(car engine revving)
- [Female] Man that's like NASCAR.
- He's the lovable chameleon cowboy,
who found himself in the high desert
after his terrarium fell out of a car.
He has a hat, he plays golf,
he's got the voice of Edward Scissorhands.
- Try me.
- This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on Rango,
(record scratch)
Oh Durango.
Boy that made a lot more sense.
(car engine revving)
It's the tough as nails SUV that feels right at home
in a suburban neighborhood on a dirt road
and flying down the drag strip.
(car engine revving)
It's the do it all utility vehicle that's named after a city
in Colorado, Mexico and Iowa.
Saddle up you sack of 'taters.
(engine revving noises)
This is everything you need to know
to get up to speed on the Dodge Durango.
(arcade music)
Now I know James was here last week
but obviously all that stuff happened.
He shot those ahead of time and he's doing okay now.
So, that's why I'm here this week,
to fill you in on some new stuff from Dodge.
Times were simpler in the late 90s.
Bruce Greene had just graduated high school.
A young tattoo artist named William Frederick Durst
was revolutionizing both rap and rock and combining them.
Also, smaller SUVs had secured a foot hole
in the American market.
SUVs filled malls parking lots as suburban
and city boomer parents were digging on their benefits.
Ford was killing it with sales of the Explorer.
And even Lexus found a sweet spot with the RX300.
Dodge wanted to get on the action too.
They had built the big, brooding,
two door Ramcharger for quite a while already.
- Ramcharger.
- [Bruce] It was essentially a scrunched up Dodge Ram
with a hat on the bed.
So it was a pretty thick ride.
Thick with two c's.
But the fact that is was quite huge,
quite thirsty and only had two doors
meant that it wouldn't be a good candidate
to turn into a mainstream SUV.
I mean you saw what happened with the Bronco.
(coughs) O.J.
(coughs)
Dodge needed something more nimble and more efficient.
And something that could still do sturdy body
on frame truck things.
The development team looked across the lineup
for something they could work with.
What about the Avenger?
Eh, that wouldn't be rugged.
Grand Caravan?
That was a transverse, front wheel drive platform.
There just had to be something that struck a balance
between the ability to haul big loads
and make maneuverability to park the dang thing.
What did they have that could do that?
(car engine revving)
Oh, there was the very successful mid-sized Dakota pickup.
But what if they threw more seats in it,
put a roof on it and gave it
the contemporary new Dodge corporate design language?
Then maybe they could ram their way
past the Ford Explorer on the sales chart.
Ha, ha, ha.
Ram.
I didn't write this.
(stage crew laughs)
The all new Dodge Durango launched with the 1998 model year.
It was bigger than its competition too,
just not as huge as the massive Chevy Tahoe's
and Ford Expedition's.
It was advertised
with various wise cracking, puny commercials.
And the bad guy from the Lost Boys did the voice-over.
♪ Gonna lose a wimpy tow in blues ♪
- It was the memorable, new Dodge era
which blessed American TV screens
with all kinds of wild and super 90's commercials.
The Durango is marketed as a mid-sized SUV
and went up against the likes of the Ford Explorer
and Toyota 4Runner.
With its show piece being a tough, body-on-frame truck,
with street, particularly suburban street, sensibilities.
Dodge's Dakota, which the Durango was based on,
was at home in the corn field,
while a Durango was at home on the soccer fields.
Though if you're Tupperware-slinging suburban mom
had to take you and six of your traveling soccer teammates
to face off against kids in a small rural town,
it would have no issue fording
a washed-out country road to get there.
Yee-haw!
(tires screeching)
Just like adjustable rate mortgages,
suburban boomers ate 'em up in the late 90's.
And it wasn't just thanks to smart advertising
and Edward Herrmann, it walked the freaking walk too.
The Durango had some of the best in-class cargo room
and a third row of seats,
that was remarkably easy to operate.
It also had one of the nicest interiors in its price range.
Because of all this, the Durango sold very very well.
The first gen Durango came with either a V6
or a variety of V8's,
rear wheel drive or all wheel drive,
and had the highest towing capacity in its class,
at around 7500 pounds.
The 5.2L Magnum V8 was the most popular power plant option,
but the big 5.9L Magnum V8 came in the R/T,
made 245 horses, and 330 pound feet of torque.
It was the most powerful engine in it's class,
and it sounded bad (beep) with an exhaust system by the way.
Listen to this.
(exhaust noises)
Wooh!
The hottest OG Durango was the Shelby SP360.
That's right, an SUV tuned by none other than
Carroll friggun' Shelby!
Naturally, it had awesome stats to do the name proud.
Under its huge hood, was the 5.9L Magnum V8
with a supercharger strapped to it,
and some more power baby internal magic done,
to make 360 horsepower, and 412 pound feet
of daddy ticklin' torque.
(car engine revving)
What the hell is daddly tickin', daddy ticklin',
what the hell is daddy ticklin' torque?
I can't even say it!
All this power made the 4600 pound four-door truck
claw it's way to 60 miles per hour in 6.7 seconds.
(car engine revving)
Very fast for its time.
It also had a cool ass bodykit, racing stripes,
tuned suspension, massive brakes on all four corners,
and a sportier interior, with a boost gauge.
Super sick.
People didn't say that in the 90's though.
Sick means cool.
(car engine revving)
But once we got firmly into the mid 2000's,
it's time to give the old sturdy bird
a ground-up refresh with even tougher styling,
more power, and buff stats.
Enter the second duration Durango, in 2004.
Designed by Chrysler design manager turned sneaker sketcher,
Aaron Pizzuti, the styling was revised
to match the new millennium Dodge design language.
The Durango looked bigger and badder,
it sat higher, and naturally retained
the quintessential Dodge crosshair front grill.
Because this big buff boy had gone to the gym
and did a bunch of reps, it was now competing
with full size SUV's, like the Chevy Tahoe
and the Ford Expedition.
It was still body-on-frame too,
so it kept that rugged, built to overcome all, BTE.
Or big truck energy, for the people that are following
with memes from two years ago.
Sorry I'm burning up the writer I apologize.
(laughter)
Dodge maintained the concept of having a truck
that was easy to manage on suburban streets.
And the engine got stronger too!
In fact, the Durango was graced with one of the most
iconic engines of all time, the Hemi!
Can I get a hallelujah?
- [Man] Hallelujah!
- Awe, I only got one.
(laughter)
Between 2004 and 2008, the Hemi made 335 horses
and 370 pound feet of torque.
Later it was tuned up to pump out
a healthy 360 horsepower, and 401 pound feet of torque.
Not bad at all.
Especially considering they could only
make similar numbers in the previous gen
with a supercharged Shelby!
This whole thing was good from 0 to 60 in 7.4 seconds.
(car engine revving)
Dodge added some more specialized models
with the Adventurer and Limited trims,
the Adventurer was introduced
to make it more off road capable,
and the Limited was meant to compete
with rival luxury trim levels.
It went up against similarly specced Explorers,
Sequoias, and Tahoes.
The buff book car mag journalists consider it
a very worthy competitor for less money.
Nice work, Dodge.
(car engine revving)
The second gen Durango was refreshed in 2007.
Becoming a tad more sleek,
and continued in production until 2009.
After a two-year hiatus, it was time to reinvigorate
the SUV market with some fresh, clean design.
Dodge debuted the third generation Durango in 2011,
once again designed by Aaron Pizzuti,
it looks more muscular yet more slender and athletic
than the previous generation.
Kind of like it's been listening
to the Joe Rogan Experience a lot,
and decided to invest in a bunch of supplements
and start flipping over truck tires
and playing jump rope,
and also has a blue belt in jiu-jitsu!
To stay on pace with me more recent trend
of having a crap-ton of options, packages, and trim levels,
the customization level of the current
Durango is higher than ever.
About half of them come standard with
the modern bad (beep) Chrylser Pentastar V6,
one of Dodge's powerful V6's ever.
With cylinder deactivation,
the ability to run E85
and other miles per gallon friendly developments.
And you better believe you can still get them with a Hemi.
Dodge doubled down on hiding a muscle car,
in SUV clothing, and there
are now two different Hemi options.
They're both screaming fast, of course,
but one screams just a little faster,
James destroyed Nolan in a drag race with that.
- I'm the fastest man alive!
Oh, oh oh!
- And Nolan will never live it down.
He's mocked to this day.
It's really sad.
This is the Durango SRT, and it's stacked
with a 6.4L Hemi that stomps out a massive 475 horsepower,
and 470 pound feet of gut-punching torque.
(car engine revving)
It's the most powerful 3-Row SUV in America.
The amazement does not stop there.
The angry snarling buff Clydesdale's gallops
up to 60 miles in just 4.4 seconds.
That's faster than a Honda Civic Type R!
And it can haul 8700 pounds,
the Type R definitely cannot do that.
I've tried, tore off the back axle.
It's modern unibody construction means
the suspension can be tuned for more street
and track precision and grip.
It's also a bargain for the performance and versatility.
It's chassis mate, the Mercedes AMG GLS63,
is only marginally faster and costs over $120,000.
This bad boy, the highest Durango trim,
sets you back only around 70 grand.
Not bad.
Thanks to Dodge for sponsoring this episode
of Up to Speed, and don't worry,
there are a lot of Durango that can be had for way less
than 70,000.
Even starting out, the V6 SXT can tow 62,000 pounds,
and comes with 18-inch satin carbon aluminum wheels.
You climb that trim ladder and there
are more perks like a heated steering wheel,
heated first and second row seats,
and that all important third row.
The looks get more aggressive too, and way more badass.
The GT upgrades to a 20-inch wheel,
and the GT Plus gets stripes.
And you know stripes, always makes you faster.
I put them on my Camaro, and it made it faster.
But don't make me prove it.
The Citadel trim covers the seats in sweet Nappa leather,
and throws a flashy dual exhaust out the back.
The R/T puts the 5.7 liter Hemi under the hood,
along with a sportier handling and a premium stereo.
But you know, you want the SRT.
With that 6.4 liter Hemi V8, Brembo six-piston brakes,
and black 20-inch wheels.
It's got all wheel drive too,
Bilstien active suspension, and can still haul
best in-class 8700 pounds,
that's the one James drove,
that's definitely the one I want.
- Sometimes watching your favorite YouTube channel
just isn't enough, and you want to wear a shirt
with your favorite YouTube channel's name on it.
Well good news, we're dropping all kinds of new stuff
for the holidays so you can give that D-Hole in your life,
a special present.
Even if you're the special D-Hole in your life,
get yourself something, you deserve it.
Treat yourself.
(electric static)
- Thank you very much for watching your substitute teacher
Mr. Bruce Greene, that's me, leave a comment below,
James is recovering well, he will probably be back
(beeping noise)
He will probably be back next week, actually,
I know he'll be back next week.
And a message from the legendary James Humphrey,
I love you.
(clapping) - Awe man, that's so much fun.