I don't like newer cars for the fact that build quality on everything seems to be diminishing. I also prefer not having car payments and can work on cars myself.
That being said, my parents have had an 02 Durango(4.7V8 and 4 spd auto trans) since 04 and 27k miles. It now has 150k miles and about 40k of those are towing and a great percentage of the rest are short trip driving. (less than 5 miles, Read:hardest driving on an engine) To date, upper ball joints were done under warranty, we replaced front wheel bearings at 140k miles, lower ball joints at 100k as well as front brakes(first time we had to do them), spark plugs at 75k (I need to do them again when I get a chance), had a TPS sensor go bad at about 135k ($30 new at advance auto), brake calipers and hoses around 110k(had one fail on one of my trips towing, and the other side did the same on another trip) front and rear brakes at 145k (fronts preventative and turns out the rears just needed adjusting truly)and it has a leaky power steering rack that doesn't leak out enough to matter, just causes the right front wheel to be coated with brake dust that sticks to the power steering fluid residue. That's some of the more non mainenance type stuff other than the brakes.
Other than that, oil changes every 3500-4500 miles. Trans fluid was changed at 85k, 110k and I need to do it again soon. 85k, the paper filter was replaced, 110k, the paper filter and internal spin on filter was replaced.
Also, it's had 2 window regulators fail(people trying to open the windows when they're frozen stuck). First one my parents went to dealer stupidly and were charged $400 or so. I replaced the second one that went for about $60 off ebay for a new one and has been fine since.
Overall, it's been great for my uses as well as my parents. Ours is an SXT version and came stock with 265/70 tires on 16" rims and is a hell of a lot of fun to take in the mud and offroad as well. You do get the cheap dodge interior unless you go with an SLT which can include leather and heated seats and even moonroof as well as the nice Infinity stereo. Depending on the year, the legendary 5.2 or 5.9 Magnum V8's are also available that have more torque than the 4.7 but worse gas mileage. The 4.7 typically gets 20-22 hwy mpg and I usually get about 15 towing with a full trailer loaded.
Also, they can be had pretty cheap at this point.
Sorry, that was a long post
