I am ready to buy a new '12 Crew and I am really torn on the engine. I have a 3500 pound pop up camper I tow and often up to 7500 foot elevations in AZ. For everyday driving I think the V6 would be the obvious choice but I'm sure the hemi will be much better for climbing up hills when towing.

I am looking for advice from anyone that has a '11 or '12 V6 Durango and has towed up decent hills with it. Interested to know how much the engine struggles to pull. Also interested in hemi owners real world gas mileage towing or not towing. I assume towing will be around 10-13ish which is about what I get now towing with my Ram 1500 with the hemi.

Any feedback and advice would be appreciated

 

I have the Hemi, and in straight city I get high 13's(gal per mile, not dash) Every time I get on the freeway I see 22 instant on the dash. Haven't taken it on a trip yet to get good numbers on it. I would get the 8 if I was you. I used to have a 2500lb popup, towed it with my old SUV with an 8(although it was closer to the durango's 6 HP/TQ) and it would have been nicer going up steep grades. on the flats it was fine though. It really depends on if you would get a bigger camper in the future and if you are the type of guy that doesn't like being passed like your standing still.

 

I'm in the same boat. Will use the D for daily driving, but need to tow 5400 pounds 6-8 times per year. I drove the Hemi and V6 back to back at the dealer (8 miles, 50:50 city/hwy), the Hemi averaged 14.5, the V6 was 19. Thats a significant difference to consider, as is the rumors of an 8-speed right around the corner.

One other bit of info you may find useful: when Consumer Reports tested both the V6 and V8 they did a 0-60 with a 5000lb trailer. V6 did it in 21.5 sec, the V8 in 16.5. That gives you some indication of real-world towing difference.

 

I recently towed ~6000lbs with my V6, and it performed very well! No major hills to deal with, but I averaged 16mpg (we get 20 - 23mpg daily driving).

You can read about my experience here

I personally would have wanted the Hemi, but this is my wife's daily driver, and she wanted the V6 for fuel mileage. I'll use it for towing the car to the track 6-8 times a year though.

That said, I do plan to invest in an aluminum car hauler to drop about 1000lbs off the load, but even maxed out, I was very impressed with the V6 capability!

 

This topic has been debated here before. Essentially, the V6 does a great job up to its towing limit. If you need to be able to tow more, then you need the V8. That's about the long and short of it. Is the V8 more powerful? Sure it is. But that doesn't affect the V6's ability to tow up to its capacity.

 

To me this is a stupid question. Always use the HEMI for towing. But to each their own.....

 

With your logic the the V6 rated towing capacity would be "zero". It's not.

You can tow some things with a Ford Focus. You can tow more with a D V6. You can tow more with a D V8. If you really need to tow a lot, you need to get a Dodge Ram diesel V8 dullie.

 

exactly, you just need to know your vehicles limititations!

 

Yes but also to me anything larger then a 4 door grocery getter should have a V8 not a little POS V6. Thats just my opinion. If you want something that holds kids and gets good gas milage get a minivan......

 

Exactly correct and exactly stated. Kudos.

IndyDurango