looking at buying 04 Durango-Hemi

[erobb]

Howdy folks, went looking at SUV's the other night after work, (there are some awesome deals to be had right now) really liked an 04 Durango Limited only 53K miles on it with the HEMI, 2 tone leather, sunroof and all the accoutrements except it didn't have the rear seat DVD player for the kids. the Hemi seems to handle the truck well and cruised very easily down the road at about 70mph reading 16-17 avg mpg on the overhead console the whole time. only once when we sat at a stoplight for awhile and then I got irked and mashed into it to pass a slow poke ahead of us did it dip into the 13. 9 range but then quickly recovered. This seems accptable MPG considering we owned a 98 Durango with the 5. 2 in the past and it didn't have the full time 4wd and it would only muster 12-13 mpg. Does anybody have one of these things and what do you get for MPG? does this vehicle have that cylinder displacement thingy where it shuts down 4 cylinders in cruise mode and has anybody heard of problems that can arise over time or mileage with this feature? Thanks

 

[Wayne M.]

I don't have one of these myself (I have a '98 Durango, which I still like), but I do know someone who has a Hemi Grand Cherokee. Theirs is an '06 with MDS (multi displacment sys) and they claimed 20MPG on a long trip. I don't think '04's had MDS, and I do think it's a worthwhile option. I guess if the deal was right for the right clean vehicle, I would go for it. I like the front restyle in '06 or so. Take the VIN to a Chrysler dealer and have the build sheet printed.

Not to be nosy, but what's it going for?

 

[erobb]

The dealership which had the Durango had it listed for 13,900. I have a 98 Jaguar xj8 that I hardly ever drive, that I wanted to trade, it just sits in the garage, I try to get it out at least once a month. I thought the Durango would be more usefull to me especially if we have another winter like the last one, and I could also use it to tow my boat instead of having to use my work truck. Alas though I called the dealership today to tell them I was ready to move forward on the deal that the salesman and myself had hammered out on Fri, over the phone ( I wanted to think about it over the weekend) I was told the salesman I dealt with is on vacation this week, and apparently no one can find any paperwork on the deal that we struck. The best they could do was $2100 higher than the deal that was made on Fri. So tomorrow night after work I'm going to look at an '05 same miles, same price, same everything except its black instead of white at a different dealership across town. I tried to investigate the cylinder displacement thing online (without much luck) and I also think it came along in the trucks later. The Chrysler 300 had it right away but it was introduced as an '05 model.