Dodge Durango 5.9L SLT

I recently acquired a 01 Durango 5.9 (RT model) w/113k miles great all around power house. Had some crossmember damage from a failed ball-joint which in turn caused some slight damage to the power steering system (now fixed). If left unprotected the underside of the body and frame rusts like crazy. Next spring I'm crawling under it and removing as much rust as possible...use an inner frame coating from Eastwood, their rust encapsulator, and their undercoating...Have used them in the past with great results that last for years. It's mainly the rust is my only concern with the vehicle and the low oil pressure situation I had which seems to be holding at normal PSI range after doing an oil change converting to full synthetic 5w30 along with a quart of lucas synthetic oil stabilizer.

The v-8 5.9l power plant gives enough power 2 get me anywhere i want with no problems, yet i am getting ok gas mileage...

Always get good comments from others about its looks and the way it moves...

I am proud to say that i love this sweet ride, i have even took it 2 a drag strip and ran it a few times just for fun. And it ran i quickest time of any suv/production trucks there.

Only down side is that i am getting on average 14mpg every week....

The Dodge Durango 5.9L SLT has tons of power. Small SUV with very roomy interior and plenty of storage.

We bought our 2001 5.9 SLT Dodge Durango used a couple of years ago. It was a one owner and obviously well maintained. Now have over 120,000 miles on it. The only problem we had was a whining rear differential (fixed under warranty) and a faulty driver side electric window. I am impressed by the fact that the under carriage shows not one drop of leaking oil or transmission fluid. Doesn't use oil between changes and none of the sludge problems you hear about. Anytime we go for a trip, my wife prefers the Durango over her new Highlander due to comfy heated seats. While mileage isn't great, we get 16.5 highway but only 12 around town, we knew that before the purchase as I drive a Dakota 5.2 truck. To date we have been very pleased with the Durango and are now shopping for a new generation with the hemi.

Dodge Durango with a 5.9 Liter magnum V8, Air Raid throttle body, Air Raid Throttle Body Spacer, K & N Cold Air Intake, oversized front anti-lock disc brakes, Performance Exhaust, Performance Exhaust tip, "straight piped".

Overall a reliable car towing capabilities are great I can haul a yukon on my trailer and Ford Focus (seperate). Good acceleration and torque.

Stance very sturdy. Height is good for my off roading adventures.

After reading the review on the Dodge Durango 5.9L SLT SUV by an earlier posting I felt obligated to comment. Sludge in the crankcase meant that the previous owner had never changed the oil in the vehicle. Blaming the vehicle for poor maintenance is silly at best. I have a 2004 Unlimited Durango with every bell and whistle you could ask for. All of these work extremely well, including the seat heater which we were not aware was installed.

We have the big hemi in ours. Mileage on the road is about 17.5 miles per gallon, and about 15 around town. What is interesting is the vehicle goes about 60 miles per hour at about 14 to 1500 rpm. This means that the engine will last at least twice as long as some of the so called high mpg SUV's. Would I purchase a Durango again? You bet.

From a safety standpoint the Durango is superb!

We bought our Dodge Durango 5.9L SLT SUV used with 39,000 miles. Changed the oil every 3,000. The engine was around 55,000 miles I lost all oil pressure and was stranded on the side of the road. The oil turned to sludge. It burnt on the pick up screen to the oil pump. Luckely my engine was ok but I had to replace the oil pump $650.00. After a little research I have found that many dodge engines 99-03 have this problem. Many not so lucky had to replace entire engine $3,000 - $6,000 Dodge has failed to reply on this. Yet they replaced vehicles engines for a County department in Florida for this very reason. I wounder if this is the reason the 2004 have a different engine. As my mechanic stated he gets them in all the time same problem. He suspects its a design flaw in the engine and recommended I use on synthetic oil and changed every 3,000 and hope>. To find out more about this search "dodge Sludge" you will pull up numerous links.

We bought our Durango used in 2000 as a second owner. We've been nothing but satisfied with it and would recommend it to anyone who's prepared to spend the extra money on gas. Ours had the big 5.9, but I've talked to others who owned the smaller V8 and it evidently doesn't do much better on fuel. It does not lack for power whatsoever. I've towed a 10' Cargo Trailer with a 4 Wheeler and other cargo in it up hills on the Interstate like it wasn't even back there. I've towed my 26' Camper, loaded to the gills (>8,000') and never dropped below 40 on all but the longest/steepest hills. I probably pushed it beyond its intended limits on towing with my camper and that's the only reason why I just recently traded it for a Ford Excursion. (I didn't feel comfortable in its ability to safely tow the camper over the mountains - but again, I was heavier than it's intended. If you have a boat or a slightly smaller camper, it would handle it with confidence.)

It handles great (normal driving, snow, rain, 4 wheeling). It had 126K miles when we traded it in and it still ran like a top. I changed the oil faithfully and changed the transmission fluid twice; replaced the brakes a couple times; and replaced the plugs and wires at about 90K. Only major problem I had was a blown manifold gasket at about 75K which cost about $800 total to fix - not certain of cause, but it didn't cause any damage.

If you can find one that's been taken care of, buy it with confidence.