Elegant and relevant: Dodge leaps back into the thick of the SUV game.
We'll cut to the chase: This new Dodge Durango is the brand's best vehicle not called Charger. After a two-year hiatus, the Durango is back, with a unibody design based on the same underpinnings that spawned Jeep's stellar 2011 Grand Cherokee, which came in tops in its first comparo. As handsome as the last one was brash, the 2011 Durango offers rear- or all-wheel drive, standard seven-butt seating (the Jeep is shorter and seats only five), a swank soft-touch and chrome-trimmed interior, and assembly quality that rivals anything in the segment. While the new Durango is heavy—weights are quoted at 4750–5100 pounds with the V-6 and 5200–5350 pounds with the Hemi V-8—Dodge is nonetheless positioning it as a performance-oriented alternative to the current segment offerings, a claim backed up by the retention of rear-wheel drive and the resurrection of the Durango R/T, which nabs a standard Hemi V-8, unique exhaust tuning, sportier styling, and a lowered, tuned suspension.
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