Yahoo Autos 2023 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Road Test: One last 710-horsepower thrill ride
It’s a year of lasts for Dodge, and while the Durango Hellcat was originally meant to be dead and gone after 2021, those horsepower fiends of the Mopar world decided to bring back this silly machine for one more year. For that, we say thank you, Dodge.
The world didn’t need a couple thousand more Hellcat-powered three-row SUVs, but it sure will be a more entertaining place with them. If you’re familiar with the formula for the Durango Hellcat from back in 2021, you know what’s going on here, too. Dodge dropped the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 under the hood, where it makes 710 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque in this application. That’s better than the TRX’s 702, but not quite the full 717 of the Charger and Challenger Hellcat models. Will you care? No, the important part of this powertrain is that it produces obnoxious supercharger whine sounds and makes the Durango go like stink.
Just like any other Hellcat-equipped vehicle, the Durango Hellcat doesn’t really have an off switch. Dodge has no interest in valved exhaust systems or quelling the uncouth noise of its big 2.38-liter supercharger. You buy the Hellcat, and you’re getting a Hellcat from the second you smash the red start/stop button until you turn it back off.
Unlike the Cadillac Escalade-V, which is essentially one of the best $150,000 noisemakers money can buy, the Durango Hellcat takes performance surprisingly seriously. Its 0-60 mph time of just 3.5 seconds is downright blistering – thanks to the added traction provided by its all-wheel-drive system, there isn’t a rear-drive Hellcat model out there that’ll beat it off the line on the street. And the suspension is serious enough that it can verge on punishing, especially for a massive SUV of its size.
The range of the electrically adjustable dampers helps take some of the edge off, but there’s no getting around the stiff ride around town and on the highway. Thankfully, the Durango Hellcat has handling to balance its compromise in ride comfort. Once you learn to trust the chassis and leap over the mental hurdle of attacking corners hard in such a large vehicle, it gets fun. The suspension has the composure and stability that you’d expect from a big Mercedes-AMG product (hmm, where did the Durango’s platform originate, again?), and while the steering is just as numb and cold as we last remembered it being in 2021, this Durango can seriously hustle down a winding road.
Where you’d expect to find body roll or protesting from inadequate tires, the Durango Hellcat stays planted, flat and sticks like glue. Dodge will fit the Hellcat with optional summer tires (or three-season, as it calls them), and that grippy rubber allows such a large mass to hang on through corners most big SUVs would’ve long given up in. Unlike most other Hellcats, you can rudely apply power whenever you feel like, too, without fear of the rear end stepping out into a tree on corner exit. But don’t worry, that AWD split is still a very Dodge-like 30/70 favoring the rear in Track mode – you can light up the chunky 295-section-width tires in the back on hard launches.
