impressions from 2500mi family trip
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impressions from 2500mi family trip
Went from NJ to FL (where else, Disney) with the Durango and wife/2 teenagers.
Following us were my friend and his family in his '11 Acadia denali AWD. Let me get this out the way early. MPG was as follows:
83mph cruise (for both of us) 22.4mpg me, 20.7mpg for him. going slower, like 60-65 was getting me near 29mpg (i couldn't believe my eyes, 15 mile stint), he was around 25mpg. I don't know why his Acadia performed so horribly, he was following me, both with cruise on. i leave my climate control on Auto with AC engaged, as does he. strange to say the least.
one more thing, my DIC is actually "slightly" underestimating my actual mpg average. was very close to 100% only off by .25mpg, impressive. first vehicle i've owned where the DIC was almost dead on.
interior space was impressive as well. actually more usable interior space than my Yukon Denali. I was able to leave one of the third row seats up and still load all the gear. This left room for one kid to lounge in the second row and the other to sleep in the third (in the seat but resting on the folded seat.
Seat comfort. I was a little apprehensive about my non-leather interior being comfortable on a long trip. i couldn't have been more wrong. the seats are pretty firm, yet they keep you from getting fatigued, which is much needed on a 17hour drive. Especially with that huge gas tank. I just picked up an '11 Town & Country for my job and after sitting in those cloth seats, i was wishing the D had them, but my worries were for nothing. if you haven't sat in the TC seats, try them out, like a sofa seat, ultra soft, but i could see that being annoying on a long trip.
Lockpick also performed admirably. Watching movies in the front was not distracting (i only played things i've seen 100x so i know what's going on with the occasional glance, at 3-5am there was only he and i on the road). it does make the time fly by, unlike listening to music. also wife being able to enter addresses in while in motion was great.
Passing power, engine/trans performance. I wasn't expecting much from the little V6 and this fuel efficient minded/ratio'd trans but i was not wanting for more on the Hwy. I found that above 50mph it has plenty of passing power all the way to about 85mph (2nd gear? 50mph in 1st? really? if they fixed these ratios this trans would perform much better) but, i've been spoiled, the last 6 trucks and 1 car i've owned have had 6 speeds, with tight gearing, can't have everything i guess lol, at least until the 8spd gets installed.
another thing i noticed is that the shape of the front must help keep rocks and debris from flying up into the windshield, i have had rocks hitting my winshields like crazy until i have driven this SUV? Thanks Dodge. much appreciated. I ran into a woman that drove down from Canada who owns a new Journey RT and she was braggin about the big Nav radio she has and that her Journey was "loaded". I'm thinking to myself "yeah, and and it's still a Journey" not to mention that our vehicles couldn't be more different, with the Journey the "female" choice for a reason. We discussed fuel economy but we were at an impass because she started that whole "kilometer/liter" thing which i was like "change the setting and tell me, my heads going to explode" lol..
overall, i am happy with our Lease decision as i would not want to own this vehicle with the current 5 spd trans, when the 8spd comes out and my lease is up, maybe i would consider a purchase (probably not though, i get bored too quickly. technology is just making too many improvements every other year)where this truck is lacking is off the line acceleration. put a steep 1st gear in it (like i'm sure the 8spd will have) and it will be hard to complain AT ALL about this vehicle.. not spell checking this so, figure out what i meant if you care to lol
Following us were my friend and his family in his '11 Acadia denali AWD. Let me get this out the way early. MPG was as follows:
83mph cruise (for both of us) 22.4mpg me, 20.7mpg for him. going slower, like 60-65 was getting me near 29mpg (i couldn't believe my eyes, 15 mile stint), he was around 25mpg. I don't know why his Acadia performed so horribly, he was following me, both with cruise on. i leave my climate control on Auto with AC engaged, as does he. strange to say the least.
one more thing, my DIC is actually "slightly" underestimating my actual mpg average. was very close to 100% only off by .25mpg, impressive. first vehicle i've owned where the DIC was almost dead on.
interior space was impressive as well. actually more usable interior space than my Yukon Denali. I was able to leave one of the third row seats up and still load all the gear. This left room for one kid to lounge in the second row and the other to sleep in the third (in the seat but resting on the folded seat.
Seat comfort. I was a little apprehensive about my non-leather interior being comfortable on a long trip. i couldn't have been more wrong. the seats are pretty firm, yet they keep you from getting fatigued, which is much needed on a 17hour drive. Especially with that huge gas tank. I just picked up an '11 Town & Country for my job and after sitting in those cloth seats, i was wishing the D had them, but my worries were for nothing. if you haven't sat in the TC seats, try them out, like a sofa seat, ultra soft, but i could see that being annoying on a long trip.
Lockpick also performed admirably. Watching movies in the front was not distracting (i only played things i've seen 100x so i know what's going on with the occasional glance, at 3-5am there was only he and i on the road). it does make the time fly by, unlike listening to music. also wife being able to enter addresses in while in motion was great.
Passing power, engine/trans performance. I wasn't expecting much from the little V6 and this fuel efficient minded/ratio'd trans but i was not wanting for more on the Hwy. I found that above 50mph it has plenty of passing power all the way to about 85mph (2nd gear? 50mph in 1st? really? if they fixed these ratios this trans would perform much better) but, i've been spoiled, the last 6 trucks and 1 car i've owned have had 6 speeds, with tight gearing, can't have everything i guess lol, at least until the 8spd gets installed.
another thing i noticed is that the shape of the front must help keep rocks and debris from flying up into the windshield, i have had rocks hitting my winshields like crazy until i have driven this SUV? Thanks Dodge. much appreciated. I ran into a woman that drove down from Canada who owns a new Journey RT and she was braggin about the big Nav radio she has and that her Journey was "loaded". I'm thinking to myself "yeah, and and it's still a Journey" not to mention that our vehicles couldn't be more different, with the Journey the "female" choice for a reason. We discussed fuel economy but we were at an impass because she started that whole "kilometer/liter" thing which i was like "change the setting and tell me, my heads going to explode" lol..
overall, i am happy with our Lease decision as i would not want to own this vehicle with the current 5 spd trans, when the 8spd comes out and my lease is up, maybe i would consider a purchase (probably not though, i get bored too quickly. technology is just making too many improvements every other year)where this truck is lacking is off the line acceleration. put a steep 1st gear in it (like i'm sure the 8spd will have) and it will be hard to complain AT ALL about this vehicle.. not spell checking this so, figure out what i meant if you care to lol
Last edited by TonyCrew; Nov 14, 2011 at 10:39 AM.
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Joined: Aug 2011
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From: Northern Illinois
Nice review. Understand how you can get bored so it's good you leased. We hope to get 7 years out of ours.
Love the stiff suspension, the technology, the seats...overall, a great package. A great family road trip vehicle. I only get to drive ours on the weekend.
Love the stiff suspension, the technology, the seats...overall, a great package. A great family road trip vehicle. I only get to drive ours on the weekend.
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as do I. I love how solid this thing drives/rides on the road. it is bank vault tight.