Inside is where the Montego shines, in several ways. First and foremost is in the sheer roominess, 107 cubic feet front and rear combined, that the engineers have designed into this family sedan. The Montego's generous interior dimensions put it among the leaders in virtually every category, including best-in-class headroom and knee room in the rear compartment. Mercury says that the Montego has more interior space than competitive vehicles that are up to seven inches longer than it, and that its trunk, at 21 cubic feet, is also the largest in the class, aided by a space-saver spare tire. Both rear seats and the front passenger seat can be made to fold down, extending the useful cargo area of the Montego to station wagon proportions. With the front seat flopped over, you can get nearly 50 inches of storage length down the right side of the car.

The interior design was influenced by SUVs. The beefy steering wheel looks like it came from a Mercury truck, with more buttons than ever for added convenience, easier control over the cruise control, and more audio functions. Other SUV design cues include the overhead console, a big brow over the instruments. All the graphics are large, white on black, and very easy to read.

The Montego comes in three interior colors, two-tone grey, two-tone tan, and black. There's enough brushed aluminum trim to tell you you're in a Mercury product. The Luxury model comes with a straight-grain wood trim, while the Premium gets burled wood trim.

A large, oval-shaped clock is the central feature of the instrument panel, which is dark on top and light on the bottom, just as the seats are dark on the outside and light on the inside (unless you opt for the all-black interior). The instruments are easy to read and the controls are easy and quick to use.

The driving position in the new Montego dictates that it feels more like an SUV than a car, nice and high up, with wonderful outward vision. The seats sit up about four inches higher than the seats in a Sable sedan, and they are bit of a design throwback, with big outside segments and simple transverse segments. But they are also large, plush and a good deal more supportive than Sable seats. The rear seats are set up higher still so that rear-seat passengers can see out without craning.

NEXT - Driving the 2005 Mercury Montego