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New Models
DRIVEN: Dodge Durango Changes Totally
From truck to crossover, new SUV is derived from Mercedes-Benz GL-Class platform.
The 2011 Dodge Durango came back as a very different sort of vehicle, with more sophistication and optional Hemi power. (Photo: Dodge)
If the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee is a distant cousin to the Mercedes ML, and a proud one at that, does that make this 2011 Dodge Durango kin to the Benz GL?
And does that make its $30,000 base price even more of a screaming bargain?
Chrysler set the Grand Cherokee free earlier this year in a first-drive press event all its own, but it pooled the Durango together with a refurbished Dodge lineup. We flew to northern California to drive the Durango and five other new or revised Dodges for the first time. And on a windy hilltop overlooking the Infineon Raceway, we slipped the keys to an R/T in our pockets and rolled through Napa to sample the V8 and also the V6 SUV.
At first glance, the Durango's new wagon body is less distinctive and less muscular than the old truck-based version. Chrysler has merged the Durango with the Grand Cherokee's unibody architecture and in the process, it's honed off Durango’s bulges and some of the character. That immense crosshair grille cants forward atop a short front overhang, but that's the last truly unique cue you can pick out as you move down the seven-seater's profile. From the rear, in particular, the Durango reads like second-generation Toyota Sequoia. Blandly, benignly handsome.
The cockpit brings the real visual impact. Like the Grand Cherokee, the new Durango sends outdated, hard-edge plastics to the recycling bin. Snapped into place is a tightly fitted, attractive cabin with big red-needled gauges, simple climate-control knobs,and backpedaled touches of bright and soft metallic trim. Our R/T tester also had leather upholstery with woven red inserts and red stitching, and white trim rings on the dials, all well downplayed.
Chrysler is reformatting its corporate drivetrains by deleting its antique sixes and deleting a mid-range V8 from the Durango check sheet. Down to only a 3.6-liter V-6 or 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, the Durango gets focused on superior powertrain performance and wins the battles for acceleration, responsiveness and towing capacity.
We spent some of our Durango drive time in the Pentastar V-6 and thought it mated better with the essentially carryover five-speed automatic than it does with Chrysler's new six-speed gearboxes. The gears are spaced well enough, and the V6's 290 horsepower and 260 pound-feet or torque spin out predictable mid-range acceleration in the eight-second range, though with a little less of the exhaust boom we found in the Grand Cherokee. The combination yields EPA numbers of 16/23 mpg for rear-drive versions and 16/22 mpg with all-wheel drive, pretty acceptable numbers for a vehicle of the Durango's size.
Opt into the Hemi-equipped Durango and fuel economy slides to 14/20 mpg (or 13/20 mpg with all-wheel drive) since the same five-speed automatic is in charge of switching gears (an eight-speed is in the pipeline, Chrysler says). But the penalty comes with all those fantastic Hemi drivetrain noises and the thrust of 360 horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque. It's the anti-crossover, especially with the Hemi and R/T trim, and if the world still sanctioned big SUVs for small families, the Durango R/T would be elbowing out the Flex, the Acadia and other big crossovers capable of fuel economy in the mid-20s. With the six, it's good enough, but with the V8 the Durango is great, and it's rugged enough to tow up to 7,400 pounds.
And does that make its $30,000 base price even more of a screaming bargain?
Chrysler set the Grand Cherokee free earlier this year in a first-drive press event all its own, but it pooled the Durango together with a refurbished Dodge lineup. We flew to northern California to drive the Durango and five other new or revised Dodges for the first time. And on a windy hilltop overlooking the Infineon Raceway, we slipped the keys to an R/T in our pockets and rolled through Napa to sample the V8 and also the V6 SUV.
At first glance, the Durango's new wagon body is less distinctive and less muscular than the old truck-based version. Chrysler has merged the Durango with the Grand Cherokee's unibody architecture and in the process, it's honed off Durango’s bulges and some of the character. That immense crosshair grille cants forward atop a short front overhang, but that's the last truly unique cue you can pick out as you move down the seven-seater's profile. From the rear, in particular, the Durango reads like second-generation Toyota Sequoia. Blandly, benignly handsome.
The cockpit brings the real visual impact. Like the Grand Cherokee, the new Durango sends outdated, hard-edge plastics to the recycling bin. Snapped into place is a tightly fitted, attractive cabin with big red-needled gauges, simple climate-control knobs,and backpedaled touches of bright and soft metallic trim. Our R/T tester also had leather upholstery with woven red inserts and red stitching, and white trim rings on the dials, all well downplayed.
Chrysler is reformatting its corporate drivetrains by deleting its antique sixes and deleting a mid-range V8 from the Durango check sheet. Down to only a 3.6-liter V-6 or 5.7-liter Hemi V-8, the Durango gets focused on superior powertrain performance and wins the battles for acceleration, responsiveness and towing capacity.
We spent some of our Durango drive time in the Pentastar V-6 and thought it mated better with the essentially carryover five-speed automatic than it does with Chrysler's new six-speed gearboxes. The gears are spaced well enough, and the V6's 290 horsepower and 260 pound-feet or torque spin out predictable mid-range acceleration in the eight-second range, though with a little less of the exhaust boom we found in the Grand Cherokee. The combination yields EPA numbers of 16/23 mpg for rear-drive versions and 16/22 mpg with all-wheel drive, pretty acceptable numbers for a vehicle of the Durango's size.
Opt into the Hemi-equipped Durango and fuel economy slides to 14/20 mpg (or 13/20 mpg with all-wheel drive) since the same five-speed automatic is in charge of switching gears (an eight-speed is in the pipeline, Chrysler says). But the penalty comes with all those fantastic Hemi drivetrain noises and the thrust of 360 horsepower and 390 pound-feet of torque. It's the anti-crossover, especially with the Hemi and R/T trim, and if the world still sanctioned big SUVs for small families, the Durango R/T would be elbowing out the Flex, the Acadia and other big crossovers capable of fuel economy in the mid-20s. With the six, it's good enough, but with the V8 the Durango is great, and it's rugged enough to tow up to 7,400 pounds.
The Lyonheart K
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