By Mauricio Lezcano / carsntravel.com / Photos FCA US
The Dodge Durango’s combination of uncompromised utility, advanced technology, and aggressive styling make it the Dodge Charger of the SUV segment. For 2017, Durango builds on its proven performance, utility, comfort and adds a new model.
Exterior
The Dodge design team went to work to create an exterior that conveys how advanced the Durango is, while maintaining the muscular body and confident personality customers expect from Dodge.
The 2017 Dodge Durango features projector beam headlamps, with LED daytime running lamps on SXT Rallye and Blacktop packages, GT, R/T and Citadel. The LED lamps run horizontally along the bottom edge of the headlamp and form a unique hockey-stick shape. Bi-xenon high-intensity discharge headlamps are standard on R/T and Citadel. Auto-leveling technology adjusts headlight beam aim for slight changes in elevation.
For a monochromatic appearance, the Rallye Package and R/T models are equipped with dark-tinted headlamp bezels, body-color front and rear lower fascias, wheel flares, grille and sill moldings, all unique to these packages. The Blacktop Package adds these same design elements, but with its own unique Gloss Black crosshair grille and gloss black 20-inch aluminum wheels.
The rear of the Durango sees the dramatic LED racetrack tail lamp design inspired by the Dodge Charger and Dart. This latest evolution of the racetrack design features technology that blends the individual LEDs into one seamless looking ribbon of light. Large 3.5-inch dual exhaust tips are standard on V-8-equipped vehicles, as well as the V-6 powered Citadel, Rallye, GT models and Blacktop Package; other V-6 powered Durango models have a 3-inch single tip.
Interior
The instrument panel features a center stack that houses the 5-inch and 8.4-inch Uconnect touchscreens. Under these large, easy-to-use touchscreens are redundant button and knob controls for audio and climate functions. The bottom of the center stack houses a media hub with an SD card slot, USB outlet and auxiliary jacks, as well as a storage bin.
The instrument cluster has also been given the high-tech treatment and includes a full-color 7-inch thin-film transistor screen. Standard on all models, this screen allows for drivers to customize more than 100 ways how information is presented.
Framing the instrument cluster is a three-spoke steering wheel with standard paddle shifters. The buttons to control TFT driver information functions are large and illuminated to make them easier to operate. Buttons for Uconnect and phone access reside along the bottom edge of the vertical spokes. Audio controls are found on the back of the upper steering wheel spokes.
With standard seven-passenger seating and luxurious second-row captain’s chairs available on all models, the seats in the 2017 Dodge Durango can be converted to as many as 50 different configurations.
A versatile 60/40 split folding second-row seat conveniently folds and tumbles. Transporting long items, like 10-foot 2x4s, is not a problem as the left side of the second row folds 60 percent, allowing the versatility of folding the 40 percent seat in tandem with the front passenger fold-flat seat. Longer items can be stowed even with passengers in the second row. To make passengers more comfortable, second-row seats also are available with heat, and they recline 18 degrees.
The third-row seat features a 50/50 split and is easily folded from the rear of the vehicle. For even more utility, both the second- and third-row seats fold to provide a flat load floor to haul a 6-foot couch with room for a coffee table. Clever touches abound, including a switch in the instrument panel to remotely lower the third-row headrests when not in use.
Technology
Five-inch and 8.4-inch touchscreens, a customizable 7-inch TFT gauge display, forward collision warning with crash mitigation, adaptive cruise control with stop, the latest generation of Uconnect Access Via Mobile and a dual-screen Blu-ray DVD system are just some of the 2017 Dodge Durango’s standard and available state-of-the-art features.
Uconnect Access connects vehicle occupants directly with police, fire department or ambulance service dispatcher with the push of the 9-1-1 button on the Durango’s rearview mirror no cell phone needed. The same logic works for roadside assistance. One push of the ASSIST button summons help directly from the FCA US roadside assistance provider or the Vehicle Customer Care Center.
Durango also has the ability to be used as a Wi-Fi hot spot. A Yelp search engine can be used via voice command if the driver needs to find a destination. Uconnect navigation then calculates a route and stores the destination’s telephone number for handsfree calling.
A 5-inch touchscreen is standard on SXT models while GT, R/T and Citadel models have the 8.4-inch Uconnect touchscreen. These screens control audio, climate, phone, vehicle functions, navigation and the Uconnect Access system. This system provides large, easy-to-read graphics including 3D mapping with intuitive, easy-to-use controls.
Powertrain choices
Durango’s standard 3.6-liter Pentastar V-6 engine generates an impressive 290 horsepower and 260 lb.-ft. of torque. The Pentastar V-6 engine allows Durango to tow a best-in-class 6,200 pounds.
The 5.7-liter HEMI V-8 engine produces 360 horsepower and 390 lb.-ft. of torque with a best-in-class tow rating of 7,400 pounds. The 5.7-liter HEMI engine’s Fuel Saver Technology with cylinder-deactivation seamlessly alternates between smooth, high-fuel-economy four-cylinder mode, when less power is needed, and V-8 mode when more power is in demand. This optimizes fuel economy when V-8 power is not required, without sacrificing vehicle performance or capability.
The 2017 Dodge Durango features a standard eight-speed automatic transmission with a rotary shifter and steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters as standard equipment on all models. This state-of-the-art transmission improves fuel economy, along with enhanced performance and smoother shifts. All these attributes perfectly enhance Durango’s fun-to-drive nature.
In addition, the 2017 Dodge Durango also features an Eco Mode that contributes to its improved fuel economy. Eco Mode optimizes the transmission’s shift schedule, as well as throttle sensitivity, and Fuel Saver Technology with cylinder deactivation in V-8 models, to maximize fuel economy.
Summary
With a standard eight-speed automatic transmission, improved fuel economy and performance, LED exterior lighting, a programmable digital instrument cluster and an available high-definition dual-screen Blu-ray entertainment system, the Dodge Durango reaches even higher levels of sophistication building on its proven performance, utility and comfort.
The manufacturer’s suggested retail price starts at $40,095.00 for the 2017 Dodge Durango GT AWD, the one I drove included the Customer Preferred Package 23E, Rear DVD Entertainment Center, Trailer Tow Group IV, Safety / Security and Convenience Group, Second Row / Tumble Captain Chairs, and Second Row Console with Armrest and Storage, and it came in at $49,065.00 including destination charge. The EPA fuel economy estimates with the 3.6 Liter V-6 engine are 18 MPG City and 25 MPG Highway.
mlezcano@carsntravel.com
