive than the Taurus because the lower number of Mercury dealers holds down Sable sales to about 100,000 a year, compared to more than three times that number for the Taurus.

While it's no sports sedan, the Sable has precise steering and a firm-but-supple suspension that allows sure handling and a decent ride. The brake pedal is easily modulated for quicker stops.

The Sable can be had with a front bench seat if you don't want front bucket seats--making it one of the lowest cost six-passenger cars. And the station wagon version allows seating for eight with its newly standard rear-facing third-row seat for two kids.

However, the Sable only comfortably seats five tall adults because an adult in the middle of the front seat is squeezed and the center of the rear seat is hard. Gauges can be easily read, but the dashboard has too many equally sized buttons that can't be quickly identified.

The big trunk has a low, wide opening and cargo hooks. But it's exceptionally long, so one must stretch to reach objects at its far end.

The $19,185-$22,685 Sable comes in base GS, mid-range LS and top-line LS Premium trim levels. Even the base model is well equipped.

A terrific feature that makes this slick-looking sedan more comfortable than many rivals are power adjustable accelerator and brake pedals that move up to three inches forward or rearward.

Those pedals are standard on LS and LS Premium models and cost $120 extra for the GS. They allow shorter drivers to get more comfortable--and let them move farther from the steering hub-mounted air bag.

Being a family car, the Sable heavily emphasizes safety features. Among them are $390 side-impact air bags up front and a standard Personal Safety System that judges how best to protect front-seat occupants by considering crash factors; for instance, dual-stage front air bags deploy at two energy levels and tighten front seat belt pretensions according to the severity of a collision.

An emergency trunk release with a phosphorescent handle is designed to let kids locked in the trunk open it from the inside.

However, despite the emphasis on safety, an anti-lock brake system is a $600 option for all models and a traction control system for better grip on slippery roads is a $175 option for LS and LS Premium models.

The Sable was restyled last year, along with the Taurus, because the previous (1996) redesign turned out to be too adventuresome for the conservative mid-size sedan market.


This Mercury thus has minor changes for 2001, including new rear child seat anchors, two new optional ($140-$670) audio systems with a CD player and an increase in fuel tank capacity from 16 to 18 gallons.


Both Sable 3-liter engines provide decent fuel economy and use 87-octane gasoline. The 3-liter, 155-horsepower pushrod V-6 delivers an estimated 19 mpg in the city and 28 on highways, while the 200-horsepower dual-overhead-camshaft V-6 provides 20 and 28.


The lower-horsepower V-6 provides decent acceleration because it has good low- and mid-range torque; it's standard in the base GS and mid-range LS. The smoother 200-horsepower V-6 provides livelier performance and is standard in the LS Premium Sable and a $695 option for the LS.


The four-speed automatic transmission upshifts deftly, but sometimes hesitates too much before downshifting.


Both the Taurus and Sable are above-average, but the Sable provides more flair.