Combining a four-cylinder gasoline engine with an electric motor and battery pack, the 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid boasts an Environmental Protection Agency-estimated fuel mileage rating of 41 mpg city and 36 mpg highway. That’s the big news.

Shutting off the gas engine while stopped, the Milan Hybrid can drive solely on electric power at lower speeds, automatically turning on the engine based on power demand. As with other hybrids currently on the market, there is no need to plug in the Milan Hybrid. It recharges its own batteries via the gasoline engine and by regenerative braking, a process that captures the energy used to slow the car down and converts it to electricity.

The Mercury Milan Hybrid had a typical midsize mediocre design, but a new nose and tail treatment for 2010 really woke it up. I like the refresh of the Ford Fusion – the Milan’s sister car – better, but my wife preferred the nicely optioned Milan tester, particularly for its tasteful two-tone interior treatment. The price difference is negligible, so it’s up to personal taste when picking between the two.

Most hybrids crank the gasoline engine over on start-up, but the Mercury Milan starts off in silent electric mode.

This hybrid system – shared with the Ford Fusion Hybrid – is highly regarded, but I found the transition from battery to gas engine power to be more noticeable than in many other hybrids. Also, the regenerative brakes were intermittently grabby at very low speeds coming to or off of a stop. Nevertheless, I would still consider its operation seamless.

A big help in saving gas is the instrument display. It’s a blank screen that grows into an array of virtual gauges worthy of a science fiction movie. While there are several options and selections to help you monitor fuel consumption, the single best thing is the power gauge. Instead of just a meter that swings back and forth, it’s a bar graph with a red needle representing throttle input; the needle is surrounded by a green box that changes shape to give drivers an idea when power demand will make the gas engine turn on. So you can back off a little if need be to keep it in electric drive or see how much more pedal you can give it to keep moving with traffic without gasoline power.

The only real sacrifice with the Milan Hybrid versus the standard Milan is a significant loss in trunk space. I would have appreciated folding rear seat backs for more cargo-carrying versatility. Some complaints about the Milan unrelated to the hybrid system were with its optional dual-zone climate control. You can’t choose where the air is distributed. It makes those decisions based on temperature selection.

Also, the vents on the panel are counterintuitive.

A thumbwheel next to the vents looked like it would control the volume of air flow; instead it controlled the up-and-down direction. The silver button on the center of the vent controlled only the sideto- side motion.

While the navigation system has a nice graphic display, it’s placed quite low on the instrument panel. Outside mirrors are rigidly mounted; with power adjustment, heat and security lights, as well as optional blind spot detection on the test car, smashing one of these off is sure to keep your insurance premiums high.

Over a few days of city driving, my average fuel mileage hovered around 37 mpg.

This was consistent with the Fusion Hybrid I tested earlier this year and still within the range of EPA estimates. I know I could have done even better with the help of the power gauge, but I drove it in a fairly normal manner and used the air conditioning.

As with other hybrids, I thought the rate of acceleration from a dead stop in electric drive wasn’t brisk enough to prevent traffic slowdowns. But you can let the gas engine bring you up to your city cruising speed and then back off the accelerator; the Milan Hybrid will go back into electric drive without burning any more gasoline.

Ford says it will go up to 47 mph on electric power; I didn’t get it quite that high but could easily get it higher than 40 mph.

Impressive indeed.

I’ve been skeptical of the advantages of hybrids in the past. Real-world mileage figures have often been well below estimates in my experience and top electric-only speeds have been too low to be useful. With the 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid, it looks like the equation is finally becoming realistic.

2010 MERCURY MILAN HYBRID

ENGINE: 156-horsepower 2.5-liter four-cylinder

TRANSMISSION: continuously variable automatic

DRIVETRAIN: front-wheel drive

FUEL ECONOMY: 41 city/36 highway

BASE PRICE: $27,855

WEB SITE: Mercuryvehicles.com