OVERKILL
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They've finally announced it (much to the excitement of my wife...)
Car and Driver article
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SRT has been busy with SUVs. First, it’s dropping this six-passenger Dodge Durango SRT on the Chicago-show table like it was a six-pound, sauce-on-top Lou Malnati’s pie. And then FCA’s go-fast division is expected to unleash the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk at the New York auto show in April. If you don't like these, you probably don't like pizza, either.
SRT essentially grafted the Grand Cherokee SRT’s powertrain into this Durango. Motive force comes by way of the same pushrod 6.4-liter Hemi V-8, pumping out 475 horsepower at 6000 rpm and 470 lb-ft of torque at 4300 rpm. ZF’s ubiquitous eight-speed automatic, along with a transfer case capable of varying the torque split between the front and rear axles, shuttles that output to all four wheels. Pirelli 295/45R-20 all-season rubber is standard, but stickier Pirelli P Zero summer tires are optional. SRT says the big 6.4-liter will deliver a zero-to-60-mph time of 4.4 seconds and a quarter-mile of 12.9 seconds. But those claims come with a caveat of NHRA certification, so one can only assume those numbers are generated on a high-friction drag-strip surface, because the last Grand Cherokee SRT we tested—which, according to SRT, is 406 pounds lighter than this Dodge—returned times of 4.4 and a 13.0 seconds. Under street conditions, we expect the 5500-plus-pound Durango to sprint to 60 in 4.6 seconds on its way to a 13.4-second quarter.
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The quickest of General Motors’ big Cadillac Escalade/Chevrolet Tahoe/GMC Yukon SUVs can’t come close to the performance we expect from the SRT Dodge. Buyers looking to better the SRT’s pace with a three-row SUV will have to look to more expensive alternatives, such as the $125,025 Mercedes-AMG GLS63. Undercutting pricier competition has long been the SRT credo with its in-house hot rods, and that hasn’t changed. Pricing is still to be determined, but we expect the Durango SRT to start just under $70,000.
The engineers didn’t stop with straight-line performance, spending many laps at Virginia International Raceway chasing handling goals. To reach the objectives, the chassis engineers installed revised bushings, slightly stiffer springs, a stouter rear anti-roll bar, and adaptive dampers for the control-arm front and multilink rear suspensions. Depending what drive mode is selected (there are eight: Street, Sport, Track, Snow, Tow, Valet, Eco, and a customizable option), the dampers adjust their firmness, and the viscous clutch in the transfer case directs as much as 70 percent of available torque rearward. (That number is in Track mode; in Snow and Tow modes, the front-to-rear torque split is 50/50.) The braking hardware is upgraded to six-piston front and four-piston rear calipers grabbing 15.0- and 13.8-inch slotted rotors.
