2009 Dodge Journey Road Tests

Crossovers are built on a car-like structure but combine the utility of a traditional truck-based SUV with the smoother ride and improved fuel economy of a car.

Dodge hasn't chosen the sporty path for Journey. The Journey rides reasonably well and handles more like a big car than a big, clunky SUV, but it's no Nissan Murano when it comes to sporty flair.

The Dodge Journey is available with a V6 engine that delivers adequate power but is far from the best in the class. The V6, which is standard in all but the base model, offers plenty of power for around town, a 3500-pound towing capacity, and decent passing punch. Unfortunately, it is neither as refined nor as powerful as the newer V6s offered by several competitors. The base four-cylinder engine is coarse and offers too little power for a vehicle of this size.

It's on the inside that the Journey really shines. The Dodge Journey has standard seating for five, but that can be expanded to seven. Filling the Journey with adults won't make all your passengers happy, but the rear seat should work well for children.

The better news is the utility the Journey offers. While cargo room is only average for the class, the Journey offers a fold flat front passenger seat that will allow loading items up to nine feet long. It also has several unique storage solutions that owners will find useful. These include a bin under the front passenger seat, storage under the floor in the second row and behind the last row of seats, a dual glove box with Dodge's Chill Zone that cools soda cans, and all the usual cubbies up front, including a fairly deep center console. Entertainment options are plentiful, too, as the Journey has a six-disc CD changer standard and offers a hard drive radio and a rear DVD entertainment system.

With prices starting under $20,000, the Journey offers affordable utility. We'd recommend a Journey equipped with the V6, which provides the power that most buyers will want. While the SXT is the value leader, the R/T has a few appealing interior and exterior touches. Be careful when it comes to options, though, as it is possible to get the Journey over $30,000, where it will have to compete against more refined SUVs.

Standard features on the SE ($19,360) model include cloth upholstery; air conditioning; Chill Zone beverage storage bin; AM/FM six-disc CD/DVD/MP3 compatible radio with six speakers; power windows, power heated exterior mirrors; manual day/night rearview mirror; tilt/telescoping steering column; driver's seat height adjustment; second-row reclining 60/40 seat; and P225/70R16 all season tires on steel wheels.

Options include Sirius satellite radio ($195); an engine block heater ($40); fog lights with aluminum wheels ($495); the SE Family Value Group ($395) with manual driver's seat lumbar adjustment, two second-row child booster seats, daytime-running lights, and YES Essentials upholstery designed to be stain, odor and static resistant; and a Popular Equipment Group ($1,395) with floor mats, a cargo compartment cover, an overhead console with conversation mirror, illuminated vanity mirrors, remote keyless entry, interior air filter, roof rack, security alarm, cruise control, and four passenger assist handles. A Rear Seat Video Group ($1,195) includes an eight-inch video screen, wireless headphones and video remote control, six premium speakers with subwoofer and 368-watt amplifier. The Premium Speaker Group ($495) adds six premium speakers with a subwoofer and a 368-watt amplifier. And the Safe and Sound Group ($695) has Dodge's MyGIG Multimedia Entertainment System and a rearview camera.

The SXT ($22,360) adds cruise control; remote keyless entry; Sirius satellite radio with one-year subscription; YES Essentials cloth upholstery, power six-way adjustable driver seat, fold-flat front passenger seat with Flip 'n Stow in-seat storage, conversation mirror, portable LED flashlight, cargo net, floor mats, trip computer with temperature and compass display, auto-dimming rearview mirror, automatic headlights, a touring suspension, and P225/60R17 all-season touring tires on aluminum wheels. The SXT AWD ($24,905) also gets performance steering, performance suspension, fog lamps, and P225/55R19 tires on aluminum wheels.

Options start with the SXT Flexible Seating Group ($995), which includes a third-row 50/50 folding/reclining seat, second-row 60/40 Tilt 'n Slide rear seat, and three-zone temperature control (including the rear). The SXT Exterior Appearance Package ($795) adds fog lamps, P225/55R19 all-season touring tires, aluminum wheels, and performance steering and suspension. Convenience Group I ($695) includes a cargo compartment cover on five-passenger vehicles, interior air filter, driver and front passenger lower LED lamps, front and rear aimable LED lamps, a roof rack, a leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, and a universal garage door opener. The Chrome Appearance Group ($1,420), which is available for only the FWD SXT, includes 19-inch chrome-clad wheels, fog lamps, and performance steering and suspension. Included in Entertainment Group II ($2,495) are six premium speakers with subwoofer and 368-watt amplifier, a navigation system with 7-inch screen, Dodge's MyGIG Multimedia Infotainment System, Dodge's UConnect hands-free cell phone link, and a rearview camera. The Premium Convenience Group ($895) has dual-zone automatic climate control, heated front seats, UConnect, and remote engine starting. Other options consist of a sunroof ($795) and a Trailer Tow Group ($130) with an engine oil cooler, the performance suspension, and four-pin connector wiring.

The R/T model ($25,920) and R/T AWD ($27,670) come standard with leather upholstery, heated front seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, front floor console with premium armrest, universal garage door opener, premium door trim panels, bright instrument panel bezels, leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio controls, leather-wrapped shift knob, front and rear LED lights, fog lights, remote engine starting, plus performance steering and suspension, dual exhaust, and P225/55R19 tires on aluminum wheels.

R/T options include chrome-clad aluminum wheels ($625), Convenience Group II ($695), which includes a cargo compartment cover on five-passenger vehicles, as well as a vehicle information center, interior air filter, driver and front passenger lower LED lamps, adjustable roof rail crossbars and UConnect. Also offered is the Flexible Seating Group ($1,295) which includes a third-row 50/50 folding/reclining seat, a second-row 60/40 Tilt 'n Slide seat, and three-zone automatic climate control (including the rear).

Safety features include advanced multistage front airbags; torso-protecting, seat-mounted front side air bags; head-protecting curtain side airbags that cover all seating rows; a tire-pressure monitor; traction control; electronic stability control with rollover mitigation; ABS with brake assist; and Dodge's trailer sway control.

On the outside, the Journey announces its presence with the familiar Dodge crosshair grille. In a vacuum, the look might be described as bold. But the upright shape of the grille and its relation to the aluminum hood and windshield is very reminiscent of the current Dodge Grand Caravan, and no SUV ever earned sales by looking like a minivan.

Beneath the grille, the Journey has a larger air intake than the minivan. Actually, it runs the full width of the vehicle and is flanked on either side by integrated fog lights on the R/T model (fog lights are optional on other models). Around the sides, the Journey features pronounced wheel arches and a creased character line that starts at the top of each headlight, angles upward, and wraps completely around the vehicle. The roofline flows nicely from the windshield, curving down slightly front to rear. The B- and C-pillars are blacked out to, as Dodge puts it, give the look of a car-like greenhouse and an SUV-like lower half.

At the back, the Journey's taillights wrap around the sides of the vehicle and continue into the tailgate, which opens upward. The taillights themselves feature two "war paint" chrome stripes and the tailgate is made out of a composite material to reduce weight. The rear bumper has an integrated step pad that matches the height of the load floor. Models with the V6 engine can be distinguished by their dual chrome exhaust tips.

The Journey is bigger than it looks. In overall dimension, it is only slightly shorter than the Ford Explorer, and it's actually longer than such seven-passenger crossover competitors as the Toyota Highlander, Subaru Tribeca and Hyundai Veracruz. It's about six inches shorter than the Pacifica. The Journey's size translates to plenty of interior cargo room, but the design isn't as space efficient as some of its competitors, including the Pacifica.

The interior materials represent a step forward for Dodge. While there is still evidence of the cheap plastic that has plagued recent Dodge releases, there are also more soft-touch materials that look and feel more substantial than those of the Dodge Caliber, for instance. The improvement is most evident in the R/T model, which has a black dash center section that, while plastic, looks good and feels better than the plastic center stack in the SE and SXT models.

That center stack contains an easy-to-use climate control system with three knobs and eight buttons. The radio can be a little complicated, especially when ordered with the available MyGIG Infotainment System, which includes a navigation system and a hard drive to hold songs, pictures and map information. The radio and navigation controls are set low, with many buttons that will take some time to learn. The navigation/MyGIG screen is set at the top of the cluster, so occupants will have to move their eyes up and down to change settings and see their effects.

The driver's seat offers plenty of head and leg room for just about any occupant. The view is generally unobstructed front and rear. It is the unique storage and convenience features, however, that really make Journey shine. Up front, models without the navigation system get a storage bin in the top of the center stack. All Journeys have a dual-level glove box with Dodge's Chill Zone up top. Chill Zone uses the air conditioning system to keep up to four soda cans cool.

The Journey's center console/armrest has a lid that slides forward three inches. It has enough storage space for up to 10 DVD cases. Two cupholders are located in front of the console, along with a tray for cell phones and the like. An additional, more discreet storage space is standard in SXT and R/T models. The front passenger seat bottom flips up to reveal a storage bin that has about enough room for a good-sized purse. The seat back also folds flat, allowing items up to 9-feet long to be loaded into the Journey. And to help drivers keep an eye on the kids, Dodge provides a traditional minivan feature, a fisheye conversation mirror.

The second row is equally as ingenious. The three-passenger bench seat is 1.6 inches higher than the front seat to give passengers a better view of the road and front passengers. It slides forward and back up to 4.7 inches in seven-passenger models, and can be ordered with integrated child booster seats for the outboard positions. The Journey also has two in-floor storage bins with removable liners. Each bin can hold up to six soda cans plus ice. The seat backs are split 60/40 and fold flat. When the optional Flexible Seating Group is ordered, the second-row seats fold in a scissors action, with the seat bottoms tilting up, the seatbacks tilting forward, and the seats sliding forward, to provide easy access to the third row. The rear doors also open 90 degrees, making ingress/egress easy.

The SE model comes with seating for five, but the SXT and R/T can be ordered with the Flexible Seating Group, which expands seating capacity to seven. The third row is 0.6 inches higher than the second row, is split 50/50, and folds flat. Dodge says it offers enough head room for a 95th-percentile male. That's all well and good, but leg room is tight and the bottom cushion is low to the floor, so adults sit with their knees at their chins. It will be possible to fit seven adults in the Journey, but the third-row passengers and second-row middle occupant will be none too happy about it. Younger children will have plenty of room, though.

Both the five- and seven-passenger Journeys have a shallow under floor storage bin that runs from the back of the vehicle to just behind the last row of seats. That means the five-passenger version has considerably more space under the floor. The cover for this bin is reversible, too, with carpet on one side and plastic on the other. The plastic will allow for worry-free stowage of items such as muddy boots.

With all the seats down, the Journey has 67.6 cubic feet of cargo storage space, almost 30 cubic feet less than that offered by the Toyota Highlander and Chrysler Pacifica and even slightly less than the 69 cubic feet offered in the smaller Ford Edge. Loading cargo shouldn't be tough, as the liftover is relatively low. It would be nice, however, if the tailgate had separate opening glass. As an added bonus, a removable, rechargeable flashlight is included in the rear cargo area.

The Journey offers plenty of entertainment features for all occupants. An AM/FM radio with in-dash six-disc CD changer and six speakers is standard. Customers can also choose Dodge's MyGIG Multimedia Infotainment system, which can be controlled by voice commands or through the dash interface. MyGIG has a 20-gigabyte hard drive to hold songs and pictures. In the Journey, it comes with a navigation system with real-time traffic. An available rear DVD entertainment system has an eight-inch screen, input jacks and a 115-volt outlet so occupants can watch movies or plug in their XBoxes and play video games. Dodge's UConnect hands-free cell phone link is also offered, and it comes with an iPod interface.

When it comes to handling, the Journey offers little to get excited about. While the high seating position affords a good view of the road, it seems to hurt the feel behind the wheel. This is not an off-road-oriented SUV, and as such it seems that Dodge could have made it sit a bit lower and therefore improve the handling characteristics. The way it's engineered however, means the Journey leans more in turns than your better crossovers and is also slower to react in quick changes of direction. The steering is light, but accurate. In short, the Journey doesn't offer the sporty driving character that can be a strength of crossover SUVs.

We found the brakes worked well and were easy to modulate. Antilock brakes with brake assist are standard, and Dodge should be commended for making traction control and electronic stability control standard equipment.

The engines are comparable to the handling: capable but not as good as the best in the class. The base four-cylinder, Chrysler's 173-hp 2.4-liter World Engine, is loud in the Journey and delivers too little power in this 3800-pound package. The four-cylinder will certainly get you and your kids around town, but passing will require some planning and it's not rated for towing. With a 0-60 mph time of somewhere between 11 and 12 seconds, a four-cylinder Journey is one of the slower vehicles in its class.

The 3.5-liter V6, standard in SXT and R/T models, is much better, but it lacks the refinement and flexible power of the V6s offered by Honda, Toyota, Nissan, GM, and even Mitsubishi. With 235 horses on tap, 0-60 comes in about 9.3 seconds, making it adequate but considerably slower than V6-powered SUVs and crossover offered by the aforementioned competitors. Still, the V6 will help you keep up with traffic, pass confidently, and permit towing up to 3500 pounds.

The fuel economy numbers are decent. With the four-cylinder, the Journey is EPA-rated at 19 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway. With the V6 and front-wheel drive, those numbers are 16/23, and with the V6 and AWD, they are 15/22. Dodge recommends midgrade fuel for the V6.

The all-wheel-drive system is meant for slippery surfaces, not off-roading. It does not have low-range gearing.

Kirk Bell filed this NewCarTestDrive.com report after his test drive of the Dodge Journey on the desert roads around Las Vegas.