• Pros

• Ride is quiet, and handling is quite good for a large vehicle.
• Smooth eight-speed transmission that makes the power delivery very smooth.
• The interior is actually pretty nice: simple, basic, not tacky. No faux wood, plaid, or other gaudy touches. It was pretty well appointed, unlike past Chryslers, which have often suffered from cheap plastic components as part of the interior trim.
• A lot of room in the back, when you fold down the third row of seats.
• U-Connect Infotainment system is easy to understand, navigate, and use.
• High off the ground, the pro: great forward and side visibility. Poor rear visibility improved somewhat by standard backup camera on all but the base model.
• Very good towing capacity.

• Cons

• The base price of just over $30,000 was a distant memory when we drove the top-of-the-line Citadel AWD edition, which rang the bell at $43,395.
• If your other car is a Honda Civic, you’re going to hate driving this car. It’s big. Really big. Maneuverability is limited by the sheer size of the thing.
• If you regularly have to use tight parking garages, narrow streets, congested city traffic, and mall parking lots, this is not the vehicle for you.
• The Durango has Dodge’s gimmicky twist-shift. We couldn’t see any real advantage to it. It’s no easier than moving a shift lever, although it has the advantage of taking up a little less space on the center console.
• The Durango is high off the ground, so it’s a seam-splitter to get into. Buy pants one size larger than you need.
• Live rear axle, another relic of the Dakota platform. It’s hardly a leap forward in terms of suspension and handling.
• Lousy mileage. We were getting 13 -14 MPG in mostly city driving. (EPA rated MPG is 17/24 for the V6 version.)

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