1998 Dodge Durango SLT vs. 1998 Ford Explorer

Dodge strikes deep into highly competitive territory with its '98 Durango SLT sport/utility. The challenger's designated target is the deliciously profitable compact sport/utility market, and the bulls-eye is the segment's unchallenged sales champ, the Ford Explorer.

To answer the important question of which sport/ute is best, we pitted the champion versus the challenger in a romp 'em, stomp 'em battle for supremacy.

This heavyweight match puts the newcomer's revolutionary design up against the evolutionary engineering and styling of the Explorer. The Durango is an all-new four-door based on the same platform as Dodge's midsize Dakota pickup. This clean sheet of paper's competitive weapons are its bold, curvaceous styling, a smooth-riding suspension, greater tow capacity, more cargo room, and minivan-style up-to-eight-passenger seating, all topped off with the segment's most powerful V-8 engine, a class-leading 5.9-liter/250-horsepower V-8. (The Durango is available with a base 3.9-liter/175-horsepower V-6 and a 5.2-liter/230-horsepower V-8, as well.)

The champion Explorer, which sold 402,633 units last year, is spun from the compact Ford Ranger pickup's rugged mechanicals. In its corner are fresh interior styling, quiet, powerful, fuel-efficient V-6 and V-8 engines, an industry-first five-speed automatic transmission, one of the most sophisticated all-wheel-drive systems available, and time-proven build quality. For '98, it gets upgraded steering feel and anti-lock braking, a standard anti-theft system, seat-comfort improvements, new rear liftgate styling, and ground-illuminating lamps built into the sideview mirror bottoms.

As makers recognized that these trucks were being used primarily for street duty, engineering emphasis has shifted slightly from trail-cuttin' toughness at all cost to providing greater ride comfort, more safety and convenience features, and sharper dynamic response. That has meant increasing steering precision, smoothing shifts and ride damping, quieting engines and loading up on climate-control and sound-system goodies. In fact, the pricey, premium radio/CD player in the Explorer sounded better than some of our home units.

Despite that recent shift in engineering emphasis, these body-on-frame vehicles remain truck-tough. They'll commute the pitted mean streets all week. And on the weekend, they'll cart the babes and the bales and tow the family's barge. They're handy for towing groaning trailers or loading with home-project materials. And of course, if the road turns to dust and rocks on the way to a recreational fun spot, their four-wheeling systems are right at home.

Here's what our track test and driving evaluation revealed about well-researched and engineered new designs versus constant improvement of a highly accepted vehicle.

Power PloysThe two contenders have taken different paths to power. Dodge chose to show off its big gun. Our Durango was motivated with the optional 5.9-liter/250-horsepower Magnum V-8 with 335 pound-feet of tugging torque and the standard four-speed automatic. That combo provides a 7000-pound tow capacity with the trailering axle and a proper Class IV hitch.

Although the Explorer engineering team also offers a V-8 (5.0-liter/215-horsepower), we chose to examine the newer, high-tech 4.0-liter/205-horsepower SOHC V-6. This quiet, gutsy engine is bolted exclusively to the light-truck industry's first electronic five-speed automatic.

Both our trucks were fully option-laden models, but the Durango is nearly 600 pounds heavier than the Explorer. So, despite a serious horsepower and torque advantage, it ran just 0.2 second quicker to 60 mph, a small advantage it managed to hold onto all the way through the quarter mile. (The 5.2-liter Durango ran 0-60 mph in 9.8 seconds, and 17.4 sec/78.2 mph in the quarter mile.)