i rented a durango gt for a work trip to atlanta and back and gotta say i was impressed.
swimsuit competition:
it looks large at first glance, like forebodingly so. and while, yes, its a hair shy of 200 inches long, that’s still shorter than a honda odyssey or a regular cab/bed F-150. but after the first impression i realized that its design makes it seem bigger than it is. i’m sure some automotive design guru from caltech could explain what specifically tricks the eye into all of this but that’s a different person than me.
other than the real/perceived size, even though its an old design by now it still holds up well and all the bits feel proportional unlike, say, the bottom bumper of a challenger or the size of one portion of chips from your cool ranch bag. attractive, toned and generally pleasing to my eye at least.
interview competition:
even though this was the model (gt) up from the base model (sxt), it felt decently equipped. nice large and comfy leather seats with suede feeling center insert (which as an aside i wish that more carmakers would do, because the leather helps with the durability of the non butt-sat part of the seat but your buns avoid the extra toast when the car’s been out in the sun all day), memory settings on those seats, carplay on a slightly disappointingly but certainly liveable sized infographic screen above the triple zone climate stack, a nicely knob/button’ed stack that made intuitive sense, storage trays that fit cups, phones, keys, sunglasses and a decently sized center console.. all in a package that felt big on the inside but manageable.
the cargo area was also pretty swank, with rear seats folded but the second row still up, there was enough capacity to sit a 3 and a half foot work table that i was hauling as well as two people’s overnight bag and a few other random bits and pieces. i folded up the second row for ‘shiz and gigs’ and there was a TON of space if i’d needed to carry anything with real length.
fuel economy? not great, but i averaged about 24mpg with a mostly highway drive, which is about 1mpg better than i get with my m240i and instead of premium gas the durango takes good ole ‘murican regular gas. that with a 24+ gallon tank took me almost 500 miles before needing a fill-up.
i’m told it tows 6200 #. didn’t get to try that out on my rental but i’m sure that would also come in handy af for a boat, camper, weekend racecar...
talent competition:
i literally can not remember the last time i drove a car that handled rough highway, potholes, grooved asphalt, expansion joints and bad roads more calmly than this durango. it was calm and composed quite literally no matter what was happening at speed, even in the wet weather.
but wait, it got better. most cars that i’ve experienced with plush rides also have the handling feel of a living room couch on wheels. this stayed as planted as a 5k pound plus 200 inch suv could possibly be expected to as you turned or hit corners.
the stig i am not, and a track it did not, but either way - i was duly impressed with the handling and ride quality.
results:
would it be better with a hemi or all in with the 700+ horses that the hellcat version is offering this year? sure, i suppose - but its plenty quick and plenty capable as the v6 of pretty much anything you might ask this kind of vehicle to do.
it certainly wouldnt be a terrible vehicle choice for something that could suit an entire family’s needs by itself and i wouldn’t want it to get any worse gas mileage than this one did for all of the long-haul comfy trips it would take - this spec or something close to it is likely the sweetspot for most folks.
in any case, its definitely the winner of miss roadtrip. i told my wife that if we find ourselves in the market for a roadtrip vehicle that i’m gonna look for one. she smiled supportively with just the smallest bit of sideeye. i’ll take that as a win.