One formidable Durango

MANILA, Philippines - In this golden age of SUVs, an old guard resurfaces with more beef, bravado, and bling.

When it was first introduced in 1997 (with a 1998 model), the Dodge Durango was a mid-sized sport utility vehicle.

Today’s iteration is a full-sized crossover ute that is equal parts workhorse and luxury ride. At the pinnacle of this line is the aptly named Citadel, which comes at you with a clear intention to impress and intimidate.

The trademark cross on the grill of this Dodged is chromed up tastefully, as are its wheels. The HID headlamps and fog lamps marry form and function, as they gallivant with fierceness. Truly, the Durango’s bulk is deliberately conceived to impress, and its fascia delivers it home. Still, this SUV cuts through the road like, as they say, a hot knife through butter. This isn’t your average SUV trying its darnedest to look imposing, nor is it a safe on wheels. The Citadel is an alpha male in its class.

The potency is certainly there. Raging under the hood is a 3.6-liter V6 DOHC engine, which promises nearly 300 horses of power and 352 Nm of torque. Keeping things simple is a five-speed automatic tranny. All these numbers mean the Citadel is adroit enough to carry its weight around. Mounted on big 265/50 R20s, the Citadel is sure-footed as it is sprightly.

You should be able to overtake with abandon and see the Johnny-come-lately disappear in your rearview mirror. This Durango snacks on these lesser specimens.

Interior appointments are generous and luxurious. Colors of tan, black, and silver are thrown in most tastefully in a mélange of tech and style.

The touch-activated Uconnect in-dash media center is a clean, convenient piece of equipment that is very easy to understand and use. Even as it accepts CDs, the head unit faces up to different common file formats – mp3, wma, jpegs. It has USB interface capability and, most impressively, features a hefty 30G hard drive where you can download images and songs for your viewing and listening enjoyment.

Achieving Bluetooth connectivity with your cell phone is also a snap – all while instructing the system via voice commands.

Steering wheel control buttons enable quick access to a variety of functions and information, including a highly informative digital screen on the dash which can show anything from fuel consumption, coolant temperature, to oil pressure, to transmission temperature.

There’s a full complement of thoughtful extras, too. If your hands feel cold, you can switch on the steering wheel heater. You can even regulate the temperature of your, well, behind. You can turn on the heat, or freshen up with individual blowers situated under the driver’s seat and front passenger seat. How’s that for “cool”?

The Citadel impresses across multiple fronts – not the least of which is in the safety department. It is chockfull of high-tech accident preventers. There’s electronic roll mitigation, forward collision warning, blind spot and rear cross path detection, adaptive cruise control, ParkView, ParkSense, and a host of other deterrents.

A real-world situation you’d find some of the tech very useful: When you find your mind wandering just when the car in front of you decides to stop. An audible alarm beeps and the dash computer instructs you to brake. Also, when a sly swerver suddenly comes up behind you then stealthily darts to your side to overtake, a side mirror-mounted indicator lamp blinks to life so you’d look at that side. Nothing should surprise you, and that’s good. No more blind-spot worries.

The Durango features up to (count ‘em) 28 seat configurations to suit most purposes. Whether you’re hauling people or cargo – or an infinite combination of both – you’re set.

When smaller vehicles boast of ferrying up to seven adults, you wonder if two of them are doomed to travel in dreaded claustrophobic class. The third row is often not all it’s cracked up to be.

So, I clambered in there for evaluation. I was able to access the third row most easily, and settled in comfort in the two-person row. It offered not just room, but surprising accoutrements that you wouldn’t expect. It has dedicated air-con ducts (even our legs would be crisp and cool), map lights, and, voila, a cup holder.

This SUV returns a fuel economy reading of about eight kilometers to the liter – not bad at all considering the power on tap. Perhaps the only thing on your wish list for this mean machine is a little more eagerness to sprint from zero. One expects the V8, 5.7-liter variant to post better performance time, what with its serious 360 horses, but the Citadel’s standard V6 should be enough firepower to scoot around in pampered style and luxury.

That makes its P3.780 million price tag a very good deal, indeed.