Brutish charm

We tested the 2001 Dodge Durango SLT 4x4 more than a year ago and found it "a brute of a different kind." At P2.45M, it gave the buyer of American SUVs a sporty and readily available alternative to the Ford Expedition 4x4 Eddie Bauer Edition, which was being sought by off-road enthusiasts to differ themselves from the Expedition XLT 4x2 SUV crowd.

Things have changed since then. The Eddie Bauer is no more and the Ford Expedition has grown into a larger, thoroughly modern and more comfortable 4x2 SUV. General Motors (GM) Philippines imported their Chevrolet Tahoe 4x2 to appeal to those SUV buyers who found the Suburban too big for their taste. Chrysler, meanwhile, quietly introduced the 2003 Dodge Durango SLT 4x2. And rightly so, since it was observed that most SUV buyers hardly venture off-road and most use their SUVs around the city or on out-of-town sorties but on paved roads. Pang-porma, so they say. And if it comes to accumulating pogi points, the 2003 Durango may get them in droves.

This American SUV retains the "just-the-right-size" body of the previous model but adds a chrome cross-hair grille to differentiate it from the earlier Durango. The chrome grille is a welcome change since it adds a strong character to the front end of the vehicle and creates a glittering facade along with the headlamp assemblies. It also emphasizes the hood bulges for that mas macho effect, and erases the bland look of the front end with the previous body colored grille.

The 2003 Durango also boasts of original Mopar step boards which look like they were designed with the vehicle from its inception. The step boards continue the clean and purposeful design of the bulging sides of the vehicle while lending additional ingress and egress convenience. My three-year-old daughter proudly but innocently pronounced that she "loves Daddy’s new big car" because it has stairs so she can get into her seat at the back. (Her words, not mine.) The Mopar step boards were, indeed, a big step from the after-market tubular running boards that were previously available for the Durango.

Inside, the 2003 Durango offers a redesigned dashboard with an abundance of air vents. The A/C has three different temperature zone controls so the driver, the front passenger and the rear passengers can adjust the temperature to their liking. And since the government has passed the "No Smoking Bill," the ashtray and lighter assembly have been deleted from the dashboard. I can hear the smokers fuming mad, no pun intended.

The interior also boasts of side impact air bags, or side curtains, as they are called. These safety devices add to the security of the passengers and work with the dual front airbags, adjustable seat belts and four-wheel ABS. The Durango now has disc brakes on all four corners as well as 16-inch alloy wheels wrapped with 255/65-16 Goodyear Wranglers, giving it a wider and more stable footprint than the previous model.

I drove the 2003 Durango to Tagaytay with my family to get some Mushroomburger meals and fresh fruits (seriously) and to see how well it drives, too. The 4x2 is equipped with coil springs on the front upper and lower A-arm suspension instead of the torsion bars of the 4x4. The front coils and the rear four-leaf springs are set more on the soft side, giving the 4,425lb SUV a comfortable and compliant ride, on top of its ability to take corners at a fast clip, thanks to beefy roll bars mounted on its 35,000psi steel frame.

The Durango retains its 4.7-liter Magnum V-8 engine which produces 235 horsepower at 4800rpm and 295 lb-ft of torque at 3200rpm. It pulls the SUV to 100kph quite quickly (sorry, forgot my stopwatch) and leaves all other SUVs behind, V-8 powered SUVs included. The engine is barely ticking as it cruises at 120kph on the highway at 1500rpm at top gear of its mated 5-speed overdrive automatic. It also has that oh-so-good American V-8 exhaust rumble, albeit muted and sanitized by catalytic converters.

Unfortunately, it also has the American V-8 penchant for gulping fuel since it returned an average rate of 28 liters per 100 kilometers/8.2 miles per gallon or less than four kilometers per liter (!) during our trip. That’s according to the on-board computer. But if we look at the US Environment Protection Agency (EPA) fuel economy rating, the Durango should return about 14mpg (about 7 k/l) in the city and 19mpg (about 9k/l) on the highway. Blame our traffic (or my right lead foot) for the low fuel mileage.

At the end of our test drive, I asked my mother and my wife the same question: "If you have money, would you buy one?" They both answered in the affirmative since they felt safe, secure and comfortable in the Dodge. To which I may add that they should feel wealthy, too, because at P1.850 million, the 2003 Durango fits squarely in the range of the Ford Expedition and Chevy Tahoe buyers, which are in reality a stratospherically snooty crowd to begin with. Only with the 2003 Dodge Durango, one can be stratospherically snooty in a decidedly different way.