This year and through the 2009 model year, automotive journalists have to play the “What is it?” game with many new models. The old categories of hatchback, station wagon and SUV just don’t seem to apply any more, and the new category of “crossover” has never really been defined. Case in point: Suzuki says that the SX4 is a crossover SUV - but it’s about the size of a standard hatchback. It’s smaller than a Mazda3!
Not an SUV, exactly, but not a wagon or a minivan either
So the Dodge Journey is another one of these “neither fish nor flesh” crossovers. Like the Chrysler Pacifica or Ford Taurus X, it’s kind of a station wagon, kind of an SUV, and kind of a Minivan. Dodge builds the Journey on the same chassis as the Avenger, except they lengthened it by 5 inches and moved the wheels around a bit.
So, rather than get hung up on definitions, let’s get right down to the rubber & road interface and talk about what this vehicle does and who’s going to like it.
The Journey offers two or three rows of seating, potentially carrying up to 7 passengers. That’s if 5 of the passengers are under 10 years of age, however. Back seat and third-row seating space is not generous. In our testing, we found that four adults in the first two rows and a teenager in the third row made the Journey a very cozy ride. But the front seats are certainly sized for adults, and the Journey offers all modern conveniences, including a back-seat DVD system, navigation, Satellite Radio, hands-free cell phone access, in-dash hard disk music system, zone climate control, heated leather seats, backup camera, and of course it has power everything. So score the Journey high for young families, but less good for hauling your bowling team.
Nice rear-view camera
Families will also appreciate the storage capabilities of the Journey - it’s got cubbyholes everywhere - beneath your feet, in the dash, in the center console, and even under your butt. Yes, the seat cushion lifts up to reveal additional storage. And the dash storage is refrigerated to keep your coldies chilled. It’s like the car’s interior was designed by a sailboat maker. And the back seats all fold up conveniently for more large-scale hauling capabilities. So again, score this one high for families with small kids.
Storage Galore!
The driving experience on the Journey is OK for an SUV, excellent for a Minivan, but disappointing if you’re hoping for sedan-style handling. Even in the R/T AWD trim, the suspension is very soft, so your driving has to be correspondingly tame. The 3.5-liter V6 engine has enough get up and go, but the 235 horsepower and 232 pound-feet of torque spends most of its power moving the 4233-pound vehicle along. Mileage is OK at 15/22 in the V6 configuration. So the Journey is no hot rod - but then again, if you’re shopping performance, Dodge has lots of good cars for that.
Even a chillin' station
So, let’s look at the price - you can get a Journey in 2WD 4-cylinder configuration for less than $20,000, but the R/T AWD version with the V6 starts at $27,670. On our test car, we had a $295 red paint job, $895 for a convenience group that included a lot of cargo-related features and the hands-free phone option. Hands-free is required in a lot of states, and a good feature to have. $1,220 of our vehicle’s price goes to the third-row seat and the zone climate controls. $130 is the price of the trailer towing package. $2,200 buys you the fancy stereo with satellite, hard disk, nice speakers, navigation and the backup camera system. $825 buys the rear-seat DVD player. Finally, $795 buys the power sunroof. Honestly, we only vaguely noticed that the sunroof was there.
You bought it, you categorize it!
So, looking at the options, the paint is an attractive color, so we’ll keep that. The tow package is a perfect bargain. The $895 convenience group really is convenient and the hands-free system is becoming essential, so we’ll keep that, too. But we’d pitch the third-row seating, and hope that the Journey is a little roomier in the 5-passenger configuration. That saves us some money, and we’d save more by deleting the big stereo package. Of course, we’d miss the backup camera and the navigation, but perhaps those can be ordered separately? We’d also skip the rear-seat DVD and the sunroof, but we recognize that the DVD player may be crucially important to the young family market.
A solid family car
Bottom line is, you can configure a very nice Journey R/T with AWD and the V6 engine for about $30,000. If you are comfortable with the $34,385 total price, you can have every nice feature you ever wanted in an SUV. It’s an attractive looking car, the AWD is nice for the winter, and it’s well-made. Our opinion is that the Dodge Journey is a good candidate to be your family hauler if you’ve got pre-teens.
