by "Powershiftmedia-ResidentDSMGuru" (matt-powershiftmedia)
Published 11/08/2017 at 23:08
by "Powershiftmedia-ResidentDSMGuru" (matt-powershiftmedia)
Published 11/08/2017 at 23:08
Tags: Dodge
; 2017 dodge durango
STARS: 4
Long story short, my Freightliner toasted a transmission, and has been at the dealer. I’m losing a ton of money sitting, so I complained. My company decided to rent me a car. Not wanting to leave my beloved DSM sitting at a rental car company, I raised concern. My company is quite good, so Enterprise rental car picked me up. I expected a crappy Kia or something along those lines.
Except, they picked me up in a brand new Durango RT. Upon taking delivery, I wasn’t quite sure what to think. I had to drive eighty miles to pick up my rental truck, except it wasn’t ready tonight, and I pick it up tomorrow. So, I did exactly what anyone in my position would do, fueled it up on the company credit card and decided to start joy riding around Maumee Ohio since I’m stuck in a hotel.
Initial Impressions
The exterior isn’t bad actually, wearing black metallic paint and some shiny wheels, it’s actually fairly handsome. I’ll get some shots tomorrow in the daylight, but fit and finish is pretty good upon my initial quality inspection.
The interior has already exceeded my expectations, the leather seats are heated, vented and quite comfortable. The steering wheel is of course leather and heated. The one knock I have right now is that the radio buttons are on the rear of the steering wheel behind the shift paddles, so when manually shifting it, you sometimes accidentally change stations. A minor annoyance for sure.
I love the uConnect system, and always have. In my personal opinion, it’s one of the best infotainment systems out there, it’s massively easy to use. The audio system has some balls behind it, it is equipped with BEATS audio and I enjoy jamming out some SXM Octane with it.
It took me a second to figure out how to disable the engine start stop feature, it was driving me absolutely insane in traffic. Once I figured out a simple button disabled it (found on the center stack) I felt quite stupid. This was the single biggest annoyance until I disabled it.
Steering is adjustable through the infotainment system, you can select between “Normal” “Sport” and “Comfort” all of the settings make a noticeable difference. I found that “Sport” was ideal for the feel that I prefer. I’ll dive more into this later.
The cup holders are very large, and also cooled. I mention this because I think every vehicle should have this feature. My sugar free Red Bull stayed chilled the entire ride! Nice touch FCA!
Driving Impressions
The sport mode changes throttle mapping, ride quality and shift harshness, it’s very noticeable. In sport mode, I found some very immediate quirks. This vehicle is equipped with an eight speed automatic, and at 60 miles per hour, it won’t even get into eighth gear, it wants to hold seventh to maintain the power curve. With sport mode disabled it will hold eighth gear, this was worth noting to me.
Ride quality is very good in normal mode, it’s actually very comfortable and doesn’t crash around needlessly. However, in sport mode, it rides about half as harsh as my DSM on coilovers, this isn’t a complaint, rather something I’m bringing up. I prefer a firm ride, and I was very surprised about how firm it becomes. For a vehicle weighing 4995 pounds, body roll is very well managed and it feels pretty confident with high speed lane changes.
Steering is really good in sport mode, it’s not artificially heavy, and feedback is decent. This isn’t a sports car by any stretch, but it’s certainly better than my mother’s fully loaded Z71 Silverado.
Braking is also very good, driving in a large city, you’ll quickly discover that the Durango RT can cease motion very quickly, better than virtually any other large SUV I’ve driven.
Not so good is rearward visibility, the rear view mirror is basically pointless. However, the side mirrors do a very good job of giving you the big picture, and I drive semi for a living, therefore rear visibility isn’t something I personally count on. However, it’s just terrible on this vehicle. The backup camera is exceptional, the lines change with steering input and even an idiot can parallel park this tank.
What surprised me the most so far is driving comfort. Road noise is highly isolated, there’s no real wind noise nor is there any notable road noise. At a stop light, the Durango is extremely nice and quiet, Dodge has really stepped up in this department!
Push the throttle down and you get a little bit of engine noise, you can tell the HEMI wants to carry a conversation, but mass market appeal has forced it to whisper, a shame really.
My favorite thing so far is the eight speed automatic, I find it to be extremely good. The paddle shifters feel very good in your hands, although they’re not mounted to the steering column and they rotate while turning. Regardless, under acceleration the eight speed shifts very quickly, and will NOT shift to the next gear in manual mode. You can actually redline the engine, it won’t override you in any way.
In automatic mode, the transmission is very smooth and executes seamless up and downshifts. I feel like Dodge really needed to get this right, and in my opinion, they nailed it. The 5.7 feels very torquey with the eight speed, in the older automatic vehicles I always felt that the base HEMI lacked passing power, and that’s not the case anymore.
Daily Driving
I’ve got a heavy foot, yet I averaged 22.3 MPG in my driving, quite good for a seven passenger SUV with a V8. The BEATS audio is super nice to use, and I’ve been finding excuses to drive around aimlessly to get a feel for the Durango.
Interior comfort is something I’ll mention again, it’s extremely good! There’s a ton of storage space, the rear cargo area is massive, the glove compartment is massive, there’s little storage cubbies virtually everywhere, there’s no reason you would ever run out of storage in this thing.
The smart key works very easily too, just run your finger over the door handle and it unlocks and even adjusts the seat to your position automatically. Obviously it’s equipped with a push button start switch, so there’s no reason to even remove the key from your pocket.
My favorite feature is the uConnect app. Honestly, it’s the shit. You can remotely locate the vehicle, which I already found handy. I parked in a large parking lot and forgot where I’d parked, no problem. I simply opened my app, remotely had the headlights flashing, and found it immediately. Also, I even remotely started the Durango all without even knowing where it was. That’s pretty cool!
I’m going to make it clear, this is a rental. I’m not paid by Dodge to write this, and in fairness, I didn’t think I’d like this vehicle. However, in one day of driving, I’ve changed my mind.
Cool Factor
We are all car enthusiasts, that’s why we’re here. The Durango may not be a “cool” vehicle by any means, but it has some tools to aid it in this fight.
For one, disable traction control, kick on sport mode, put your left foot on the brake and your right foot on the gas, it’ll stall up to about 4,000 RPM and it’ll launch hard enough to kick an iPhone 7 out of a vent mount. That’s pretty cool!
The tail lights and headlights look really cool, I’ve always been a sucker for the LED tails on these things, and the headlights are absolutely killer. The auto dimming brights are a really nice feature, and I’m going to miss it. Being able to fold in the mirrors through uConnect and being able to configure the auto dip mirrors with a few button clicks is also really nice.
Final Conclusions
More or less I’m super bored in a hotel, so just throwing this together without any real thought to be honest. I will say this though, I just learned that Dodge offers an SRT version of the Durango, and it runs 12.9 in the quarter mile, that’s very appealing. It’s comfortable to drive, reasonably fuel efficient, and offers a biblical amount of space. If you have kids, need a larger vehicle that can get off the pavement, or want something that feels substantial, don’t be quick to dismiss the Durango RT.
I plan to drive the Durango SRT, I’ve refrained from buying a new vehicle for some time. After today, that may change.
Matthew is a bored truck driver that makes impulse decisions, and has the quirkiest taste in cars. If you think I’m an idiot, you wouldn’t be wrong. However, I’m as unbiased as they come, and you should definitely take my advice with a grain of salt. Thanks for reading!
"If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent" (essextee)
11/08/2017 at 23:27, STARS: 4
Doesn’t it bother you that the center stack and center console don’t line up?
"Powershiftmedia-ResidentDSMGuru" (matt-powershiftmedia)
11/08/2017 at 23:28, STARS: 0
Hah, didn’t even notice that! I want to do a serious examination of the interior tomorrow before returning it, I’m glad you pointed this out. While odd, not a huge deal. The Ferrari 360 has a space underneath the center stack big enough to stow a decorative throw pillow after all :P
"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
11/08/2017 at 23:30, STARS: 1
I sold a 2014 R/T that was my favorite car on the lot. I may have taken it on a few unnecessary “test drives”. The 5.7 sounded great, and the 8 speed ZF was quick. The interior was amazing by my plebeian standards. I can only imagine it’s gotten better in the last 3 years.
Did yours also have the rotary dial shifter? I loved that, but I’m not sure if they still use it.
Also that 2014 Durango R/T need up being named Clifford the big red Dodge. And the owners perfected it by adding OEM roof rails that the R/T didn’t come with. That wasn’t cheap.
"Powershiftmedia-ResidentDSMGuru" (matt-powershiftmedia)
11/08/2017 at 23:34, STARS: 1
Oh shoot I’m glad I’m not alone, I find myself loving this thing. It does indeed use the rotary shifter, and I’m honestly in love with it. It’s idiot proof, if you’re gonna reinvent the shifter, this is how it’s done in my opinion.
The 5.7 does have a good snarl to it, cold starts are real nice. I’d love to straight pipe this big boy.
"Tapas" (tapas)
11/08/2017 at 23:35, STARS: 3
Of course....a “decorative throw pillow” of nose candy.
"Powershiftmedia-ResidentDSMGuru" (matt-powershiftmedia)
11/08/2017 at 23:36, STARS: 1
LMAO nice! I literally laughed out loud at this!
"HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles" (hondasfordsvolvo)
11/08/2017 at 23:42, STARS: 1
That dial shifter is one of the best things Dodge has done in the last 5 years. Funny that Ram and Dodge Have a unique that works perfectly. While on the other hand Jeep decided to use a shifter that is so stupid it literally killed people.
"Powershiftmedia-ResidentDSMGuru" (matt-powershiftmedia)
11/08/2017 at 23:48, STARS: 1
I’m glad you mentioned this. Having the park button separate is stupid to me, because the average auto consumer is indeed stupid. The rotary shifter is completely impossible to mess up, it’s self explanatory. Not to mention it’s really nice to use. Also, I feel like it’s really attractive. Jaguar uses a similar system, but the shifter raises upon starting the car.
Jaguar, raising shift lever... I can see how that’ll be an issue in the future. No gimmicks here, just turn a knob. It’s really the right way to do it.
"Deal Killer - Powered by Focus" (dealkiller-ii)
11/09/2017 at 00:46, STARS: 1
Shit, if I would have read this earlier I’d have told you to go to Earnest Brew on Detroit & Byrne Road. They have the best beer in Toledo. It’s only about five miles from Maumee, right off the Anthony Wayne Trail. If you’re looking for a breakfast joint in the morning, head north Reynolds Road until you get to a little place called Schmucker’s. Great breakfast. Or Doc Watson’s on Byrne & Glendale. They serve a mean breakfast too, and bloody mary’s. Have fun with the R/T, just be careful of the speed cameras in Toledo. They’re everywhere.
"Powershiftmedia-ResidentDSMGuru" (matt-powershiftmedia)
11/09/2017 at 01:05, STARS: 0
Oh wow, thanks for the recommendations! I live about eighty miles from here, used to be in the area often but it’s been forever. It’s nice to see some locals on here as well! Thanks again!
"boxrocket" (boxrocket)
11/09/2017 at 05:51, STARS: 0
Came here to ask this, and you even provided an illustration. Bravo!
"boxrocket" (boxrocket)
11/09/2017 at 05:57, STARS: 0
I have a soft spot for the Durango, despite the fact - or because of it? - that the Durango and Jeep Grand Cherokee are derived from the large Mercedes SUV platform, although the Mopars and Mercedes are definitely showing their age at this time (much like the Charger/Challenger and Chrysler 300). FCA is doing a decent job keeping them fresh, though, at least cosmetically. The Durango is about the top of the list of acceptable Mopar products (that haven’t had the SRT treatment) that I could buy, but that I wouldn’t necessarily seek out.
"SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media" (silentbutnotreallydeadly)
11/09/2017 at 07:01, STARS: 0
There is something about your description of the Durango that inspired my vision of the mobile human couches in the movie ‘Wall-e’. It may have been the chilled cupholders...
"StndIbnz, Drives a MSRT8" (stndibnz1)
11/09/2017 at 07:56, STARS: 0
Going to go ahead and agree with every statement you made. I’ve driven every powertrain in the Durango, they’re all really good, but the 5.7L R/T just might be the sweet spot.....unless of course you can get the SRT, because that thing is awesome.
"Takuro Spirit" (takurospirit)
11/09/2017 at 10:30, STARS: 0
Wife and I love hers. Its just a GT with a V6 and a few less options, but when I do get to drive it I can tell you your observations are spot on.
The only thing else I would point out is that it feels and drives a lot smaller and lighter than it is, the NAV icon can be a lot of FCA vehicles.... but NOT a Durango, and that the rocker sills stick out too far, and always rub dirt on my pants when entering/exiting the thing.
Oh, and the silly 3rd row seatbelts that get in the way of the retractable cargo cover.