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AUSTIN, TX – Size, ride and power. That’s what Dodge wanted to improve when it set about redesigning the Durango, its full-size sport utility.
To that end, the 2004 Durango is new from the ground up. It is seven inches longer, three inches taller and three inches wider than the model it replaces.
The new Durango has a towing capacity of almost 9,000 lbs and its interior cargo space has been increased 15 percent to 102 cubic feet with the second and third row seats folded and flipped out of the way.
Although it’s bigger than the model it replaces, the 2004 Durango looks smaller because it is longer, the hood is lower and the windshield is steeply raked.
Photographs really don’t do it justice; the 2004 Dodge Durango is somewhat sleek despite its heft. Curb weight ranges from 4,671 lbs to 5,079 lbs depending on the model. There are three versions of the Durango: the ST, the SLT and the Limited. All of them come in either 4X2- or 4X4-wheel-drive. And there are three engine choices: a 3.7-liter, 210 horsepower V6, a 4.7-liter, 230 horsepower V8 and a 5.7-liter, 335 horsepower Hemi V8.
Unlike the old Durango, which used the platform of the Dodge Dakota pickup truck, the new version has a dedicated platform that was designed especially for the vehicle.
So the Durango goes from being a truck based sport-utility with ride and driving characteristics to match to a sport-utility with a refined chassis that gives it much more civil road manners.
We didn’t do all that much driving here where the roads are relatively smooth and pothole free. The only quibble I had was that I found the V6 engine to be too noisy. Still, after a few hours of seat time in the Durango, I came away thinking that it can match up with most full-size sport utilities in terms of ride, handling and comfort.
The 2004 Durango has an independent front suspension, with rack and pinion steering, while the rear suspension is a link coil setup with a solid rear axle that enables greater towing capacity. Dodge says a unique Watt linkage design is fitted to the rear axle, centering it, reducing rear-end instability over rough services.
Even though it was modest, the rear end of the Durango did stay relatively stable during my drive over a short off road course that had been set up here.
The rear-suspension design also enabled Dodge to lower and widen the Durango’s rear cargo floor. The new model can carry 48-inch sheets of plywood with the second row of seats occupied.
But there were two things I found surprisingly impressive about the 2004 Dodge Durango. The first was its quietness.
Noise has been greatly reduced in the Durango. The chassis is 2.5 times stiffer and torsion rigidity is 2.8 times greater. This sort of stiffness goes hand-in-hand with low noise, vibration and harshness.
Engineers injected expandable polyurethane foam into the cavities of the Durango’s sheet metal; they increased the amount of door, glass and body sealing, they used rubber mounts and they increased the front door glass thickness 20 percent. Call it sound proofing.
Combined with the raked windshield and stiffer chassis, the thing I noticed about wind and road noise in the Durango was that there very little of it, the Durango was really quiet.
The second pleasant surprise about the 2004 Durango was the fit and finish of the interior. It’s a quantum leap over the model it replaces. What’s more I found the interior for more esthetically pleasing than that of a Toyota Sequoia and Chevrolet Trail Blazer that Dodge had brought here for comparison driving.
Dodge went with a geometrical set up for the Durango’s interior, which gives it a clean simple look. Minimalists, if you will. And they focused on detail. The surfaces are flush, the instruments are large and legible, the joints merge neatly, and I found everything really easy to reach.
Equipment in the new Durango that was absent in the old one includes adjustable pedals, a sunroof, automatic headlamps, satellite radio and a premium audio system.
Although Dodge executives won’t give a number, they’re looking to increase Durango sales significantly from the 90,000 units of the old model that were sold last year.
Each model of the 2004 Durango is priced from $1,000 to $2,000 less than the model it replaces, although they have more equipment. The base model starts at $26, 565. And Dodge says that Durango costs from $5,000 to $10,000 less than full-size fully loaded sport-utilities offered by other automakers.
That’s a bold statement but it is easy enough to verify and certainly worth the effort.
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