Durango Hellcat and R/T Tow and Go

[gregtay]

Dodge finally took the wraps off the Durango Hellcat yesterday.  I have an SRT that I tow my boat with and I will place an order to trade up as soon as the order banks open.  I have been super impressed with the towing capabilities of the Durango SRT along with it being a great daily driver (in and around the city... I don't live in Texas, parking spots in Seattle are all made for a Prius.)  Anyway.. the 2021 Durango received some nice updates as it sunsets (this is a very old design and there wasn't even suppose to be a 2021 model but the new GC got delayed (which is replacing the Durango with a 3rd row option.)    Anyway... the Durango is great with 475HP and 8700pounds of towing.  Tows my 23LSV up and down the Cascade mountain passes with ease and the huge Brembo's deliver the needed stopping power.  The 710HP Hellcat version should be awesome :).

Even more interesting is what Dodge did with the R/T... you can now get a "tow and go" package that adds the towing capabilities of the SRT to the much less expensive 5.7 v8 R/T version.  This will be a great option for a lot of people.. you can get the Brembo's, different diff ration and other goodies without the added cost of the big motor. R/T Durango's are going to be an inexpensive option with 8700# SAE towing  capabilities along with hulling the kiddos and gear.  Anyway.. just tossing that out for anyone looking for a non-full size SUV or truck to tow their boat (I know.. how dare anyone tow without a 1 ton truck!)

This is going to be a super fun car!

Full details: https://www.dodgegarage.com/news/article/gallery/2020/07/cat-out-of-hell.html  

 

[jjackkrash]

700+ HP is redonkulous.  That is an order well placed.  

[jjackkrash]

Any idea on price?  

And honestly, I have a 1-ton, but depending on boat size, I prefer towing sub 6k lbs. loads with a more nimble SUV.  We generally take my wife's ML400 when we hit the lake in the ski boat, as it is more than sufficient and can get in and out of places easier than the big truck.  

[gregtay]

11 minutes ago, jjackkrash said:

Any idea on price?  

And honestly, I have a 1-ton, but depending on boat size, I prefer towing sub 6k lbs. loads with a more nimble SUV.  We generally take my wife's ML400 when we hit the lake in the ski boat, as it is more than sufficient and can get in and out of places easier than the big truck.  

I am guessing it will start at $85K but be just shy of $100k with the extra goodies (there aren't many options but they do still add up, My SRT was $65k but the options put it around 80k (extended leather package, stereo upgrade, tech upgrades, etc.  Hellcat/trackhawk GC was about 105-110k and the Durango tends to be a slightly cheaper.  I think the Durango Hellcat is far more interesting than the GC with the same motor.  My wife has the GC SRT and I have the Durango SRT and they are both fantastic cars(especially for the money compared to an AMG, Cayenne Turbo, SQ7, RSQ8, etc) but I prefer driving the Durango over the Jeep... just feels a bit more refined, like they took more time tuning the overall package. Plus the stock exhaust in the Durango sounds awesome... the Jeep was just boring as can be so we ended up putting on an aftermarket exhaust for my wife. Oh, and the great thing is that you can easily get $10-15K off MSRP on these things since they are sold at Dodge/Jeep dealers and they dont' know how to call 100K vehicles.  Plus maintenance is dirt cheap compared to what I pay on my Audi.  

[UWSkier]

The 0-60 time of that thing with my boat behind it is probably faster than my unloaded Denali. That sounds like fun! Should be a great tow vehicle too. Kinda want one. 

[gregtay]

2 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

The 0-60 time of that thing with my boat behind it is probably faster than my unloaded Denali. That sounds like fun! Should be a great tow vehicle too. Kinda want one. 

Even the "normal" SRT with 6.4L is rather quick with my 23LSV in tow.    

[jjackkrash]

6 minutes ago, gregtay said:

I am guessing it will start at $85K but be just shy of $100k with the extra goodies (there aren't many options but they do still add up, My SRT was $65k but the options put it around 80k (extended leather package, stereo upgrade, tech upgrades, etc.  Hellcat/trackhawk GC was about 105-110k and the Durango tends to be a slightly cheaper.  I think the Durango Hellcat is far more interesting than the GC with the same motor.  My wife has the GC SRT and I have the Durango SRT and they are both fantastic cars(especially for the money compared to an AMG, Cayenne Turbo, SQ7, RSQ8, etc) but I prefer driving the Durango over the Jeep... just feels a bit more refined, like they took more time tuning the overall package. Plus the stock exhaust in the Durango sounds awesome... the Jeep was just boring as can be so we ended up putting on an aftermarket exhaust for my wife. Oh, and the great thing is that you can easily get $10-15K off MSRP on these things since they are sold at Dodge/Jeep dealers and they dont' know how to call 100K vehicles.  Plus maintenance is dirt cheap compared to what I pay on my Audi.  

 

6 minutes ago, gregtay said:

(especially for the money compared to an AMG, Cayenne Turbo, SQ7, RSQ8, etc) 

Stiff competition in this segment.  My wife has some time on her warranty, but when it runs we will probably look hard at an SQ8 and an AMG, but the Hellcat looks like it deserves a hard look.    

[gregtay]

1 minute ago, jjackkrash said:

 

Stiff competition in this segment.  My wife has some time on her warranty, but when it runs we will probably look hard at an SQ8 and an AMG, but the Hellcat looks like it deserves a hard look.    

Totally agree... lots of great choices out there right now.  I love German cars and had them exclusively for years but at some point I think they become a little too refined for me.. a little dull.  I loved my V10TDI Touareg my wifes Q7 TDI.. they were amazing at doing everything (including towing) and still have an RS5 Cabriolet for my fun car.  The SRTs are far more refined than people think (it helps that the original design of the current generation come form the Daimler days.  But the SRTs are also unrefined in a few says.. the raw horsepower just makes for a fun to drive car. Plus.. it's jut a little over the top, a little crazy and I think that's what I like most. 

[jjackkrash]

5 minutes ago, gregtay said:

 still have an RS5 Cabriolet for my fun car. 

Ha, nice ride, I like the way you think.  I am about to take my S5 Cab up to Achtuning and make it a little more RS like.    

[gregtay]

8 minutes ago, jjackkrash said:

Ha, nice ride, I like the way you think.  I am about to take my S5 Cab up to Achtuning and make it a little more RS like.    

The S5 is probably a better car overall... but that motor in the RS5 simply sings. It is happiest over 7000 RPM so it's not the best 'around town' car, not much low end torque. 

[IXFE]

I've been VERY tempted by the JGC Trackhawk, but $100K is hard to swallow given the aging body style.  It's a great machine though... AWD + 707hp. Will the Durango be AWD?

[gregtay]

24 minutes ago, IXFE said:

I've been VERY tempted by the JGC Trackhawk, but $100K is hard to swallow given the aging body style.  It's a great machine though... AWD + 707hp. Will the Durango be AWD?

Yep..Durango is AWD. Agree.. its an aging platform and this is the 3rd or 4th update to try to keep it fresh. But I think this is the end of the road for a crazy V8 supercharged hemi SUVs so I can deal with the aging platform bit in order to drive something a little insane.

 We love both of our SRTs. My wife picked the jeep SRT over the new Q7, X5, etc and she still loves it after 4 years.

Edited July 4, 2020 by gregtay

[jjackkrash]

700 HP is bonkers.  No doubt about that.  

[UWSkier]

Do you guys ever buy your vehicles after one owner using something like vroom?  Seems like on there and Carvana, any desirable vehicle is "Pending sale" before the pictures ever hit the website.  Would like to swap out my wife's daily driver for something a little nicer and finding something like a Macan on the innerwebs is proving a bit of a trick.

[jjackkrash]

14 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

Do you guys ever buy your vehicles after one owner using something like vroom?  Seems like on there and Carvana, any desirable vehicle is "Pending sale" before the pictures ever hit the website.  Would like to swap out my wife's daily driver for something a little nicer and finding something like a Macan on the innerwebs is proving a bit of a trick.

I get on Vroom just for grins.  I almost pulled with trigger on an A8L with the twin turbo 8 with like 9k miles on it a few weeks ago, but it went pending the same day it came up.  It was around $33k delivered to your door and I almost spit out my coffee when I saw 9k miles and the price on a $90K msrp car.  (I have no room left in the garage or driveway or anywhere to park any more crap which is why I hesitated, but I should have just hit the button and figured something out).  I mean, it is not an S8 with 600HP, but B&O stereo, quilted leather, around 500HP, and quatro, and big enough to shove a bit.  But you do need to be quick when something hot come up.  Just be patient.  

[Nitrousbird]

13 hours ago, UWSkier said:

Would like to swap out my wife's daily driver for something a little nicer and finding something like a Macan on the innerwebs is proving a bit of a trick.

Macans are out there.  When my wife was replacing her A4 a couple years ago, we drove a '15 Macan Turbo.  She loved the thing.  She also liked the SQ5 but felt the price difference (which wasn't that much more) was very justified.  In the end, she decided she really didn't need an SUV and bought an S4 instead.  If shopping today, I bet she would get a Macan.  I'd recommend a Macan S at a minimum but would really go with the Turbo.  Everything on a Macan is an option and the base ones are strippers.  Even the well option Turbo we drove was missing two things I would have liked (air suspension and dual mode exhaust), but had pretty much everything else

[jjackkrash]

An SQ5 is a very nice ride, but not much tow rating when we looked.  Like 4400 lbs.  The similar size Benz was rated to tow over 7k, which is why we went that route as the wife didn't want 3 rows and the Q8 was not out yet.  I think the Macan is similar to the SQ5 in that regard.  If you need to tow and want a smaller car, we really like the ML/GLE size Benz with an upgraded engine.  There is some crossover between the JGC/Durango platform and the ML/GLE as they were hatched during the Daimler/Chrylser days.      

Edited July 4, 2020 by jjackkrash