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Dodge Durango Shaker concept: A 392 V8 in front of six Viper seats

When done right, a parts-bin special can be a beautiful thing. This Dodge Durango Shaker concept for the 2016 SEMA show is one such vehicle, and it's easily our favorite Mopar debuting in Vegas. The key, of course, is pulling from the right bins. Take a tour and you'll see Charger, Challenger, and Viper pieces grafted onto this slick crossover. The featured special part is the big, 6.4-liter 392 Hemi V8 that's been dropped under the hood; it's sourced from the SRT Challenger and Charger where it makes 485 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque. With that in place, the fabricators cut a big hole in that hood for the Challenger's awesome optional shaker scoop. It wasn't an easy installation; it required a custom spacer for the intake to make sure everything lined up with the hole properly. View 17 Photos Apparently there were some Viper seats lying around, so six of them were stuck into this Durango. Makes sense. It does lose a bit of people-carrying capability as a result, since only two seats fit in each row, and the seats don't fold for extra cargo room. A Dodge spokesperson attested to the fact that all three rows are usable, if not totally comfortable. But then stock third-row seats aren't always that comfortable anyway. Seriously, though, Viper seats. We don't care how comfortable or usable the result is. Although you might not give it a second thought, even the fuel filler needed some special attention. This piece was also lifted from a Dodge Challenger, and it was taken along with the surrounding sheet metal. Because of the different orientation of the filler cover on the Challenger, the builders decided the easiest way to get it to fit was to chop the fuel filler section out and weld it onto the Durango. The designers also put a little blue Stig on the cover. And those are just the cool parts that were hard to install. This Durango features plenty of other slick details, like the custom bumpers, fender flares, and side skirts. Everything is painted B5 Blue with matte black and carbon accents all around. Up front, the bumper hides a pair of fog lights stolen from a Challenger Hellcat – and yes, they're the ones with intakes in the middle. The grille is also a custom piece, losing the standard crosshair design for better airflow. The fender flares cover up some seriously wide, 305-section tires at all four corners, which are hauled down by Hellcat brakes. The rear bumper bumper contains a stylish center-exit exhaust with dual tips.

BMW tops Consumer Reports 2023 Brand Report Card

Feels like we wrote about Consumer Reports' 2022 Brand Report Car and 10 Top Picks a few weeks ago, but it was last April. So the mag is back with a ranked roster of 32 brands and 10 vehicles in four categories for your debating pleasure. Starting with the brands, last year's top three were Subaru, Mazda and BMW. This year, the Munich crew climbed two spots to win the prize thanks to "Superb road test scores and solid results in CR’s reliability and owner satisfaction surveys." Subaru narrowly fell to second, maintaining its four-year run in the top three. Mini, eighth last year, jumped five spots to get the last step on the podium. The rest of the top 10 were Lexus (up one spot from last year), Honda (down one spot from last year), Toyota (up three), Genesis (up 12), Mazda (down six), Audi (down three) and Kia (up eight). The magazine and testing outfit says its Brand Report Card "[reveals] which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on CRÂ’s independent testing and member surveys," and that "Brands that rise to the top tend to have the most consistent performance across their model lineups." Last year's top 10 had six automakers from Japan, three from Germany (giving Mini credit for England), none from the U.S. or South Korea, and five luxury brands. This year's list counts five makes from Japan, two from Germany because Porsche fell out of the top ten, two from South Korea, still none from the U.S., and four luxury brands. Buick again ranked as the best domestic, dropping to 12th after being 11th last year. The big mover was Lincoln, its 10-place jump up to 16th attributed to better reliability from the Corsair and Nautilus. Tesla's improved overall reliability saw it climb six spots to 17th. Dodge climbed one spot to 15th. Jeep got out of the penalty box in last to come second-to-last. Land Rover fell three places into the penalty spot.  CR's top 10 vehicle models The 10 Top Picks list is practically a new list. Only two holdovers made it to 2023, those being the Subaru Forester and Kia Telluride.

2014 Dodge Durango bows with eight-speed auto, updated looks [w/video]

Dodge has significantly updated its full-size Durango for the 2014 model year, giving the seven-passenger hauler a fresh look and a well-rounded boost of competitive features as it enters its fourth year in the showroom.
Cosmetically, it is hard to miss the revised front end with projector-beam headlamps and LED daytime running lamps, "floating" crosshair grille, a taller front bumper and a new lower fascia. The rear end of the facelifted Durango has been redesigned with the automaker's now-signature LED "racetrack" taillamps and resculpted rear fascia. All of the wheels are new too, with 18- and 20-inch options for each trim level with a variety of factory finishes.
Inside the cabin, buyers can select the automaker's latest Uconnect infotainment system with a full suite of infotainment features and connectivity accessed through an 8.4-inch touchscreen. Other optional goodies include a heated steering wheel, heated second-row seating and a Blu-Ray player capable of running unique programs on the twin individual rear monitors.