Merkur commercial (1986)

[FantomLightning]

LOL SAAB as the "Establishment" never thats the biggest crock of shit ever

[thehooly]

Ford escort Sierra. 2.3 shit engine. Learn about it.

[kernals12]

i would buy a Ford Taurus over this any day, believe it or not it was the American Ford Taurus that was more sophisticated then the European Ford Sierra which is what the Merkur is, because the Taurus had Front Wheel Drive, EFI, and MacPherson strut suspension

[swanny66041]

Ugly or not, it still looks good today. Maybe I'm biased because mine is in the garage, though it has the Cosworth body kit, which makes the front end look great!

[VTS1337]

Saab could offer loads more better, The relabilty, the handling, the safety.

Sorry but no one pwns the 900 T16

[barriobajaj]

German Edsels

[KGWOLF77]

It's a Ford Sierra!!!!!!!!

[hottdylan1993]

It sure was an ugly car, Saabs were always ugly too. My fathers boss had one of these and he had multiple affairs in it, so I guess this ugly gay lookin thing can get you laid, which he had millions of dollars, and everybody knows that women can't resist the smell of money.

[VTS1337]

@hottdylan1993 I like saabs, and they are certainly faster and WAY more reliable than this...pile of rust. I like the Ford Sierra because of its retroness and styling, but Saabs, they look great, they drive great, and they don't rust as much.

[Fuji086]

It was basically a Ford sierra re-badged for the North American market. The sierra name didn't make it over because GM would've thrown a bitch fit. (GMC sierra and Oldsmobile Ciera)

[dillontfreeman]

i've got an 89 xrti in my garage right now, first car. Stumbled across it in a small used car place. 300 bucks and the engine was completely disassembled sitting in the back. Leather seats and shit. me and dad almost have it runnin. Can't wait to drive the beast. :)

[BrunostNOR]

@007bondspy Idiot, it's a rebadged best selling Ford Sierra from Europe.... it was a really good car too

[007bondspy]

@BrunostNOR no it was a heap of shit .....you fucking cocksmoker

[CardboardPhantom]

My Grandpa had a Red one just like in the commercial. I was born in 1988, so when he still had it, I was still just a kid.

Our family affectionately nicknamed it the "red rocket". lol

[starscream6000]

the music in the background sounds cool.

[carwrtr1]

14 years ago, the dealer I worked at got one of these in, and it was a great car to drive. It handled great on the road, and it was FAST. I didn't realize I was going 70 in a 55, and it may have been a Ford Sierra, but so what? Ford needed to bring more European models here, and it took them over 14 years to do it. Marketing is what hurt this car; it did have electrical issues, but that could have been remedied. This car was better than the 3 in the ad, PERIOD.

[LaugermanPROductions]

I'd buy one if I could find one!

[Seaclam67]

I fairly positive I drove by the location the day this was shot. I was on a day trip to a place called Amboy Crater out in the the middle of nowhere. It was on the Kel-Baker road, which was only paved part of the way and I remember seeing that red car, which looked really contrasty to the desert surrondings. This whole area where it was shot is basically known as the Devil's Playground/Devil's Punchbowl.

[GM572]

Please help me with some advice and pictures of certain parts in the engine compartment. I want to restore my '87 MERKUR XR4Ti and I have no owner's manual,no instruction,electrical or shop manual.Please,if there is someone that has those and can scan them and send them ,or some of them at least, please do make me a happy camper :)

Let's re-give life to a very cool,but underrated car.

Thanks!

[BAforlife01]

WOW!! Brings back memories! Funny, I bought one of these back then because of THIS commercial. . Great car, when it wasnt in the shop. Ahead of its time in looks though.

[corvettekid224]

Man the XR4-TI was a cool car. To bad the brand went extinckt! The 1980s spawned some cool cars like this.

[DavidMcMahon1]

Sierra (Merkur) had a facelift in approx 1990 but did the Merkur's get the facelift? or indeed the other models (they started with a 1.6 in the UK)

Why did ford not put a Ford badge on the exported cars???

[legorret1]

The Ford Sierra had a fastlift in 1987 and a small one in 1991 before to be replaced by the Mondeo.

[DavidMcMahon1]

My Mum had a '90 Ghia 2.0 OHC 8v

[legorret1]

It was a nice car, very common in the 80's but very rare in France nowaday.

[wingtip06]

The announcer said; "Available at BUDGET RENTAL CAR locations!

[GM572]

I have a 1987 red Merkur XR4Ti ,just like the one in the commercial,but with the spoke rims. It's so awesome! Here in Romania they are sooo very rare. Mine is currently standing, but I'm very proud that i own it. It was a childhood dream for me to have one of these awesome cars.

[theshmegma]

I had a 86 XR4TI. Red just like the commercial. It was originally my sisters, then my Grandmother drove it through a garage door, she thought the pedal stuck, my entire family still says bullshit to this day.

[dadsoldtapes]

hmm... well since merkur dissolved after 1989 and i was like one year old i had never even heard of this car company until i came across this commercial on an only video tape to upload... and since then i've been on the lookout, never seen any merkur

[ap1hondaking]

i have a red 89 with 5.0 mustan v8 swap i also had a 86 but sold it to buy a new del sol.

[Furetgarcon]

Ebay go on ebay they got aldeast 5 of them people who have them seem to want to the sell them you can get em for under $5000

[sil80evryday2]

@dadsoldtapes i have i seena white one here in new jersey its clean as hell it was at a car how at a restaurant called fudds

[duncan36]

They were probably trying to rebrand Mercury as Merkur if this was successful. Because even by '86 Mercury was just cloning Ford products. The European Sierra's had an available V6 so why they bothered with the powerful but unrefined 2.3 turbo is beyond me. They should have brought high spec, leathered out Sierra V6 models over and tried to sell it as a luxo-sport car instead of a sports car. And not bothered with the Scorpio, 24k for a 144hp car? Come on obviously no ones going to buy that.

[PUREAAMERICAN]

eighties did have some good cars. XR4Ti was cool but who would buy it over a 300zx Mustang GT even the SAAB 900 turbo was less expensive

[dadsoldtapes]

well yeah the saab 900 is exactly what you see her being "the establishment" that faces a new challenge - i never heard of merkur until i saw this commercial

[Afacelessdeath]

I probably would have...

[RoosterFX]

I love this.. I have the same car badass commerical wish someone can find more

[91Taurus]

My uncle had a 1985 model that was exactly like the one in this commercial from 1990 until 1992 when he crashed it. I've seen a few home videos of his car and have liked them ever since.

Great commercial! I'll have to show it to my uncle

[ke228]

Man, it's too bad Merkur didn't last. They were nice, Especially the Merkur Scorpio!!

[dadsoldtapes]

yeah i know i never even heard of this car make until i uncovered the tape this commercial was on... but yeah it did fail mainly because of exchange rate issues and the fact that Germany was still split (well maybe).

[Friedchicken80]

Man, this is a Ford Sierra here in Europe. It was a great rally race car.

[TheNostalgiaSpot]

Apparently Merkur wasn't up for the challenge, because it bombed BIG TIME.

[dadsoldtapes]

yeah true cause i like never heard of this model actually until i saw this commercial

[doguecreek]

It bombed in the USA because they sold them in Lincoln Mercury dealerships. Who goes there? Old people looking for a land yacht. Where do younger people looking for a sports coupe or sporty car go? Ford dealership, looking at Mustangs.

I had an 88 XR4ti, it was more polished and modern than a 97 Mustang I almost bought later. The Merkur had its share of problems (cooked batteries, warping front rotors, etc) but it was a blast to drive.

[TheNostalgiaSpot]

Actually, from the research I've done, the reason why Merkur bombed because it was launched at the exact same time as the Mercury Sable. The Sable had the aerodynamic styling and sporty credentials as the Merkurs, but it cost a lot less, and since it was sold on the exact same showroom floor, prospective Merkur buyers instead bought Sables.

[doguecreek]

Perhaps that was part of it, but the Sable was just the Taurus. I'd expect the Sable would compete with the same market segment as for the Merkur Scorpio, but not the 2-door hatch sports coupe (the XR4ti).

Maybe the Merkur experience is what has kept Ford from bringing in their European line to the USA, other than the upcoming Fiesta, which is undergoing a "USA redesign".