This is my 10,000 mile report. I bought my 2008 FEH October 2007. It is black with with everything option they would put on it.
So it's been 17 months to get to this point and the short review is I have really enjoyed this vehicle. I bought a cargo area liner ($99) front window tint ($100) and one oil change ($35) at the one year mark this is all I have spent.
My "like" list. Size, looks, interior, heated seats, cargo size (my 52" Sony fit in the back).
My "unlike" list. Nav system "agree" button, thin floor mats, dirt in gear shift letters, wheels looks, headlight control on off a lot at dawn.
My "needs it" list. Heated steering wheel, chrome wheel, entry keypad, fold seat without removing head rest.

So my option is I love it and would buy it again in a second. I bought the extra warranty so I plan to keep this car for 7 years (until about 2014) at that time I am hoping I will be able to buy a plug in type Escape.

 

Wow, you drive even less than we do--we just hit 10k on our early December purchased MMH.

One of my favorite things is the entry keypad--I lock my keys in the car (on purpose) all the time so I don't have to worry about them when skiing, biking, etc. That's the biggest single reason to get an MMH over the FEH . I'm not sure about the heated stearing wheel though--without ever having used one, I've always kinda laughed at the concept.

I bought all season floor mats and don't use the auto lights so those haven't been issues for me, but my shift lever is starting to look a little worn from using "L" so much. We generally keep the seats folded, so the head rests aren't an issue, but I do kinda miss the one latch fold in my old Outback...

 

Yeah I bought some cargo liner on ebay, don't think it was that much, and threw in thick clear floor mats. With 2 kids the rear seats are up more than down & and Expedition for the big/heavy haulin' I don't fold them over much, but wish they was a quicker/easier way to fold, esp. after half unloading the cart then relizing it's all not gonna fit

I bought a key pad entry on ebay & stuck it behind my mirror. It took me 2 years to relize now that the mirror won't fold (never tried to fold them in 2 years guess it's not that important to me) but now they have paintable keypads.

I'm acutaly putting "high" mileage on mine, 2 yr mark will be this May, and I just had my 2nd oil change (20k) last month. All my last vehicles only avg 7500-10k/yr.

In "needs" is more like wants more than a heated wheel would be cooled seats and auto lift/close tail gate (MMH feature to actually seperate the brands again?!)

 

If you live in VA and think you "need" a heated steering wheel, then I, who lives much further north and has only worn gloves one day this winter (while digging a car out in a blizzard), must really need a heated wheel.

 

That is funny - that was one of the deciding factors for me as well. I always leave a spare key in the car as well - for the same reason.

I also picked up all weather mats from Weathertech - much nicer than the stock ones - and I could get them to match the interior.

The other reason for choosing the MMH over the FEH was the Mercury didn't have the piano black finish. We rented an Escape Limited on vacation in the spring and found the gloss black got dirty fast and produced a lot of annoying reflections. (at least to me and my wife)

 

I purchased a Ford OEM entry keypad for about $80, and placed it behind my driver's mirror, in such a way that the mirror will fold. I recommend it for all FEH owners. The mat black finish works perfectly there, and when the battery runs out (the battery cannot be replaced), I don't have to worry about the paint job when I remove and replace the keypad.

 

I'm just coming up to 20,000 miles after just 14 months on my 08 4WD MMH (purchased Jan. 08; I had a long commute previously, then took a long trip around the southwest - I'm not packing the miles on like that any more).

I like the car overall so far - I'm glad I got it. There are certainly some quirks: surging RPMs, some strange klunks in the CVT sometimes when shifting from L to D, driver side heated seat only comes on once per ride, no matter how long I wait or how many times I cycle it (dealer said on latest visit this was a known issue with an early part of the 08 run, so maybe it can be solved). And I have the Job 1 version without the audio buttons on the steering wheel - annoying but I'll live just fine without them. The rear seat backs have picked up discoloration and divots from bolts that are exposed and apparently press into the leather when the seats are folded down - a bad design.

Other than that, it's held up just fine; nothing major has failed throughout those miles, and there are a lot of things to like. It drives well in snow and ice; the keypad entry is great; I like the interior (much better than the 08 Escapes); and the mileage is OK considering it's a 4WD (I average 26-27). I like the Aux plug in the dash, which I use for an iPod or iPhone, and the Nav system is actually one of the better ones out there from a UI and "what you can do while not stopped" standpoint (the Mercedes one, for example, is terrible, and the Lexus one is much more limited when you're driving).

And, I finally found a dealer who seems to have a good service department - Hansel Ford/Mercury/Lincoln in Santa Rosa, CA. The dealer where I bought it (Sunnyvale) went out of business; the dealer nearby in San Rafael went out of business, and the others in the area get poor ratings online. At Hansel, for the first time ever in my experience with any of the other dealers, a service manager sat down with me and went through what they did (and didn't) do, and conversed as if we were both intelligent adults (should be the norm, but sadly isn't). It's a 45-minute drive away, but worth it to have some confidence in issues being understood and service being done well.

 

My wife just bought a '09 MM (no-H) and the seats get hot so fast she has to quickly turn them off. As a passenger in my '09 FEH, she'd leave them on for 20+ minutes. Glad they might have that resolved. She also prefers the silver over the black interior. I don't.

 

08FEH FWD Fully Loaded - 19 months and 32,000 miles here. Nothing more than oil changes, air filters and tire rotations here. Absolutely love this vehicle. I've done a lot of trips (SC to FL, KY, MD, GA, NC) all over the Southeast and I'm averaging 32+MPG on E10. Wife drives it most of the in town and I drive most of the highway miles. We get better hwy mileage than city. ;}

I also got a Job 1 unit and would have liked to have the extra steering wheel controls. I also saw the slight discoloration on the back seats from the yellow rubber tab on the lower release but nothing a little bit of tape couldn't cover and prevent. Since I have a dog, I keep the rear seats down 90% of the time so I removed the rear headrest and keep them in a closet with the cargo cover. I also went ahead and got Husky liners all around (well worth the money). I also use plastic carpet protector (from U-Haul) on the rear cargo mat and back of the rear seats which really helps with the dog hair and sand. No problem with the seat heating as best I can tell but I don't need it that often in our climate.By the time the seat has done its initial heat cycle the engine heat is ready to take over. I added a remote keypad but I put mine out of sight on the rear hatch near the license tag light. I really like being able to lock my keys in the car when I go running so I don't have to carry anything.

I still say, as long as you don't need to tow anything and want an SUV, the FEH/MMH can't be beat.

 

I'll hit 30 days by the end of the week and it will be about 2000 miles by then. The temperature is warming up so I just had my best tank so far. The truck is showing 36.3 MPG in a combination of 80% highway. It seems to be about 2 MPG optimistic, so I'll probably end up about 34 MPG. That is only double the vehicle it replaced, so I'm happy.