2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat review: Fire and brimstone

The 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat is silly. Stupid speedy, silly loud, silly thirsty and, at instances, silly enjoyable. I am not heading to lie, I kind of like silly. This 3-row brute will haul ass down a freeway onramp or quarter-mile observe as perfectly as it hauls your brood of young’uns to socially distanced outside pursuits. With ludicrous power and plenty of poise to handle that mayhem, this Dodge is the top flag-waving, pink-meat-feeding on, all-American SUV.

Apart from some really sizeable enhancements produced to the entire Durango array, for a person design year only, Fiat Chrysler Vehicles is dropping its famed six.two-liter supercharged Hellcat Hemi into the prow of this growing old SUV, a struggle system that to date has worked famously with the brand’s Charger sedan and Challenger coupe. Giving the fireworks, a two.4-liter blower is strapped to the leading of this V8, pushing out up to 11.six psi of increase. All which is needed is your proper foot to light-weight the fuse. And when you do, the V8 delivers an astonishing 710 horsepower and 645 pound-ft of torque. This SUV is completely ready to rain down fire and brimstone on even exotic autos in the upcoming lane.

Matched to a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, which is generally on-place, offering timely shifts equally immediately and easily, this drivetrain can provide sixty mph from a standstill in a supercar-rivaling 3.five seconds. The Durango Hellcat can also annihilate your neighborhood quarter-mile dragstrip in as small as 11.five seconds and accelerate to a hundred and eighty mph, a speed Dodge claims will make the SRT the world’s swiftest 3-row SUV. Making certain this SUV under no circumstances slips or slides (until you want it to, of class) is a standard whole-time all-wheel-generate process, which supplies unflappable composure, even when executing hard launches on bad surfaces, like filth streets. The Durango Hellcat just spins all four Pirelli Scorpion Zero all-season tires mounted on classy twenty-inch wheels right until it scrabbles plenty of grip, then rockets in advance, straight as a laser beam, no squirming or lurching for the ditch on possibly side.

When it can be time to gradual your roll, the Durango Hellcat’s Brembo brakes are extra than up to the problem. With six-piston calipers up front clamping down on 15.8-inch rotors and four-pot units out again squeezing a pair of 13.8-inch discs, they can drag this SUV down from sixty mph to a standstill in a curt 116 ft. Despite their huge power, the brake pedal alone is effortless to control, devoid of grabbing or feeling as well soft. That stopping prowess also helps grace the Durango with an remarkable tow score. When thoroughly outfitted, it can drag up to 8,700 pounds, a determine Dodge claims is best in class.

Equally, the Durango’s steering is properly dialed in, offering unpredicted crispness, which helps this major SUV sense significantly extra agile than you may expect for a thing with 3 rows of seats. The steering’s weighting is also effortless to change by switching via many driving modes, a thing you can do immediately on the snazzy new-for-2021 Uconnect five infotainment process(extra on that a small later). Damper stiffness can be modified, as well, enabling this Dodge’s journey to change on a whim from easy to starchy.

With this SUV, you would greater be in like with V8 noises (and intoxicating supercharger whine!) due to the fact whilst the powertrain eagerly broadcasts an inner-combustion symphony, its exhaust also drones annoyingly at lower speeds, plenty of, in point, to make the Durango’s floor pans reverberate. Mercifully, the Hellcat V8 pipes down on the freeway to a peaceful, contented purr. A driver-selectable lively exhaust process would be awesome so you can have that rumble when you want it devoid of finding a headache in hurry-hour site visitors.

Of class, you would greater not be frightened of pumping fuel, possibly, and plenty of it. The Durango Hellcat burns gas like a cruise ship and it needs at least 91 octane to be delighted. Official EPA figures have not nonetheless been produced, but expect them to be somewhere between atrocious and appalling. In testing, I averaged just 13.nine miles for each gallon in blended driving and I was not even terribly irresponsible whilst driving.

This supercharged SUV’s secure handling and straight-line efficiency are unquestionably praiseworthy, but the novelty of 710 horsepower can unquestionably have on off following a whilst. And the moment you start out thinking about other facets of the Durango, its attraction does fade a small.

This is an previous car or truck and in some ways it feels it, from the higher-exertion exterior doorway handles to some of its strange secondary controls. Underscoring this place is a lot less-than-stellar smaller-overlap crash-test efficiency and an iffy headlamp score from the Insurance Institute for Freeway Basic safety. I try to remember examining a Durango approximately ten yrs and two work in the past and it was primarily the similar as this case in point, which, even with its age, continue to sells incredibly perfectly. To its credit history, FCA has finished an admirable job keeping the Durango contemporary and this 2021 design is the nicest ever. Its dashboard has been redesigned to be extra driver-centered, the centre console and upper parts of the doors have been enhanced and you can get an exquisite wrapped-and-stitched instrument panel, a high quality touch.

The Durango Hellcat’s front seats seem way overstuffed, but they are incredibly company and supportive. This case in point is equipped with cushy next-row bucket seats and an optional centre console, a blend which is roomy plenty of for grownup passengers (a skosh extra legroom would be awesome). As for the 3rd-row bench, it can be shockingly roomy and comfortable, with an elevated placement so you can see the road in advance. As for cargo room, you get seventeen.two cubic ft driving the 3rd row, 43.3 aft of the next and 85.one cubes all-in. These figures are similar, if just a whisker driving what the Ford Explorer gives.

My tester’s cabin is properly crafted, the stitched dashboard seems to be and feels good and all four doors are trimmed with leather-based. The local climate controls are strong and couldn’t be simpler to use, comprised of chunky knobs and buttons. Regrettably, all is not excellent, as the Durango’s A-pillars are ginormous, hampering outward visibility, and the less than-armrest storage cubby in the centre console is approximately useless, primarily taken up by the offered Blu-ray participant. The reconfigurable screen in the instrument cluster ain’t good, possibly. It is really gritty-searching and lethargic, using ages to cycle between screens.

The good thing is, FCA’s new Uconnect five infotainment process is a winner. This offered multimedia array is displayed on a dazzling and colorful ten.one-inch touchscreen which is angled a little bit towards the driver. The person interface is beautiful, clear and really effortless to use, moreover it gives a range of very customizable home screens. It also wirelessly supports Apple CarPlay and Android Automobile, a feature that pairs properly with the newly included wi-fi charging pad. For the most portion, this process is really responsive to inputs and I like some of the smaller SRT-precise touches designers included, like the local climate-control graphics that exhibit an impression of a individual wearing a racing helmet. Lessen-conclude Durango designs appear standard with an 8.4-inch Uconnect process, which is continue to a strong arrangement.

This SUV’s infotainment choices are exceptional, but its other tech falls limited. Attributes like keyless entry with drive-button start out, trailer-sway control and hill-start out guide are standard across the Durango array and my tester is equipped with blind-spot monitoring as perfectly as front and rear parking sensors (the latter of which keeps supplying untrue warnings when stopped at site visitors lights), but other innovative driver guide units (ADAS) are conspicuously absent. Attributes like adaptive cruise control, ahead collision warn with lively braking and lane-departure warning are all optional, even on this $91,455 (such as $one,495 in location costs) Hellcat.

And that, proper there, is possibly the most important challenge with this SUV. When it can be an absolute riot to generate and it can be graced with a comfortable interior, the Durango does not sense like it can be worthy of approximately six figures. Even the Hellcat’s base rate of all-around $eighty two,five hundred looks a bit absurd. I necessarily mean, the design demonstrated listed here is approximately as high-priced as a base BMW X5 M, which is significantly nicer and approximately as powerful.

Continue to, if you have unquestionably acquired to have a person of these pink-warm kitties, you would greater act quickly. Dodge is only offering the Durango Hellcat for 2021. The get books are open up now and deliveries are envisioned to start out early in 2021.