I've been looking into moving up in car and been looking at several different SUVs!! Each has their own pros and cons, of course asking on a Durango forum I know what most would say to go with. A little background I have 4 kids, oldest is 8,6,2 and a 5 month old. We have a Toyota AWD van which is the main family car because I drive a 97 Subaru legacy wagon with 87k on it.
Before the wagon I had a 07 jeep SRT 8, which I sold to save for a house. Now that we are in our newly built house, I'm ready to upgrade the Subaru to a Durango R/T, a Chevy suburban or a ford excursion 6.0. I know the last two are huge but I feel the bigger the better as time goes on the kids may have a friend come for a ride!!
I live about 1.3 miles from work, so MPG really does not matter. I never been in any of the vehicles as of yet, but figured i would start to test drive a few in the up coming months. The ford would be a 05, the Chevy and the dodge would have to fall in the $30k range, I would be paying cash as well. Have any one of you feel the Durango is too small in the back? Thanks for the feed back.......

 

I think you'd be happiest with either the Durango or the Suburban. Back seats in the Durango are set higher so people in back don't feel "squashed". Good for adults and kids. Access is fairly easy to the 3rd row, but I have 2nd row captains chairs. You'd need a bench seat there if friends are coming along, so I would investigate ease of access in that configuration. I have a friend who drives Suburbans and he loves them. Big however. One of the joys of driving the Durango is the Mercedes M chassis underneath. Turning radius is incredibly tight, making it feel like a much smaller vehicle when parking. Hope this helps.

 

So far this past summer I had five people in my D with one seat folded down in the back to fit three 4' coolers three plastic bags of food and chips two duffel bags for clothes toys etc.. and noodles for floating. I still had room to see out the window and the person sitting next to the coolers was still comfy. Even though he weighed like 130LBS...My big *** would not fit back there...lol

It was me, my wife, mother, child in child seat, and my buddy.

Will the Suburban or excursion be bigger? Of Course But what looks better, drives better and gets MORE attention? The Durango!

I am sure you can find a D in the $30's if you start looking now!

Good Luck.

 

The Ford and Chevy offer more aftermarket support, the Dodge looks and performs better on the street.

I needed a street maching with light offroad capabilities and a good towing capacity, Dodge was the ticket. If I needed something that could do more offroading I would have picked something different for sure due to the HUGE amount of aftermarket support with other vehicles.

Take your pick and good luck deciding.

 

The Chevy is Huge and not a bad vehicle but not NIMBLE at all
The Ford is dated and useless, father in law had one and honestly it was the worst vehicle on fuel and in most weather situations
STEVE

 

We have both the 12' Durango (6 seater), and 11' suburban (8 seater), both AWD-V8. We have 5 kids total, only 4 still at home. I agree with everything mentioned above. Durango tow's better, drives better, looks better. But, with all the seats being used there is very little storage area. So, if we have all the seats full and need to haul something we take the suburban, if not we take the Durango. You will probably have the same issue, as it sounds like you will have all seats being used as well, but you could get a hitch or roof top carrier if needed I guess.

 

Thanks for the feed back everyone!! Keep them coming in!!

 

Drives like a car and the RT interior makes the other 2 look like work trucks ( except Denali ) which is above what you want to pay. If you view your vehicle like it's an appliance then go for bigger is better. But if you actually enjoy driving pick the Durango. Way more fun especially in turns and in RT trim. You won't get that balloon clumsy feeling. It hides it's weight/ size very well and the Wife
loves it.

 

I have to agree with everything Trace said. Don't jump to a Suburban because it will handle that 100% of your capability needs 1 or 2x per year.

If you routinely just need the interior space for family truckster duties, then the Durango is the way to go. Our doors all open nearly 90-degrees; the rear doors are more than twice as long as a Suburban which lends itself nicely to getting in and out and fitting car seats/carriers. An added bonus is that it is lower to the ground so you or the mrs. don't need to climb up in the back to secure the kids.

The rear wheels are outboard of the cabin so you don't have to deal with unwieldy interior trim over the rear wheels that eats up space and make the rear seat passengers squish together.

The Durango would fulfill all of your needs about 90% of the time and for those times when you need extra space, a hitch or roof carrier is easy to attach.

My wife and I have owned a Tahoe and a Yukon before coming to the D and let me tell you, it's nice to be able to park in a lot and still be able to open the doors to get out.

The best part that a Durango has to offer: every soccer mom within eyesight drives an oversized GM SUV that they don't know how to drive, but Durangos are less common, but are sharp looking and not so vanilla that nobody even notices them. Be noticed.

 

My last 3 vehicles since 2007:

Tahoe 2005

Suburban. 2008

Honda Pilot 2011 (great vehicle, just couldn't get used to the front wheel drive)

Durango R/T. 2014

I wouldn't trade the R/T for any of them.