Most newer trucks with over sized cabs have shorter boxes, an 8' box with larger cabs is really hard to find, as are standard cab trucks. The ride quality of the newer stuff is leaps & bounds better then the old stuff and seems to get better every year. I can't help but wonder if replacing the old seats with a modern seat isn't 1/2 of the difference, but the suspensions seem to be softer, and the trucks are heavier, all of which adds up to better rides. Seat position has a lot to do with ride comfort. I spend a lot of time getting the seat in a good position when ever I build a new hot rod.

The used truck market around here finds 10 year old trucks in your original price range have 200,000 miles, or some kind of issues. Used Durangos here also seem to have an unusually higher % of issues compared to ones that don't. That means either no one is selling them unless they have issues, or the Durangos have more issues. The fact that Mopar had commercials telling about the "all new Durango re-design" a few years ago would lead me to believe there were more issues with the older ones.

My next truck will probably be an extended cab (or whatever you want to call it), keeping small stuff out of the weather has advantages, and extra room inside standard cab Dakotas is very limited. Gene