AUTO · ROAD TEST
A Muscle Car That Seats the Whole Family
The 2026 Dodge Durango R/T 392 is a three-row SUV with a 6.4-liter HEMI. That combination should not work this well. It does.
Most modern performance SUVs make their power with turbos and software. You get the number on the spec sheet. You do not always get the feeling that used to come with it.
The Durango R/T 392 is the opposite of that. For 2026, Dodge made the 392-cubic-inch 6.4-liter HEMI standard on the R/T. That is 475 horsepower and 470 lb-ft of torque in a vehicle that seats up to seven and can tow 8,700 pounds.
It is also the reason this thing still sounds like a muscle car when you start it.
The numbers are almost beside the point
Dodge says 0–60 takes 4.4 seconds. The quarter mile is an NHRA-certified 12.9. Top speed is 160 mph. Compared with last year’s 5.7-liter R/T, that is 115 more horsepower and almost two seconds off the sprint.
Those figures matter. They are not why you remember the truck.
What you remember is the launch. You are sitting high, there are people in the second row, and when you put your foot down the V8 hits with the kind of low-end shove that turbocharged sixes usually have to invent. The eight-speed TorqueFlite slams the next gear. The exhaust note is the old one. Not a recording. Not a speaker in the dash. The engine.
It feels like a sports car that somehow grew a third row.
This is still a grocery-getter
That is the part that makes the Durango interesting instead of just loud.
You can put kids in it. You can put a week of luggage in it. You can hook up a trailer and use the 8,700-pound rating that comes from all that naturally aspirated torque and a serious cooling package. Then you can drive it to the store on the way home.
Plenty of fast SUVs exist. Very few of them still do the boring jobs without asking you to own a second vehicle.
The hardware under the theater
Dodge did not just drop a bigger engine into last year’s R/T and call it done. The 392 Launch Edition gets adaptive damping, Brembo six-piston fronts and four-piston rears, a performance-tuned all-wheel-drive system and an electronic limited-slip rear axle. Launch control is there. You can set custom shift points. You can save test results if you are that person.
On a quiet road the tires feel stickier than a 5,300-pound three-row has any right to. The Brembos are why you are willing to use the engine more than once. Speed is only useful if you can put it away.
What you give up
Fuel economy is not the reason you buy a 6.4-liter HEMI. The Durango is a large, aging platform. The interior is fine, not new. Ride quality in the firmest modes is firm. If you want the newest screen, the quietest cabin and the best mileage in the segment, this is the wrong aisle.
If you want a V8 that still behaves like a V8, and you actually need the space, it is one of the last new vehicles that will give you that combination without going full Hellcat money.
Starting price on the R/T 392 Launch Edition is $49,995 before destination. Loaded examples climb fast. Even then, you are getting the engine that used to live in much more expensive SRT hardware.
Who this is actually for
Not the person who wants a three-row to disappear on the highway. The person who still cares how a car sounds at 7 a.m. and also has to pick people up from practice.
Muscle cars used to mean two doors and no space. The Durango R/T 392 is the argument that the feeling can survive in something you use every day. That is a narrower idea than “fast SUV.” It is also a better one.
THE VERDICT
The last honest muscle SUV.
It is heavy, thirsty and not subtle. It is also a 475-horsepower HEMI with three rows and a trailer hitch. If that sentence makes sense to you, this is the one.
| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Engine and sound | 10/10 |
| Everyday usability | 9/10 |
| Towing | 9.5/10 |
| Interior | 7.5/10 |
| Efficiency | 5/10 |
| Value | 8.5/10 |
| Overall | 9/10 |