In our reviews of the 2006 Mercury Mariner Hybrid and its slightly rougher twin, the 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid, we criticized the poorly implemented cabin tech. The unveiling of the 2008 Mercury Mariner Hybrid this week shows that Ford seriously upgraded the cabin. The press release about the new Mariner Hybrid mentions only the standard iPod/MP3 player jack in the cabin, visible at the bottom of the stack in this photo. Also obvious from the picture is that the CD changer moves from under the seat into the dash, making it much more accessible. The CD control buttons look humongous in this picture, but easy to use, especially while tooling down the freeway.

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