According to Dodge, "the SUV is back". Apparently this is because the 2011 V6 Durango ($39,000+) gets "500 miles (~804km) on a single tank of gas". That's amazing! 500 miles! Wow. I'm impressed.

Not.

I guess Dodge figured out they weren't going to sell a bunch of these miniaturized, over-weight Escalade wanna-bes by saying they get 23 mpg (>10 liters/100 km), so they gotta put in really large (21.7 gallon/82 litre) gas tanks.

Speaking of wanton advertising claims: Dodge also claims "best in class HP". Yeah, at 290HP and 4800 + pounds (2170+ kg), you'll get from 0-60 about 0.4 seconds quicker than a Ford Fiesta... which, incidentally, costs less than a third as much (~$12,600) and gets more than twice the fuel mileage (4.9l/km).

PS I'm not suggesting you buy a Ford Fiesta over a Dodge Durango ... or any Ford ... or Dodge ... or any American vehicle... Maybe that's a topic for another day.