2026 Dodge Durango | V8 Only, What Could Go Wrong?

The 2026 Dodge Durango. If you followed any of this brand's marketing, you'll know that the V8 is back and they're going to put it in everything that they can. They're pulling it out of their janitor's closets, their basements, you name it, so you can have one. For '26, the Durango now comes standard with it. And if you get the RT 392 that I'm sitting in, you are getting the kitchen sink and more power. It makes about 30% more power and around 20% more torque, which means you're pushing nearly 500 horsepower and this thing is fast in a straight line. And they're going to tell you it's track inspired, which clearly you're not going to take it on track like we did, but I'm going to tell you a few things about this. The main thing is if you wanted a V8 in a three-row SUV, you had to get your the Germans to spend around $100,000 to do so and then having about half of its value eviscerated in 3 years. The 392 RT starts at about $50,000. And what you're getting here is you're getting fully leather interior, full leather accents, you're getting the suede headliner, you're getting a really good audio system, a ton of usable space, and a known quantity. The Durango has been out forever. Their V8 they've been milking forever and the thing is they've depreciated it. They've depreciated this, the tooling, everything to make the drivetrain, so they can drive down the price. It's not that they just magically lowered it. I think they figured out how to package this to give people what they actually want is a fun three-row SUV that has the space for kids, things, and it can actually tow. We're talking around like 8,700 lb of towing capacity. And to put that in perspective, you know, some of the bigger SUVs are pushing like 9,000 lb of towing and you're getting a nearly sorted out as much as you can get a sorted out Dodge with some physical controls, things that they know people want that you're not going to get tired of having every single day. And again, at that price point, that's why you would consider this over so many other vehicles that if you want some character, you want to have a little bit of fun, that V8 sound, there's nobody else doing this and this is what this brand is really good at. And if they can sweat some of the detail work of getting their quality back up and some of their attention to detail back where it needs to be, at this price point, it's really unrivaled. So, if that's what you're looking for, you're going to love this. Jack and I are going to take this out on track briefly and have kind of a fun conversation and meaningless conversation about what it's like to drive.

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— You hear that? That's the sound of America creating, building, winning. And that can never stop. We won't let it. Our muscle runs deep. — Last time I was in this, I did watch this thing drive away after my third divorce. — Thank god Mike got a V8. — But I'm here with you now. Everything's way better. — Durango RT Mark 392 500 horsepower. It's got less understeer than that up to we just got out of. Honestly, this thing hustles really well. I was talking to poor Chris who can't speak to us because he's in the back seat. Oh my god, dude. — Hey, I told you when I brought Joey to school, his friends would talk about, you know, "Joey, does your dad have the 392? " I said, "Yeah, I got the 392. " — the credit score? — Yes, it is. — And that's what happened. She took all my didn't pay off the credit cards, and now I'm stuck with all this debt, and I don't even have this. So, it's great to be able to drive it again. — Well, thankfully for you, this RT 392 is pretty affordable. I believe it costs less than $60,000 when you can start ordering one. — Well, what other V8 SUVs exist? — Other than the X5, the GLC or GLE, the Q7 in this price category, none of them. What I was saying earlier to you, Mark, Oh my god, dude. What I was saying to you earlier is that this because it's on the older, very old uh, platform that was originally sourced from Mercedes under Daimler, and the RAM are probably the two Stellantis products I actually think are genuinely well-sorted vehicles and competitive in their class. Like, dynamically, this V8 has a ton of character. The 392 hasn't changed in 400 years, and it's great for it. The ZF 8-speed does it Jesus Christ. — it way too much sense, pal. Nobody gives a about this. My wife didn't care about any of this stuff. — She wanted the 392, and I told her I would get it. I worked three different jobs. Joey went to a private school. Guess what? Now she's got another kid on the way with this new guy, and they got a free car out of me. — Well, Mark, I'm sorry you're sad, but the drivetrain in this thing is great. It handles well. It's double wishbone car. The all-wheel drive systems are good, and the brakes, despite being a house, have not faded out yet. — did. It faded out. — Oh, it did? — Yeah, no. Well, then we'll just we won't use the brakes. — The whole idea is not to use the brakes. — All right. Is there anything else you want to talk about, Mark? — Yeah. The V8. It's great. — Did you talk about it? — I did. I talked about it at length. It's been around for 10 years or 15 years. — paying attention. — Look, you've probably seen like 40 of our videos in the Durango at this time. — No, this this brand exists because of this. — Yeah, the V8. — This entire experience is why you buy a Dodge, right? You're You don't care about anything else. I can get a V8, uh, souped-up I'm going to get drunk and drive through the front of a liquor store in this thing. That's what I'm going to do. do in this thing. And then I'm going to hire a lawyer to get me out of it so I can do it again. Okay? — You can't use any of that. — Why not? — Dude, but why do you think you can't use any of that? Uh — All right, fine.

— Now, despite us having some fun during the drive, we've done an asinine amount of videos on the Durango. And all the things that were good about it are still good about it. They're just giving you more. You know, the adaptive dampers do a really good job for the price point on the street and if you want to have some fun, it doesn't feel like a massively understeer prone vehicle. And you know, the V8 makes a massive difference. Now, clearly, you know, this brand has some of the worst timing ever and it's not really their fault. They bring back the V8 and then our gas prices in Illinois are over $6 a gallon for premium. It just seems like they can't catch a break. But clearly, you're not buying a V8 because you wanted Toyota hybrid levels of fuel economy. You're buying it for a completely different reason and that's why the Durango continues and has sold for quite uh quite well for a long period of time. It is that known quantity and I understand why people buy it and you're going to really enjoy it. Now, clearly, the used market is going to be amazing. So, if you need one of these for more affordable, you're going to find it. But if you're also looking for a deal that is basically a loaded three-row SUV for 50 grand, this is very, very hard to argue and we appreciate that it exists in a world of boring SUVs. Thanks for watching. We'll see you next video. — Woah.