M/T: Dodge Durango SRT 392 test

[kevm14]

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/dodge/du ... 0A873E118C

I really have mixed feelings about these. I've explained my overall opinion on so-called hotrod SUVs (they are stupid, heavy, expensive and not very fast at all for the money). This one is kind of the same thing.

On the one hand, you get 475 hp which is pretty stout. On the other hand, it is 5,502 lbs (yes, half a ton heavier than a Hellcat). The result is what I expected. 13.2 @ 103.5 mph. Don't get me wrong, from a dig, this would walk my CTS-V at least until highway speeds (then I'd walk by for sure). But is that even impressive? The base price of this Durango is $64k and as tested was $73,360. I'd agree if you need a true 3-row/7-seat you are probably going to pay more for more performance. But if you don't and you just want "a family car that's kind of fast" you can do a LOT, LOT better than this.

Using a Dodge example, a 2018 Charger R/T runs the 1/4 in 13.6 sec @ 105 mph. That is roughly the same minus a bit of a launch advantage. From a roll, the Charger would actually walk the Durango. Suffice it to say the Charger R/T is half the price of this. That's a hell of a premium for a 3rd row and AWD.

Oh yeah, I forgot another GM comparison (I like it because it is 10 years old). A 08 G8 GT ran 13.8 @ 102.8 mph. So yeah this has a bit of an AWD launch which is nice but the performance vanishes when packaged like this. I will give it credit though for a good 60-0 braking distance (110 feet, or 2 feet shorter than aforementioned G8 GT) and a good skidpad at 0.89 g (G8 GT managed 0.88). It also managed a 0.7s better figure 8. So it's not like it's bad but for the money, I am completely underwhelmed. Let's talk when these are 3 years old. Or 6. Or 10.

[Bob]

I have a feeling this could end up being a good used car buy. Also, if you really need 7 passenger seating and want performance, your options are limited. If you only need 5 passenger seating, then the field opens up a lot and there are much better values out there.

[kevm14]

Even someone who said they have a requirement for a 7 passenger in the family fleet, I bet I could make the case that they should get something else with 3 rows, and something actually fast. You can buy two very nice, and lightly used cars, for $70k. So I really question someone who said "I need 3 rows and 7 passengers, it needs to be in a single vehicle, and I have $70k burning a hole in my wallet." I don't really buy it.

It's true though, there aren't many choices. So if you are in this demographic, your sled has arrived.