"A little revolution now and again is a good thing."
While some say that founding father Thomas Jefferson didn't utter those exact words, the idea still holds true: Change can be good. With gasoline hovering around $4 a gallon, an increasing global demand for oil, concerns over global warming and the instability that comes with all of those realities, the auto industry finds itself in the midst of a revolution of its own, one that is putting greater importance on smaller cars and better fuel economy.
One of the casualties of this turmoil has been the midsize truck-based SUV, a vehicle that served as the family truckster for a generation. Originally released in 1991, the Ford Explorer was the torchbearer for this class. Sales regularly topped 400,000 units in the early 2000s, making it one of the Blue Oval's most successful vehicles.
Bing: Midsize SUV Ratings
Dodge had its entry, too: the Durango. Even bigger and "truckier" than the Explorer, the Durango really wasn't as good as the Ford, and it never approached the Explorer's sales numbers.
Interest in both vehicles dwindled in the past decade, and in 2008 a surge in gas prices all but wiped out the domestic truck-based SUV.
For the 2011 model year, Ford and Dodge are taking a shot at winning back American consumers who miss their beefy sport utes, this time with carlike unibody crossovers instead of body-on-frame trucks.
The Explorer gets the more radical changes. It loses its V8 engine, offering instead V6 and, eventually, 4-cylinder power. It also trades standard rear-wheel drive for front-wheel drive and adopts an all-wheel-drive system that includes a sophisticated Terrain Management system.
The Durango, meanwhile, keeps its rear-drive layout and available V8 power while getting an all-new base V6 engine and an architecture designed by Mercedes-Benz.
Which of these two modern crossovers is best for you? Let's compare them.
Compare: Dodge Durango vs. Ford Explorer vs. Toyota Highlander
Compared to the models they replace, both the Explorer and Durango are much more comfortable and carlike — they even tend toward sporty. That's impressive because both are still really big. The Explorer is almost 4 inches longer and 6 inches wider than the outgoing model, while its weight is about the same. The Durango is roughly the same size as the previous model, but it sits lower and weighs, on average, 150 to 200 pounds more than the Explorer.
While both have excellent road manners, there are some noticeable differences. The Durango feels more stable in a straight line and when entering a turn than does the Explorer, which tends to wobble a bit and feels like it's going to lean. Thankfully, that body roll really isn't there. The Explorer rolls to a point, then firms up nicely and tracks sharply through turns. Because of a pleasingly quick steering response, the Durango might dive into that same turn a tad quicker, but the Explorer rotates better. Given its lighter weight and quicker-acting suspension, the Explorer would be a better choice for a slalom run.
On paper, this duo's V6 engines are evenly matched. The Explorer's 3.5-liter makes 285 horsepower and 255 lb-ft of torque, while the Durango's new Pentastar 3.6-liter produces 290 horses and 260 lb-ft of torque. There is a real-world difference, though, and it can be traced to power-to-weight ratio and transmission performance.
While both transmissions are smooth, the Explorer's 6-speed automatic is quicker to downshift when power is needed. The Durango's 5-speed automatic, on the other hand, always seems like it's a gear or two too high, and it takes a deep stab of the throttle to coax a meaningful downshift. As a result, the Explorer is quicker in a zero-to-60-mph run, coming in at less than eight seconds, while the Durango is in the mid-eight-second range. Clearly, Dodge needs a state-of-the-art transmission with more gears and better responsiveness.
In terms of traditional SUV capability, the Dodge can tow more — 6,200 pounds versus 5,000 pounds, respectively — but the Ford should be better off-road. The Explorer's AWD system features a Land Rover-inspired Terrain Management system that helps the vehicle adapt to various surfaces. We drove the Explorer under some challenging off-road conditions and it performed admirably. The Durango offers a more common AWD system with low-range gearing that will help dig you out of ruts, but it lacks the sophistication of the Ford system. Unfortunately, we never got a chance to take the Durango off-road.
Winner: Draw
