The 2018 Dodge Durango R/T.

Being a child of the 60s and 70s, who was old enough to have posters on the wall during what we thought was the Golden Age of Muscle Cars, only to have the party end thanks to emissions regulations, insurance surcharges and Arab oil embargoes just as I got my license, I just have to love Dodge.  With the exception of the sad-sack Journey and the pre-historic Grand Caravan (which we liked---in 2010),  Dodge is just one big toy store, full of things that any red-blooded American boy or girl could use to have fun, cause mayhem and lose one's driver license.

2018 Dodge Durango R/T.

The very description of the 2018 Dodge Durango R/T is pure go-fast American ingenuity and hot-roddery:  Take a Jeep Grand Cherokee, stretch the wheelbase to make three rows of seats go in easier and stuff a 5.7-liter, 360 horsepower Hemi V8 under the hood.  Connect it to an eight-speed automatic transmission to keep fuel economy from looking like the 60s Hemis (EPA fuel economy estimate for the 2018 Dodge Durango R/T AWD is 14 city/22 highway) and you've got something.
It's the SUV enthusiast dads and moms will buy first when the family finally demands all that seating capacity.

Our experience: The Hemi means business.  Put your foot on the right pedal and speed happens right away.  And the 2018 Dodge Durango R/T can back it up with stopping and handling abilities not found in most SUVs.

$46,295 is the base price, which sounds a bit steep at first blush, but remember the power above and then add this to it:

• Front and rear parking assist with stop.
• Sport suspension.
• Rear load-leveling suspension.
• Selectable steering modes.
• Four-wheel traction control.
• Two-speed on-demand transfer case.
• Auto-dimming rear-view mirror.
• Rear-view camera.
• Anti-lock four-wheel heavy duty disc brakes.
• Power liftgate.
• Remote start.
• Keyless Go.
• Trailer sway damping
• Security alarm.
• Rain-sensitive windshield wipers.
• Uconnect navigationwith an 8.4-inch display.
• Beats premium audio system.
• Apple CarPlay.
• Android Auto.
• Two USB jacks and one AUX jack.
• Heated and ventilated front seats.
• Heated second-row seats.
• Perforated leather-wrapped heated steering wheel.
• Steering wheel-mounted paddle shifters.
• Power 8-way front seats (memory for driver's seat).
• Power driver and passenger 4-way lumbar adjustment.
• Second-row 60/40 fold and tumble seat.
• Three-zone climate control.
• One-year subscription to SiriusXM Satellite Radio.
• 5-year subscription to SiriusXM Travel Link.
• One-year subscription to SiriusXM Guardian service.
• SiriusXM Traffic Plus.
• Performance front fascia.
• Performance hood.
• Premium LED fog lamps.
• LED daytime running lights.
• Low-beam HID headlamps.
• Automatic headlight-leveling system.
• Dual rear exhaust with bright tips.

2018 Dodge Durango R/T interior.

The 2017 Ram 1500 Night Edition Crew Cab.

There is very little to prepare you for the sound that comes when you push the "START" button in the 2017 Ram 1500 Night Edition.  The best written approximation is:

BAROOOOOMMMMMBURBLEBURBLEBURBLEBURBLEBURBLEBURBLEBURBLE

And after you've eased it out of your driveway and you give it....oh, let's say 1/16th throttle to start down your street:

BBBBBWWWWAAAAAHHHHHHHRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Yes, that thing's got a Hemi.



Think I'm exaggerating?



The roar is one of the selling points of the 2017 Ram 1500 Night Edition.  Clever lines like "The night is dark.  Make sure you're heard" are part of the marketing.

At its heart is a cat-back exhaust.  I'm not an engineer.  And while I can generally get the facts and lay them out in an easy-to-understand manner, I've found, while getting the facts, someone that I should just allow to tell it to you...this friendly fella at Engineering Explained:

2017 Ram 1500 Night Edition Crew Cab.

I mean, look at those exhaust pipes.  They look like cannons.

Anyway, for $43,995 you get a Ram 1500 Sport Crew Cab.  The fun takes off from that base.

2017 Ram 1500 Night Edition cold air induction.

FiatChrysler's being circumspect about specific numbers when the Night Edition is equipped with the optional ($795) cold air induction system.  Let's just revert to the old Rolls-Royce method and say "adequate".  You know, "adequate" for almost causing sonic booms.

Our tester came with the usual standard equipment for that $43,995 base price (electric shift-on-demand transfer case, remote keyless entry, locking tailgate, remote start system, anti-lock four-wheel disc brakes, backup camera, speed control, a theft-deterrent system, auto-dimming rearview mirror, dual-zone climate control, a six-speaker audio system, heated seats and steering wheel, power-adjustable pedals, sun visors with illuminated vanity mirrors, a rear power sliding window, a power 10-way driver's seat with power lumbar adjust, second-row in-floor storage bins and LED bed lighting.

But there's a lot more.  The truck we drove had almost ten grand worth of options:

• Night Edition Package (black painted honeycomb grille, black RAM tailgate nameplate, 20-inch painted black aluminum wheels, dual rear exhaust with bright tips and a flat black "Ram 1500" badge) $395
• Convenience Group (automatic high beams, Keyless Enter n Go, rain-sensitive wipers) $545
• An upgraded nine-speaker Alpine premium audio system with subwoofer $345
• Tri-fold tonneau cover $545
• 8-speed automatic transmission $500
• 3.92 rear axle ratio $95
• Anti-spin differential rear axle $435
• 5.7-liter Hemi V8 $1,250
• Rear window defroster $195
• Sport performance hood $775
• 32-gallon fuel tank (upgrade from standard 26 gallons) $355
• Navigation with SiriusXM TravelLink and Traffic $795
• Four-corner air suspension $1,715
• Front and rear park assist system $445
• Ram Box cargo management system $1,295
• Trailer brake control $295
• Locking lug nuts $60
• Spray-in bedliner $495

The 2017 Dodge Challenger T/A 392.

Publisher's note:  Normally, the cars you read about here at TireKicker are loaned to us by the press fleets of the various manufacturers for several days.  Seven is typical.  Occasionally, we'll get a longer period of time, and sometimes it'll only be three or four days.  Our "30 Minutes With" series are cars that we spent half an hour behind the wheel of during the just-concluded Western Automotive Journalists Media Days in Monterey, California.

Day one of Media Days is a driving program, with journalists taking cars from the staging area at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca via Laureles Grade.  Once there, you swap cars with another journalist for the drive back, and then swap cars again once back at the Quail. Apart from an hour's lunch, this is your day from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  Each run is about half an hour, and driving 10 to 12 cars back-to-back-to-back gives you interesting points of reference about the next one.

My ninth car of the day was one of the most fearsome...the 2017 Dodge Challenger T/A 392.

Quail Lodge to Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway via Laureles Grade (courtesy Google Maps).

Laureles Grade is about five and a half miles of non-stop twists and turns between Carmel Valley Road and CA 68, and thus perfect for a pack of automotive journalists and some high-grade machinery.

2017 Dodge Challenger T/A 392.

The 2017 Dodge Challenger T/A 392 is only three rungs down from the top of the Dodge Challenger hierarchy.  Above it, the SRT 392 with the same 485-horsepower 6.4-liter Hemi, but with configurable drive modes, the Hellcat, with a supercharged 6.4-liter Hemi making what until recently was considered an insane 707 horsepower, and the soon-to-be released (or is that unleashed?) Demon with 808 horsepower.

Trust me, the T/A 392 is more than enough power for anyone not intent upon breaking laws of man and physics.  Packing the same power as the 2017 Dodge Charger Daytona 392 I'd driven a couple of hours earlier, it knocks off 0-60 in roughly the same four and a half seconds, but being in a slightly smaller package heightens the sensation of speed.   The good news is that, like its bigger brother, the Charger, what we have here is a muscle car that blows away "golden era" cars from the 60s not only in straight-line performance but in handling and braking power.

2017 Dodge Challenger T/A 392 interior.

And, like its big brother, it gives you a comfortable, if business-like, place in which to do your driving.  As a value proposition, the 2017 Dodge Challenger T/A 392 is a pretty good one, with a base price of $44,995.  I won't attempt to do the guesswork as to what optional equipment the one I drove might have, but I found three within 25 miles of TireKicker World headquarters in Folsom, one at $47,785, one at $49,080 and the third for $51,840.

Having not yet driven a Hellcat or Demon (and frankly, not entirely sure I want to), this stands as the hottest Challenger I've ever driven.  Getting one of these instead of one of those would by no means be settling.