We just got back from our first 15 hour road trip in the Citadel. Long trips were the reason we go it. The Durango exceeded my expectations and I thought I would share my experience:

Blind spot alert, adaptive cruise, auto-climate and auto-wipers are a MUST have. I will not buy another car without these. The trip was 90% interstate, with a mix of traffic.

When traffic is mild-to-heavy the adaptive cruise is fantastic (in little to no traffic it's not really necessary - almost annoying). A portion of the trip was heavy rain in rush hour traffic in a large city that i've never driven through before. It was a little intense. But adaptive cruise and blind spot alerts were like having a co-pilot on board watching out for me.

The seat was comfortable, but not amazing. I'm 6' 3'' so it's hard for me to actually be comfortable any place. However, the seat is infinitely adjustable so I found a few good positions (reclined and upright) that made it tolerable. A more "plush" seat would make this perfect. But I think 8 hours is about the max you could sit in it. Also, the lumbar support is just painful. I deflated it after about 20 minutes.

The overall ride is smooth and quiet. Little road or wind noise. The added safety and comfort features allow me to focus more on the road.



What sucked:
The 730N navigation is ****ty, and the traffic link BLOWS. We were going to a place we've never been, and depended completely on the system. It gave an odd route right off the bat, so I had Google Maps running as a back up.

The problem is that navigation kept "rerouting due to traffic alerts" about every 3 minutes. But it didn't tell you WHERE or WHAT the alert was. It seems like it was giving prompts for a section about 300 miles out still.

It kept jumping between different routes and we just didn't know what to trust. We followed Google's advice and stuck to the obvious path almost the whole way. That is until we hit some traffic about 5 miles from our destination, the Navigation automatically updated and had us take the next exit (right before we hit a stand still on the interstate). We figured, what the hell, we're so close lets "trust it".

Big mistake. Those 5 miles remaning literally took 60 minutes through crowded downtown rush-hour traffic. And at the end of the "new path" we went UNDER the overpass to the interstate we were previously traveling on (passing the exit Google wanted us to take) and there was NO backup on the interstate.

For the return trip we turned off auto traffic recalculations. And figured if we hit traffic or an issue, we can pull up an alert manually and seek advice then.

Oddly, the route back was different than the route there.

Overall, with a few tweaks needed for comfort and convenience the trip was excellent, and we look forward to many more in the D.

 

i'm sorry but are you a V6 or V8? and also what mileage were you getting?

 

V6 - got a little over 24mpg average- it did peak at 27mpg average for a bit.

 

the calculating reroute DRIVES ME IN F'n SANE! I feel your pain just did NJ to MD while the traffic link worked wonders for us, the reroute message every 30 seconds was obnoxious

 

Awesome road trip write up...the longest trip I have taken so far was a 3 hr (one way) trip to Twin Falls Idaho back in July. I agree the adaptive cruise control is a must now and for future vehicles that I may buy but as you said in mild to heavy traffic its annoying so I don't use it on those instances. Blind spot alert, auto climate & auto-wipers are a great addition to the new D. Its solid, quiet, smooth ride and handling were one of the determining factors why I fell for and bought my first Dodge.

Traffic link wasn't bad for me but my trip was pretty much 95 percent interstate and not a whole lot of traffic/construction at the time when I made the trip.

Which version do you have the AWD or RWD...how did the D handle on the portion of that drive on the intense rain?

 

sidewinder9m,

How did it handle those new bumps on I-15 just south of Brigham City? My 2000 Durango bounces all over the place and is rather loud inside the cabin. Just curious how the new Durango feels on them. Perhaps I should just go test drive one...worried though that if I do I'll end up with one in my driveway...and I still love my '00 Durango!

 

It really handle those bumps very well, this 2011 rides like a solid bank vault. You got to test drive one! that's why I chose the Durango over the '11 Acura MDX which I was leaning to buy before I stumble on the 2011 Durango

 

We did a trip from San Francisco to LA, and yeah the ACC was awesome, you just have to steer.

The traffic link in LA was fantastic, it routed us always away from the traffic and took a good route.

It was annoying on I5 (From SF to LA) there is only one way to go and we would also get the "rerouting ...." constantly when there was only 1 way to go.

THe traffic link at home is really spotty (Near SF) seems like in LA its complete and really up to date. I think it depends on where you live if it works good or not.

That said, when the Sirus subscription runs out, i will not be renewing it. Its kind of expensive and doesn't seem worth it.

 

my thoughts exactly on Sirius same here I won't be renewing when it runs out its just too pricey or that service is overprice imho. Just enjoying the free 1 year

 

After the service has lapsed for 60 days or so, Sirius will send you a nicely discounted deal to get you back. Repeat process yearly.

IndyDurango