Dodge Journey (2011–2020) review: an affordable seven-seat crossover that aged badly
2.6/5motorssouq Editorial Team
The Journey earns a place on a shortlist only through price, and even then it should be a distant second choice to a Toyota RAV4 or Nissan X-Trail of similar money and mileage. Chrysler kept selling essentially the same platform for a decade with minimal updates, and by the end the gap in safety engineering and cabin refinement against newer rivals was significant — go in with eyes open, or better, do not go in at all if a comparable Japanese crossover is within reach.
Pros
- 3.6L Pentastar V6 with AWD is genuinely adequate and adds wet-road confidence
- Priced well below a comparable Toyota RAV4 or Nissan X-Trail on Bahrain's used market
- Seven-seat layout at a lower cost than most three-row crossover rivals
- 2011 facelift interior is a real step up from the original 2008 cabin
Cons
- Same basic platform sold for over a decade; safety engineering fell well behind newer rivals
- Base 2.4L four is underpowered and poorly matched to its transmission
- Third row is genuinely tight — usable for children only, not adults
- Infotainment and cabin materials feel dated on pre-2019 cars
The Journey launched in 2008 and received a meaningful facelift for 2011 — revised styling, a much-improved interior, and the option of the 3.6-litre Pentastar V6 in place of the underwhelming 2.4-litre four and old 3.5-litre V6. What did not change for the rest of its life through 2020 was the underlying platform, and a car built on 2008-era crash-safety engineering competing against 2018-era rivals is not a fair fight.
The 3.6-litre V6 with AWD, where fitted, is the version worth having if you must have a Journey: it makes 283 hp, is genuinely adequate on the highway, and the AWD system adds real confidence on a wet road in Bahrain's rare but sudden winter rain. The base 2.4-litre four with front-wheel drive is the one to avoid — underpowered for the car's weight and paired with a transmission that struggles to keep it in its power band.
Why it fell behind
Independent crash testing in later years scored the Journey poorly relative to newer mid-size crossovers, a direct consequence of Chrysler selling essentially the same structure for over a decade while safety engineering elsewhere moved on. The third row, where fitted, is genuinely tight — usable for children on short trips, not for adults, and not comparable to a proper seven-seat SUV in that regard.
Cabin technology is the other place the age shows: infotainment on pre-2019 cars feels dated next to almost any rival from the same decade, and interior materials in the lower trims were built to a price from the start.
For a Bahraini buyer, the case for a Journey narrows to one thing: it is genuinely cheap to buy used, cheaper than a comparable RAV4 or X-Trail by a real margin. That is worth something if the budget is tight and the alternative is no seven-seat option at all — it is not worth trading away a decade of safety-engineering progress if a Japanese rival is within financial reach.