How do guys drive the D around? I gotta a v6 Crew. It seems to run alittle quicker with traction control off. What do guys think?

 

Oh I shoould so make a comment about it making me laugh when guys go out and buy a 5000lb vehicle with a ???hp v6 and then want it to be quicker!.......Just Kidding JJ, I had to do it.
Honestly though I havent noticed any difference either way, but I dont drive quick/fast.

 

Hey now Trace, I resemble that remark. Would trade my V6 in for the V8 in a heartbeat if I could. But I can't in good conscious take the loss on it. I bought the V6 to try and save $ on gas. After all, my other half wanted me to get a minivan so I already had a small victory in getting spousal approval on the Durango instead. But when the D is paid for it's her turn for new wheels next.

JJ> I have a Crew V6 and I don't notice that Traction control makes any difference whatsoever unless I have lost traction. I have tried turning it off in the snow and find that doing so does make it a little easier to have fun/be irresponsible. But let's face it, the V6 does have enough power to even chirp the tires. The TC ain't your problem. In the snow it does a pretty good job of keeping it going where you are pointed without completely cutting off power. Wife's Honda Odyssey we do turn the TC off in snow as it essentially just kills the engine at the slightest sign of slipping.

I don't know how many miles you have but if it is any consolation mine has gotten better (or less lethargic anyway) with more miles. Now up to 10,000 miles. Knowing that I am going to be in this thing for nearly 10 years like it or not I should probably buck up and buy the KN Filter, ported intake and a chip. Of course by that point I probably could damn near trade it in for the V8.

 

Hahahaha! That's funny right there! Just got the durango last Saturday and just getting the feel and playing with it right now.

 

I would trade my v8 for a v6 in a heartbeat! I really dont like the MPG, and literally never pass half throttle on my hemi, I think once I did a full throttle run but otherwise my durango just pisses gas away...

 

Never noticed any performance difference with or w/o the traction control on the Hemi. I have turned it off in the snow which makes it a 5,000 toy. With AWD it remains relatively controllable and you can steer with the throttle which is good, evil fun.

I'm not sure if the V6 has the same hill assist feature as the Hemi but turning that off did make a noticeable difference in off the line performance on my truck.

 

Traction control should make zero difference in how quick you can accelerate. If you don't lose traction, it basically does nothing. In deep snow, turning the TC off can actually help somewhat as you need to keep the wheels turning to maintain momentum. But in around town driving the TC is just there to save your butt.

As for hill assist, we've had that discussion before, and this Dodge feature only engages when the vehicle is pointed "UP" a hill. Any other implementation would be a mindless waste of gas for the manufacturer who is keen to eek every tenth of an mpg out of their cars since they are rated on fleet mpg.

 

If you pull up to a traffic light and turn off the traction control, the torque management is reduced so that you can actually tear away from the stop as a full RWD vehicle. Feel, free to test it out. If TC is enabled, the torque management prevents you from making a jack-rabbit start.

 

No doubt. But that would indeed be trying to "lose traction" :-)

And that's no guarantee you will actually make a quicker start. Because if you do lose traction (the likely result) your real acceleration will be reduced. It's a trade-off that a non-professional driver will unlikely to be able to exploit.

And frankly I don't think the TC or TM is very intrusive. With no need to make a habit of it, I've had surpisingly little trouble chirping the tires on my V8 with the TC on.