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2200-Mile Journey:
Getting to Know Dodge's Tall Wagon
Arthur gets a perennial dose of Michigan-grade winter each holiday season, which is good for him. Extreme cold builds character, and Angelinos need more of it than they can get during semi-annual forays into their fur-storage freezers. By contrast, holiday visits to my far-flung family often involve travel southward out of Michigan. This year's itinerary included a pre-Christmas stop at the in-laws' in Tallahassee, Florida, and Christmas at my sister's new place in the Dallas 'burbs. Three-legged flights plus excess baggage or shipping fees were cost prohibitive, so we decided to make the journey in Dodge's new crossover -- a top-shelf Journey R/T AWD.
We'd planned to reach Atlanta on the first day starting out at 6 am, but with an epic blizzard bearing down on Motown we hastily threw our gear in the Dodge and set off at 10:30 pm the night before, holing up in Bowling Green, Ohio. The forecast for northern Ohio called for freezing rain, and indeed I had a good half-inch of ice to chip off in the morning, but with the sure-footed traction of all-wheel-drive, we easily managed at least 50 mph heading south on a well-salted I-75 as the Sirius/XM traffic and weather reports for Detroit struggled to describe all the wrecks and spin-outs in their four-minute time allotment.
By Cincinnati it was warm outside and I switched seats with my copilot, laying on a lunch spread and setting about playing with the extensive UConnect system (a $695 option). It was a snap to pair with my Bluetooth BlackBerry, for both handsfree phone use and streaming audio (if I had any on it). Our iPod connected to a cord in the glove box, providing easy control through the touch-screen interface. I used the USB port on the front of the radio to upload a gig's worth of additional MP3s and a few photos to the MyGIG multimedia system (it holds 30 gigs and costs another $695). We even played some music directly off our Mac Powerbook using the analogue "aux" jack, while the 115-volt plug on the back of the center console kept our various electronics charged as we motored along. Sadly our Journey had not been outfitted with the slick new dealer-installed Mopar UConnect Web system, which turns the car into a wireless hotspot, or I'd have been patiently surfing the internet at cellular speeds as well. The 368-watt six-speaker Infinity sound system sounded like $495 well spent (ours was included in an $1195 rear-seat DVD entertainment package). Ford's Sync system may do a few more tricks (like allowing voice dialing directly from the address book in your Bluetooth phone), but Chrysler's UConnect is plenty capable and perhaps a bit more user-friendly. Our only real complaint with the whole system was with the low positioning of the control screen at the bottom of the center-stack.
While in Florida, six of us went down to Apalachicola--the oyster capital of the world--which gave us a chance to sample the third-row seat. Climbing in is easy, thanks to the one-lever system that leans the seatback forward and folds the seat cushion up as it slides, providing a nice wide entrance. Positioning the middle-row seats about halfway along their 4.7-inch travel left sufficient legroom for both rows, but the third-row cushion is so low that it's hard for an adult to get comfortable back there, especially with overnight bags for six piled on the other folded seat. A few other surprise/delight features: the all-LED interior lighting works extremely well, particularly the reading lamps, which are highly directional, providing ample illumination with minimal glare for the driver. The stowage bins beneath the middle row floor and under the front passenger seat are great for keeping the detritus of an extended family road-trip contained. I also appreciated that the headlights come on automatically with the wipers.
Final trip stats: 2195 miles, 113.14 gallons of gas at $177.66 for an overall trip average of 19.4 mpg (note: the trip computer was reading 22.0 mpg upon arrival in the Dallas area, so that's probably the 80-mph highway average). Direct comparison with the Ford Flex and Chevy Traverse as we experienced in the 2009 SUV of the Year competition accentuates shortcomings in the Journey's engine refinement, performance and efficiency, limit-handling prowess, and interior trim quality but on its own the slightly smaller outside dimensions are appealing when maneuvering in tighter parking lots and crowded garages, and the interior packaging is first-rate. It's a comfy highway hauler that should really shine with the forthcoming global V-6 and a mid-cycle Ralph Gilles interior makeover. We ended our journey in a warm parking space at DFW and flew home to frozen pipes and three more months of character-building weather. Bon voyage indeed. |
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