Edmunds and Parents Award Dodge Durango Best Family Car

With the Dodge Dart’s approaching release into the wild, all the focus of late has been on what to expect out of the new compact. Not to be overshadowed, the Dodge Durango decided to take a hold of the news cycle for the day.

Edmunds.com and Parents magazine both included the 2012 Dodge Durango on the list of “Best Family Cars of 2012.” This is a great milestone for the vehicle as this is the 10th award that the 2012 Durgano has received so far. The other awards that the car has is the “Top Safety Pick” by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and “Full-Size SUV of Texas” by the Texas Auto Writers Association.

Scott Oldham, the Edmunds.com editor-in-chief, explained the Durango’s win, “Modern and functional, the 2012 Dodge Durango has been designed with style and family-style versatility in mind. The seven passenger Durango packs a high-quality interior, the latest high-tech gadgets, a fuel-effcient drivetrain and a fun to drive demeanor.”

This is the fifth year that Edmunds and Parents have been going over hundreds of cars to find out which ones stand out in terms of safety and reliability. Each one gets evaluated on the performance, interior, exterior, and the family-friendly features.

“We are honored that Edmunds.com and Parents have featured the Dodge Durango on this exclusive list,” said Reid Bigland, President and CEO of Dodge Brand. “Dodge is committed to providing quality products to our customers that are safe, innovative and family-friendly, while doing so with passionate styling that sets us apart.”

See the Dodge Durango, and all the other Dodge vehicles, online on Bayside Chrysler Jeep Dodge. Be sure to also like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, to get all the latest news including the upcoming release for the new Dodge Dart!

Dodge Dart Hot Off The Assembly Line!

It’s a good time to be working at the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois. Workers are feeling festive as there is definitely reason to be celebrating. The reason why is because just a few days ago, the first Dodge Dart rolled off the assembly line.

Dodge describes a feeling a pride being felt among the workers. A real watershed day for all of them. They finally get a chance to get what is expected to be a winner for Dodge out the doors and into showrooms. The plant manager, Kurt Kavajecz, was excited to talk about the occasion. “This is huge for everybody here at Belvidere. Seeing that Dart roll off the line was quite a thrill for me and the men and women who built it.”

The Dodge Dart is expected to be in dealerships across the country by late June. It’s highly anticipated and has already been awarded numerous awards prior to the roll-out. The Dart was included on the Ward’s 10 Best Interiors and the Most Significant Vehicle at the North American International Auto Show by the editors of Autoweek. In the last week alone, the Texas Auto Writers Association named the vehicle the Best Value, Best New Feature, and Compact Car of Texas.

Reid Bigland, the President and CEO of Dodge Brand, continued the praise for the Dart, “The launch of the 2013 Dodge Dart is one of the most anticipated in our history and represents a tremendous source of pride for the Brand and the Company. The all new Dart offers consumers features and benefits never before found in a compact car. Autoblog made sure to provide coverage of the roll-out of the Dart and has even got a video of it.

Be sure to check out Bayside Chrysler Jeep Dodge’s website to see all the available Dodge line-up. For more information on Dodge and especially on the Dodge Dart, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

Dodge Durango is MotorWeek’s Driver’s Choice for Best Large Utility

Aside

Dodge enjoyed a great victory at this year’s Chicago Auto show.  The Dodge Durango was awarded the “Driver’s Choice, Best Large Utility” by the editors of MotorWeek.  The magazine has judged the best cars and trucks for the year for over 31 years.  The Drivers’ Choice Awards is an annual look at the vehicles from the point of view of the prospective buyer.  The process reviews priorities such as value and reliability, and also takes into account the latest trends and innovations into the consideration.

Reid Bigland, the President and CEO of Dodge Brand, was very proud of the award.  “It’s an honor to receive this award from MotorWeek,” he said.  “Even though it’s still early in 2012, Dodge has already received more than a dozen awards across the line-up, demonstrating the strength of our products.”

Add this to the list of great news coming Dodge’s way.  With the recent display and hype building for the Dodge Dart, the numerous awards given to the different vehicles, and seeing a 29 percent sales increase in January makes it a phenomenal start to the year.  Dodge is surely in for one of their best years ever.

See all of Dodge’s available vehicles online at Bayside.  Be sure to also follow on Facebook as well as Twitter and you can see all the latest deals and offers.

[formidable id=6]

Dodge Durango

Aside

The midsized SUV, the Dodge Durgano, is back with a full redesign. It’s an SUV that is not only designed to perform but it’s also made to be affordable.

The Durango has an amazing body design.  Not only is it a muscular profile, one that’s very unique, but it’s also a sculpted modern body.  With a lean forward profile that is complimented by the new Dodge split cross-hair grille makes it unmistakably a Dodge car.  This is all accented by a browed headlamps and is seamlessly blended by the sculpted corners into the arched and muscular fenders.  Other available features include chrome mirrors and door handles, sunroof, an engine block heater, and a trailer towing package.

A standard feature on the Durango is the Smartbeam headlamps that adjust the high beam brightness automatically whenever there’s oncoming traffic.  This feature also makes it so that the Durango headlamps turn on automatically at dusk and off when there’s daylight to save you battery life and trouble.  For more lighting, there’s also the four inch fog lamps that is standard with all models.

The Durango comes with two possible powertrains.  The 3.6 liter Pentastar V6 engine features a lightweight aluminum construction with variable valve timing.  It is a 5 speed automatic transmission with 290 horsepower at 6400 RPM capable of getting up to 16 miles per gallon driving through Brooklyn and up to 22 miles per gallon when you get on the highway on your way to a vacation in the Adirondacks.  There’s also the 5.7 liter HEMI V8 engine.  This engine puts out an amazing 360 horsepower and 390 pounds of torque.  It’s an incredible engine that when you take your foot off the pedal the multi-displacement system kicks in and uses only four cylinders to make sure you have more gas in your tank for that lengthy trip.  It helps that it can get 20 miles per gallon on the highway on an astonishing high 24.6 gallon tank capacity.

All this just goes to show you that the Durango is built for someone looking to take the road less traveled.  With offering an active all-wheel drive that gives extra traction for when the road gets terrible.  The best part of that all wheel drive option is that it’s completely automatic meaning that you don’t need to push any buttons or pull a single lever, it’s all ready to go when needed.

Inside of the Durango, it shows that Dodge brings a certain air of sophistication to its incredible design.   With an interior made with soft touch surfaces, it shows refinement for every passenger.  The steering wheel is wrapped in leather and can even be heated.   The seats themselves are trimmed in leather and hand stitched with the highest quality given.  The Durango is built for comfort and for dealing with the colder times of the year, offering heated seats not just for the driver but also for any passenger that decides to ride along.

For those passengers that do decide to tag along, they can do so without worry.  The Durango is built with all new passive and active safety measures.  Standard airbags for driver and front seat passenger and seat mounted airbags work with the side curtain airbags keep everyone in the car safe.  The active head restraints are made to prevent and reduce injury and do this all while providing a four way adjustment of the head restraint to make sure it’s always comfortable.  To ensure that an accident doesn’t even occur, the Durango offers features to keep you on the road without worry about the dangers around you.  With such features as a blind spot monitoring system on the side view mirrors uses a dual radar sensor to keep track of your blind spots and gives notice with light icons and a chime.  There’s even a system for parking assistance for those tight parking spots in Brooklyn and Queens that detects and alerts you to obstacles you wouldn’t normally see in your rear view.

[formidable id=6]