REAL. BIG. TRUCK. Dodge's new Durango is a big 'un, and it drives like it.(News)(Product/Service Evaluation)

Byline: Wes Raynal

Just climbing up into the new-for-2004 Dodge Durango is a chore, and we do mean climbing up. After opening the door, you step onto the running board, grab the steering wheel (since there is no A-pillar grab handle), and hoist yourself wayyyyy up into the driver's seat. It's work we're tellin' ya, work.

The point? That the Dodge Durango, once the darling of the midsize SUV set, is no longer midsize. It's now bordering on a full-size ute, leaving the medium-sized offerings to trucks such as Toyota's 4Runner, the Land Rover Freelander and the Honda- Acura twins, Pilot and MDX.

This is the second-genera-tion Durango. The first, a true midsizer, was introduced in 1998, and this new one has grown seven inches in length. You sit an inch higher now than you did in the old one, even though it feels like at least a foot. Interior volume is up 15 percent, and with the third-row seat in the way back, the truck seats seven more comfortably than the original. The optional 5.7-liter Hemi Magnum V8, which develops 335 hp and 370 lb-ft of torque and adds $895 to the sticker price, powered our test truck. Since that combination tipped the scales at an astonishing 5079 pounds, we found ourselves using every horsepower and lb-ft. The engine is strong and smooth, much stronger-feeling than say, the more rational and certainly adequate 275-hp inline six in the Chevrolet TrailBlazer/GMC Envoy XL people will cross-shop with the Durango. The Dodge has a 60-hp advantage, but it's really the torque that makes the difference. Coupled with the five-speed automatic transmission, we never felt we were at a loss for thrust, even with the beast loaded up at freeway speeds and full of passengers. Expect 60 mph to arrive in about eight seconds.

All that torque bodes well for the Durango's trailer-hauling, ...