I've seen plenty of toasted everything: Chevy, Ford, Dodge, import, you name it. From personal experience, I have seen a Durango SLT toast the trans at 49K (big slivers in the pan, looked like converter to me). I have seen a R/T toast at 67K (not sure what it was but it no go no mo). However, keep in mind this was over a subset of 2,000 vehicles in a 2 year period. Who knows what the owner put it through before hand; they were used vehicles. I drove an '02 Ram 1500 with 5.9 and auto 29K in one year and never had a problem; same drivetrain. Even hauled 2 tons of gravel in the bed on 5 occassions and ran like a champ. Of course I'm whacky and change the oil regularly and don't drive cars like I hate them. Go figure. It helps to put them in 4WD on an infrequent but regular basis to keep things lubed up. I think you'd like the Durango. it has a tighter turning radius than you'd expect.