QOTD: Road Trip Wheels
Today marks the start of that nebulous week in which the Fourth of July lands on a Thursday. A good many people will pretend to do some semblance of work today. Goof off on the second, then pack it in early on the third. Friday? Just make sure not to buy a car with a build date of 7/5/2019 is all I’m saying.
We’re giving you a fictional budget of $30,000 with which to buy a new rig to take on this weekend’s road trip. Be sure to consider fuel mileage, fun, and family before signing on the imaginary dotted line, mmmkay?
Know this about today’s question as well: you can miss the mark a little bit if you’re confident in your negotiating skills or there’s proof if significant cash on the hood. My pick, for example, is the 2019 Dodge Durango SXT, a machine which retails for just over thirty grand yet is advertised by FCA itself as under $30,000. Alert readers will remember this pick from a different QOTD last year.
It can carry the whole family and their gear, plus it looks aggro enough for my annoyingly extroverted tastes (yet I chose the color purple; go figure). The base Durango and has a raft of snazzy standard features like tri-zone climate control, so let’s all give a shout out to big-business economies of scale. That Pentastar V6 engine and rear-drive architecture will serve well into the next epoch, as well.
How about it? What’s your $30,000-ish pick for this weekend’s road trip?
[Images: FCA]
Matthew buys, sells, fixes, & races cars. As a human index of auto & auction knowledge, he is fond of making money and offering loud opinions.
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The Durango is an interesting idea, but for me, there is no better (new) distance cruiser than a minivan. More room, easier to get in and out of. Even the old "classic" Grand Caravan isn't terrible at long distance hauling, though the vocal rasp of the Pentastar is noticeable in the old vans, not so much the Pacifica. Put your phone in hotspot mode or buy a hotspot so everyone can use their devices and roll on. Or, if you're like me and have one child (or adult) who cannot look at screens heads down, buy a portable DVD or Blu Ray system. I use to rail against those systems, but the factory Blu Ray player in our Sienna helps to eliminate the "are we there yet" question. I don't know how my folks did it. My kids still notice things out the window too. Runner up would be the big FCA cars, the nod going to the more plush 300 series. But I've put miles on an SXT Charger rental and it excelled at it, even in V6 form. The V8 could be dangerous for me (and not found less than 30k) because I had a Ram V8 rental and it was effortless at moving, even into extra-legal speeds.
"aggro"? Good lord.