A year ago, when Fiat Chrysler held its annual What’s New event at its Chelsea, Michigan proving ground, passenger car chief, Tim Kuniskis discussed the role of the Dodge brand as the home of muscle cars. He also joked about two of the brand’s best selling vehicles, the long-in-the-tooth Journey and Grand Caravan and how every time he tried to kill them, customers kept buying them. Well, the van and old crossover have finally run their course, leaving just the Charger, Challenger and Durango and for 2021, all three will be available with supercharged Hellcat V8 engines.
The big news for the Dodge Durango is the addition of an SRT Hellcat variant along with a mild visual refresh and updated interior. Since the current generation debuted in 2011, it has shared it’s platform with the Jeep Grand Cherokee which got the supercharged Trackhawk variant a couple of years ago. Since most of the important engineering work is probably carried over from the Trackhawk, it seems like a no-brainer to stuff the same powerplant into the Dodge.
For its Durango duty, the Hellcat has received a few minor tweaks that give it an additional 3 hp bringing it 710-hp with 645 lb-ft of torque. Like the Jeep, the Durango still sends its torque through an 8-speed automatic transmission with an all-wheel drive system giving it better traction than either the Charger or Challenger on anything but drag racing tires. Unlike its car siblings, the Durango also offers seating for up to seven in its three rows.
All 2021 Durangos get a new front fascia that adopts more cues from the Charger with a generally more aggressive look and new signature lighting in the headlamp clusters. The Hellcat expands on that look with a hood featuring an air intake scoop and two vents to help extract hot air. A refreshed version of the Hellcat badge also adorns the front fenders.
Like the existing 6.4-liter Hemi SRT, the Hellcat gets 295/45ZR20 Pirelli Scorpion Zero tires all around with the option to get P-Zeros in the same size. With a curb weight of nearly three tons (5,710 pounds), the Hellcat also needs some serious braking power to counteract the propulsion torque. Six-piston Brembo calipers on the front clamp onto 15.7-inch, two-piece rotors while the rear axle gets 13.8-inch rotors with four-piston calipers.
According to Dodge, the blown Durango will get to 60 mph in 3.5-seconds and through the quarter mile in 11.5-seconds. Due to its taller profile and inherent drag, the top speed is limited to a mere 180 mph. While Dodge hasn’t identified the 2.1 mile road course where they tested the Hellcat Durango or the actual lap time, they claim it will lap 1.5-seconds than the 6.4-liter SRT Durango.
Inside, all Durangos for 2021 get a brand new instrument panel with a much more driver-oriented look. Part of that includes an available 10.1-inch center touchscreen running the new Uconnect 5 infotainment system. Uconnect 5 is one of the first production systems running Android Automotive and it will also be used on the updated 2021 Chrysler Pacifica.
Production of the Durango Hellcat will start midway through the model year and Dodge only plans to build 2,000 examples. Once those are gone, there won’t be any more because the Hellcat configuration in the Durango won’t meet new evaporative emissions regulations that go into force the following year.
Challengers get an upgrade as well
Every year brings another tweaked version of the Challenger Hellcat as well. Twelve years since it was introduced, 2018 and 2019 were the best sales years yet for the modern Challenger, surpassing the Chevrolet Camaro and closing in on the Ford Mustang. Since too much is clearly never enough for this evergreen muscle car, 2021 brings the Challenger SRT Super Stock.
Taking the engine from last year’s Redeye, the engineers have done some recalibration to bring its output up to 807-hp. The Super Stock gets the optional wide-body configuration as standard equipment to contain the 18×11-inch lightweight alloy wheels and 315/40R18 Nitto drag radials.
Stopping power is provided by lightweight aluminum Brembo four-piston calipers on 14.2-inch rotors at the front with 13.8-inch rear rotors. A specially tuned asymmetrical limited slip differential helps get the power down with a claimed quarter mile time of 10.5 seconds at 131 mph. Compared to other Hellcat powered machines, the top speed is limited to a more modest 168 mph because of the limitations of those drag race tires.
Muscle for four
Rounding out the 2021 Dodge muscle lineup is the Charger sedan which is now available with the 797-hp Redeye Hellcat that was exclusive to the Challenger last year. The extra 90-hp and more street oriented tires than the Challenger Super Stock, means this Charger can hit a top speed of 203 mph. The Redeye engine also helps it gain 1.2 seconds on the lap of the “base” Hellcat Charger on the mythical 2.1-mile road course. Buyers that opt for the Redeye will get the previously optional widebody kit standard to enclose the 305/35ZR20 Pirelli P Zero tires.
Even the standard Charger Hellcat gets an extra 10-hp for 2021 bringing its total to 717-hp. Contributing to the power bump is a larger air induction box sealed to the functional hood scoop while the Redeye adds a second inlet near the front wheel liner.
All Charger Hellcats get an adaptive damping system and the larger 15.7-inch Brembo rotors and six-piston calipers for the front corners.
With the demise of the aged Grand Caravan and Journey, Dodge has indeed been transformed into a muscle car only brand. In a world increasingly shifting toward electrification, it will be interesting to see how long Dodge can continue milk profits from its fun but thirsty Hellcats.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/samabuelsamid/2020/07/02/too-much-is-never-enoughhellcats-for-all-dodge-models-in-2021/
2020-07-02T00:00:00+00:00