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Anyone have or know someone with a newer Durango? Thoughts or experiences? Know anyone towing anything substantial with one?

I'm looking to downsize the Suburban. It's been a great truck but we've been using it more as a trip car than a tow rig these days and I'm shopping for something newer.

On paper the Durango is comparable to the Expedition, Tahoe, and Armada, and in some respects it's better. 335 HP / 375 TQ, 8950 tow rating. And used ones are C-H-E-A-P, but that makes me wonder why. Can't find any major complaints or bad reviews online...

(PS - The Suburban will probably be for sale within a month if anyone is looking for a great big tow rig! Price will be around $9500. Everything works great.)

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Strange they look. Headlights too big for their fenders.

I'm thinking that the fact that they are fugly and have a cheap interior has a lot to do with the poor resale.

2004 Durango Hemi Limited w/ tow package, msrp $40k when new, 1 year old, 20k miles, ebay buy-it-now price $22k. That's what I'm talking about. Seems to be a good bargain.

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Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

My neighbor owned one for about six months (which, for him, is long term). Not positive it was an '04, but definitely the hemi motor. He liked it, used it to flatbed tow the Chinese built tractors he was importing. Bought it used, using similar logic ...

Frank

I don't know much about the Durango, but you should definitively try it with the trailer loaded attach to it to make sure it tows as well as the Suburban.
I surely do not regret buying the Suburban. It's towing much better that the Dodge Ram, much more stable, feel like the Dodge with the open trailer.
It's probably the 2500 chassis and the E rated tire making the difference because the wheelbase is 8" shorter than the Dodge.
In our case it is becoming the family trip car now. We used it for our vacation to Canada this year and it is very comfortable. Better than I thought for a 2500 and plenty of interior space. Gas mileage is not good, 13.5/14 mpg on our trip to Canada. Towing it's slightly worse than the Dodge but I was definitively going faster on that towing trip that I check.
All in all I'm very happy with it.

Patrice
2001 Suburban 2500 ( got no Hemi but an 8.1 L )

I could swear it was the newer Durango that had both a bad steering failure problem (like you're driving and all the sudden the steering no work no more) as well as a fire issue. Obviously if you didn't find that doing your search it may have been a VERY isolated thing, but the stuff I heard about was more than enough to scare me. *shrug*

Of course, Ford cruise control switches are burning down houses...point is everyone has some issues to some degree.

I still say you want a "bargain" for a family tow rig you want a Ford E-class van with the 7.3L powerstroke. Harder to find, but cheap when you find one. Lots of room, lots of towing capability, decent mileage.


--Donnie

I love this. Seriously. Durangos are like among the most hated and put-down SUVs out there by people in the "know", and every problem that I have heard of applies to the old and completely different 98-03 Durangos.

I think that's why the new ones are losing 50% value at 1 year old -- reputation that lurks with the "Durango" name. As a used buyer, I think it's awesome! Or maybe I'm just an idiot.

They should have changed the name IMO.

Steering failure:



Oops, the fire one is actually a battery cable recall:



Even more reasons to get a year-old one. Let someone else deal with all the recall hassles.

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

I think the low resale is due to the fact it is a Chrysler....er...Daimler Chrysler product. I think their whole line-up has shitty resale compared to Ford, GM, Jap and real German iron.

I think it has more to do with them turning the best looking SUV EVAR (98-03 models) into something that looks like a Minivan with flares. Of course, I'd take one with a Hemi...

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In need of car.

I would love to put one of those Hemi's into our 88 Dodge B350 camper van to replace the carburated 360. Then I could pull an enclosed trailer!

Dick

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Dick Rasmussen

FS 50 2018 Mustang GT

I think that's going to change with all their new-nameplate vehicles (300, Magnum, Charger, etc). They seem to be leaving a lot of baggage behind with those 3 cars.

If they just named the Durango the Uberwagon or something like that it wouldn't drop like a stone in the used car market. Oh yeah, it would help if it didn't look like a wingless fly too.

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Mike, going one out of two on hearsay ain't bad! Yeah, I agree with you on the quality reputation thing. They need to change the name. I could have sworn that steering thing was on the new models, but I'm obviously wrong. I never paid *that* much attention, because as you state, they're just too damned ugly now.

Dick, you likely *can* put that Hemi in there relatively easily. Note that it's a physically fairly small motor. You can buy it as a crate engine complete with electronics. I'm pretty sure you'd want to put the automatic transmission that it uses in recent cars in as well, but that part isn't too bad price wise and probably makes the swap pretty straightforward. I wouldn't be surprised if motor mounts exist for this. Past that you probably just need to adapt shifter linkage and likely get your driveshaft length changed.

Biggest problem is that engine/tranny combo is quite costly. I know of a company that will convert your 4.0L automatic Jeep Wrangler to a Hemi. Cost for a new engine and tranny is $19,500 for EVERYTHING (labor, etc). If you want them to use a used engine and tranny that's low mileage from a wrecked vehicle it's $14,500. If your Wrangler is new then they'll give you a whopping $1500 for your engine and tranny that comes out. (It's interesting to note that the V8/tranny swap for the I6/tranny only adds 57 pounds to the vehicle. So the HP to weight ratio gets MO BETTA!)

I know the company is making decent money at that price, and they developed the mounts and such that you need, but I still gotta think that means the engine and transmission is hella-expensive. Prices on the used stuff is probably falling pretty rapidly given the number of them increasing in junkyards from wrecks, though. It's got to be a pain in the ass to do the pull while being sure to get *everything* you need as far as wiring and electronics.


--Donnie

Well now I've gone and done it. Been lowballing sellers all over the place and one stuck. 05 Durango Limited, 4k miles, 335hp/370tq, tow pkg, dvd. MSRP was 39k, sticker 29k, offered 22k, settled on 23k. Getting it tomorrow.

It shall be a grand experiment. And as we all know, some experiments will fail.

Mike -- who sold 2 cars and bought 1 in the last 5 days

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

Does taht mean the Suburban is for sale?

Yup. Hopefully I will have the ad up tonight.

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1