The Dodge Durango is back on the market, reborn for 2011 as a midsize crossover utility vehicle, based on the architecture of the redesigned 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee.
But the new Durango, like its predecessor, has a third row of seating, while the Grand Cherokee has just two rows. That gives the Durango a capacity of seven passengers, compared with five for the Grand Cherokee.
And that makes it more desirable for lots of consumers — including me — who like the idea of having that third seat available when it's needed. On my recent weeklong test of the Durango, the extra capacity came in handy for a long trip, during which we needed room for six people and their luggage.
The Durango has its own distinctive styling, different from the Grand Cherokee, inside and out. It has the new Dodge crosshair grille, instantly putting it in the Dodge family of vehicles.
It's quite comfortable, although as with most vehicles in this class, the third row is best suited for children. Up front, though, the seats were fine for a long highway drive; in the middle row, even the adults had plenty of knee- and legroom.
The new model revived the Durango line, which was dropped after the 2009 model year in response to poor SUV sales due to 2008's high gasoline prices.
Originally, the Durango was a traditional body-on-frame, truck-based sport utility; the new model has unibody construction — no frame underneath as body and frame are integrated in a single unit.
Having the new Durango in the Dodge lineup was a surprise. There were reports that as Chrysler reinvented itself after bankruptcy, the Dodge brand would return with only minivans and performance cars such as the Charger and Challenger.
Jeep was believed to be the brand that would have the company's only sport utility vehicles; and Chrysler was said to be the brand for cars and minivans. The Dodge pickups, meanwhile, were renamed “Ram.”
But the Durango is back, and it's one of three crossovers in the Dodge lineup. The others are the five-passenger compact Nitro and five- or seven-passenger midsize Journey. (The Nitro is built on the architecture of the Jeep Liberty, while the Journey is derived from the Dodge Avenger sedan.)
The first generation of the Durango arrived for 1998, which was its best sales year ever, with nearly 190,000 sold. It was redesigned on the new Dakota midsize pickup chassis for 2004 and received a partial makeover for 2007 while remaining on the same chassis. In its last year, 2009, only about 33,500 were sold.
Prices for the redesigned 2011 Durango ranged from $29,195 to $44,020 (plus $850 freight), but for 2012, consumers get a small break — the new range is $28,995 to $42,995.
Five versions were in the 2011 lineup: the base Express; midlevel Heat, Crew and R/T models; and the top-of-the-line Citadel. For 2012, though, there are only four trims. The base model is now the SXT, and the Heat model has been discontinued.
For this report, our tester was the 2011 Crew rear-wheel-drive model, with a base price of $33,420.
Under the hood of the Durango is either a V-6 or V-8 engine, and it has rear- or all-wheel drive. The base engine is the same 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 from the Grand Cherokee, rated at 290 horsepower and 260 foot-pounds of torque. It has a Mercedes-Benz-derived five-speed automatic transmission,
EPA ratings are 16 mpg city/23 highway for the V-6 rear- and all-wheel-drive models for 2012; the 2011 model was rated at 16/22 with all-wheel drive. The two-wheel drive V-6 has a range of more than 500 miles on a tank of gasoline.
Available is the 5.7-liter Hemi V-8 from the Grand Cherokee, with 360 horsepower and 390 foot-pounds of torque, paired with a six-speed automatic transmission. It has a fuel-saving system that cuts it down to four cylinders during highway cruising.
Fuel-economy ratings for the V-8 are 14 city/20 highway with rear-wheel drive and 13/20 with all-wheel drive.
