Dodge Durango Hellcat takes on the Camaro ZL1 and Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote

Posted on October 8, 2021 by admin

Dodge Durango Hellcat

With a sub 4 second 0-60 mph time, the Durango Hellcat SRT is already a fast car and is amongst the fastest SUVs in the world. In stock form, it uses the same engine found in the Charger and the Challenger, i.e the 6.2-liter Supercharged V-8 engine that produces 707 horsepower and 645-pound feet of torque.

But I guess even that kind of power isn’t enough for some. This Durango Hellcat seen here belongs to Tina Boggess and was further tuned by American Muscle performance, where it has further received a number of upgrades under the hood. The seven-seater SUV is riding on Mickey Thomson Drag radials and it recently broke the 10
second time barrier for the quarter-mile.

Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Dodge Durango Hellcat takes on the Camaro ZL1 and Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote
- image 1023596 — The tuned Durango SRT goes up against a Chevy Camaro ZL1, which also packs a 6.2 liter supercharged V8 that produces 650 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque. It sends all its power to the rear wheels

The Chevy Camaro is one of the best value pony cars out there that money can buy today. It is significantly cheaper than the competition and yet offers some blistering speed and performance. The white car seen here is the high-performance ZL1 variant that packs a 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 engine the produces 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque.

You can’t miss the aggressive aero and carbon bits on this Camaro. Out of the box, the ZL1 puts out an impressive quarter-mile time of 11.4 seconds. I’m sure this one has some performance bits added to it as well. For instance, it is wearing thicker rubber at the rear, which should definitely help put all that power down.

Ford Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote

Dodge Durango Hellcat takes on the Camaro ZL1 and Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote
- image 1023599 — Next, the Durango Hellcat goes up against a Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote. The specs of the car are unknown to us, but Force Engineering was able to tune a Coyote to produce 1500 hp

The blue Mustang GT seen here is using a naturally aspirated 5.0 L Coyote engine that debuted back in 2011. Although the video doesn’t mention the exact specs of the car, I managed to find some details of this beast online from the owner himself. The car is using a stock intake and throttle body, clutch, shifter, and transmission.

The mods include full exhaust, E85, JLT CAI, AED tune, Team Z rear suspension, Strange shocks/struts, and an aluminum driveshaft. The exact horsepower figures on this Mustang are unknown, but Force Engineering was able to get the GEN 1 Coyote engine to produce over 1500 horsepower. What you can’t miss is, as, with the other contenders, this Mustang too is sitting on top of some high-performance drag radials.

Durango Hellcat SRT vs Chevy Camaro ZL1

Dodge Durango Hellcat takes on the Camaro ZL1 and Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote
- image 1023594

For round 1, the tuned Durango Hellcat takes on the ZL1. The Chevy pulls off some burnouts to put some temperature into those rear tires. Both cars line up for launch. The lights go out and the SUV gets a great start and gets the lead on the Chevy, but not for long. By the mid-way point though, the Camaro gets past the Durango and clinches the win, but honestly not by much. It was close though. How close you ask? Well, the Camaro ZL1 did the standing quarter in 9.85 seconds, while the Durango Hellcat clocked in a time of 10.39 seconds.

Durango Hellcat SRT vs Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote

Dodge Durango Hellcat takes on the Camaro ZL1 and Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote
- image 1023601 — Both cars line up for launch. It’s RWD against AWD, once again, who’s your money on this time round?

Next, it was now time for the Durango to go up against a Coyote Mustang. They line up at the Christmas tree for launch. The lights turn green and the Mustang gets some air and is ahead by a car length…. but not for long, because by the time the two cars complete the quarter-mile, it is the Durango Hellcat that’s ahead with a time of 10.13 seconds, with the Mustang not far behind at 10.28 seconds.

To sum it up

Dodge Durango Hellcat takes on the Camaro ZL1 and Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote
- image 1023603 — However, surprise surprise, by the time the pair get to the finish line, it’s the Durango that clinches the win with a time of 10.13 seconds, with the Mustang GT clocking in a time of 10.28 seconds. So this seven-seater really is a sub-10-second sleeper.

With this Durango Hellcat SRT, the guys at American Muscle Performance, certainly have turned this seven-seater SUV up to 11. It really goes to show how much more performance can be extracted from that 6.2
Hemi. Even with the added weight, the SUV was able to run pretty darn close to these serious pony cars. We can’t wait to see what other mods will be added in the future to this sub-10-second rig. Watch this space.

Watch the entire video below

Source: Youtube

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Buy/Drive/Burn: Economical American Compacts From 1982

Posted on September 9, 2021 by admin

Our recent Rare Rides coverage of the Chevrolet Citation made one thing very clear: We need more Citation content. Today’s 1982 Buy/Drive/Burn lineup was suggested by commenter eng_alvarado90, who would like to see all of you struggle. Citation, Aries, Escort, all in their most utilitarian formats. Let’s go.

Chevrolet Citation

The Citation is in its third model year for 1982, and sales have already fallen far from their initial peak of 800,000. The bloom is off this rose, but GM is still on track for six-digit sales this year. Sticking firmly to economy and utility, today’s Citation is a five-door hatchback equipped with the 2.5-liter Iron Duke inline-four and paired to a four-speed manual. Throttle-body injection is new this year and means 90 horses are underfoot. There’s also a new horizontal slats grille.

Dodge Aries K

The Dodge Aries is still new and is in its second model year for 1982. Chrysler started out strong last year with over 300,000 sales, and will likely reach that number again in ’82. Today’s Aries is the four-door wagon, as Chrysler does not offer a hatchback K-car at this level. Underhood is the base 2.2-liter Chrysler inline-four, which uses a two-barrel carb. Eighty-four horses are at the driver’s command, shifted through a four-speed manual. New this year: rear windows roll down on sedans and wagons, replacing the fixed glass.

Ford Escort

Ford’s Escort is also in its second model year for 1982. The American market Escort was supposed to be very similar to the European one for parts sharing purposes. However the respective design teams each headed their own direction, and the two cars share only an engine and transmission. Today’s five-door Escort hatchback is new for ’82, along with a new grille and presence of the familiar Ford Blue Oval. The base 1.6-liter CVH engine gets a high output version this year, which increases power by about 10 horses, to 80. Power is delivered to the front via a four-speed Ford MTX manual.

Economy and cheap driving are available to you, and they’ll probably hold up for at least three years before falling apart. Which gets the Buy?

[Images: GM, Chrysler, Ford]

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A Dodge Viper Limo Is The Last Thing You’d Expect to See on Ebay

Posted on August 28, 2021 by admin

Many cars and SUVs are stretched into Limo’s, to ponder through the streets of
Vegas or Beverly Hills in L.A. But did you know there was a there was a one-of-a-kind Dodge Viper limousine for sale on eBay?

The Dodge Viper is a modern-day American icon. The first generation was tasked with establishing itself as the Shelby Cobra’s spiritual heir. Its main selling point is the purity – and rawness – of its performance, which is powered by a gigantic 8-liter V10, free of any driving aids. Officially, the Dodge Viper was only available as a roadster called the Viper RT/10 or as a coupe called the Viper GTS, both having an interior designed to seat only two people.

A Dodge Viper Limo Is The Last Thing You'd Expect to See on Ebay
- image 1012287

This one-of-a-kind limousine variation seen here, which was for sale on eBay, is not from the Dodge catalog. Viewed from up front and even the rear, the car appears to be like just any other Viper.

However, looking at it from the side reveals that it is nearly 8 meters long. The designers preserved the original roll cage while adding a nearly identical one behind the two front seats.

The low-quality images, put up by the seller, suggests that the vehicle does not have rear doors. Apart from that, the car hasn’t undergone any mechanical alterations, except for lengthening the driveshaft to now reaching the distant rear axle.

A Dodge Viper Limo Is The Last Thing You'd Expect to See on Ebay
- image 1012285

The 8.0-liter V-10 engine produces 415 horsepower and is mated to a six-speed manual transmission. The Viper Limo can carry up to 12 people and is an excellent choice for making a dramatic entrance on your wedding day, with its white livery accented with blue stripes, a tribute to the 25th-anniversary edition.

This particular example was manufactured in 1996 and has only 5,900 miles on the clock. The Limo was put up for sale in early July for $285,000, but no offers were received. The entry price of the eBay auction was reduced to $135,000 in August.

Source: Ebay

Abandoned History: Chrysler’s Liberty Project, to Saturn or Not to Saturn

Posted on August 26, 2021 by admin

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Chrysler

Chrysler’s PR department and CEO Lee Iacocca seemed at odds on what the Liberty project was, but they were both sure it was very important and it would build something, probably.

The Detroit Three were in a bit of small-car worry in the mid-Eighties. Detroit’s desire to create a competitive subcompact car was outside their prior 50 years of land-barge expertise. At the same time, previous protections assured by Japanese car import quotas were about to expire, as declared by Reagan’s White House. Japanese companies were also getting around said restrictions by building manufacturing facilities within U.S. borders. Time for action.

General Motors acted first (officially) when early in 1985 it incorporated the Saturn brand and made a land purchase in Tennessee for a new factory. Chrysler followed suit in late March of ’85 when it announced Liberty. Both Saturn and Liberty were about more than “build an econobox” ideologies but rather intended to refine and streamline the manufacturing process, just like the Japanese. Streamlining cut costs, and would ultimately assure domestic subcompacts could compete with the ever-increasing Japanese competition.

Speaking of competition, Lee Iacocca was not comfortable with the news media’s implication that Liberty was a response to Saturn. Lee said Chrysler was working on Liberty first, they just didn’t tell anyone about it. Hidden for two years before the announcement, Liberty was to produce a car in 1990 – two years following Saturn’s claim of 1988. Lee pointed to the more sophisticated manufacturing Chrysler was already doing, something GM wasn’t doing across its portfolio. The contemporary Omni/Horizon twins were his sophisticated manufacturing examples.

Liberty, he said, would improve the manufacturing process to such an extent that it would save $1,000 per car. And the rest of the savings would come from a better currency balance between dollars and yen. Liberty would use modular construction, have a plastic body, and use either three- or four-cylinder power. All the car’s functions would be controlled by 12 advanced microprocessors. Because Liberty would be a modular design, components could be produced abroad (saving money) and assembled domestically.

Such was the story in March of 1985. By late April there was a different spin on Liberty, to the point the stated goal of the entire project had changed. Mr. Iacocca was in Tokyo on April 17th, 1985, making some announcements to the press about future business. Among them, that Chrysler had “…ceded the low end of the market to the Far East.”

The statement above came on the heels of the announcement of the Chrysler-Mitsubishi joint project that you’d know as Diamond Star Motors. Since the Japanese were just so good at small cars, Chrysler would let them help – a lot. Mitsubishi would design the DSM cars, and run the plant at Normal, Illinois (its groundbreaking was in April 1986).

Iacocca addressed Liberty that day too and said the high-tech Liberty that was in the works earlier than GM’s Saturn and targeted Saturn-like economy car things would not produce a subcompact car. Then he added “per se,” to the end of his statement. Naturally, this confused the press, who ran to telephone their favorite Chrysler PR person. Weeks before in March, many journalists were shown a working prototype of a Liberty project car (no photos of this on the internet).

Chrysler made an official statement that day and claimed that Chrysler never had a particular car in mind with Liberty, but the project was more about technology and streamlined management techniques. Said techniques would be finalized within Liberty and then implemented at all current Chrysler manufacturing facilities. The fact a working prototype had already been shown was not addressed.

About 11 months after the initial Liberty announcement, Iacocca was still talking about Liberty, and once again it was labeled as a direct charge against Saturn. Manufacturing streamlining and cost-cutting had been refined, and the estimate of cost savings was up, now $1,500 to $2,000 per car.

While Saturn was still moving forward with its new brand, Iacocca announced a change in direction for Liberty once more: It would now start with the decade-old Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon as its basis. The Liberty project was underway and contained largely within the Belvedere, Illinois plant where the two hatchbacks were produced.

On May 15th, 1986, Iacocca announced the newest and cheapest Omnirizon models, the stripped-out America trim. He addressed Liberty very directly: “This is the first step on our road to Liberty, our Liberty project designed to take $2,000 out of the cost of a car so that, for the long term, we can compete with Japanese imports.”

Iacocca went on to call the Omni and Horizon America trims an experiment. The experimental part was reducing available options as much as possible, down to just two options packages that contained five options each on the Americas. This methodology would expand in the near future to Chrysler’s new subcompacts, the Dodge Shadow and Plymouth Sundance. This simplification was termed by the media at the time as “high-velocity production.”

The Liberty project and its “Liberty car” continued on in mythical terms for the next three years or so without direct announcements or much of any press coverage. But in September 1989 it was finally laid to rest. Popular Mechanics did a little blurb and announced the new AMC-developed Premier would take the place of the Liberty project. While that didn’t make much sense as it was not a streamlined economy car by any means, it was the explanation given on the project from Chrysler.

The Liberty program had various issues throughout its run, as seen above. While the Saturn-not-Saturn disagreement was ongoing, Chrysler finalized the purchase of AMC that netted the expensive new Premier. This very modern car, they decided, would form the basis for future Chrysler cars. And if it wasn’t streamlined, economy, Saturn, or Japanese competition, so what? What did Liberty even mean anyway? Nobody could recall.

[Image: Chrysler]

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Buy/Drive/Burn: Basic American Compacts From 2008

Posted on August 11, 2021 by admin

We continue our 1990s-then-2000s series today, following up the last post that featured compact American two-doors from 1998. By the late 2000s, the Escort, Neon, and Cavalier were all dead. In their place were the Focus, Caliber, and Cobalt, and not all of those had a two-door variant. That means we focus on four-doors today. Let’s go.

Dodge Caliber

The Caliber is in its second model year this year, as the crossover replacement for the Neon. Front-wheel drive with optional all-wheel drive, the Caliber rides on the Chrysler-Mitsubishi PM platform with things like the Mitsubishi Outlander. The only body style is this four-door with hatch. There are four trims this year, SE, SXT, R/T, and SRT-4. Today’s base SE uses a 1.8-liter inline-four good for 148 horsepower. It’s front-wheel drive, and has a five-speed manual transmission provided by Magna. Yours for $14,965.

Chevrolet Cobalt

The Cobalt is in its fourth model year after it replaced the ancient Cavalier for 2005. Cobalt uses the Delta platform which also sees use in the Saturn Ion and Chevrolet HHR. Unlike the Caliber, all examples are front-wheel drive. With two- or four-doors, there’s always a traditional trunk on the Cobalt. Four different trim levels are available at dealers this year: LS, LT, Sport, and SS, the latter with turbocharging. Base LS models are powered by a 2.2-liter inline-four that wrestles up 148 horses. The five-speed manual here is a Getrag box carried over from the Cavalier. Cobalt asks $14,410.

Ford Focus

The Focus is in its second generation for 2008, and is a car specific to North America. The first generation global Focus was part of Ford’s world car plan, but that idea was dropped. In 2008 customers choose from a two- or four-door Focus with trunk, as the hatchback option is no more. All Focii are front-drive, and all use the same 2.0-liter Duratec inline-four. Customers choose from four trims: S, SE, SES, and SEL. The cheapest S has the same 140 horses as the other models, and uses a five-speed manual. The Focus is in your drive for $14,395.

Three four-doors of Ace of Base persuasion, all wearing fantastic late 2000s styling. Which one’s worth the Buy?

[Images: GM, Ford, Dodge]

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2021 Dodge Durango Hellcat First Drive: The Three-Row, One-Year Wonder

Posted on November 30, 2020 by admin

Putting a Hellcat motor in every vehicle you sell, at this point, comes off as a bit lazy. We’ve become almost numb to cars in the Dodge lineup making 700 horsepower or more, so numb that we sometimes forget how insane 700 horsepower is in a family car. But the tactic works for Dodge, and each subsequent Hellcat I drive I find them more and more surprising. For the 2021 Dodge Durango Hellcat, the same thing applies.

(Full disclosure: Dodge flew me to North Carolina to hang out and drive the Durango Hellcat, plus other 2020 Durango models, and the Charger Redeye. The Charger Redeye is what you’d expect, and an awesome ride. But for the day, the Durango was much more interesting and worth your time and attention.)

For 2021, Dodge is offering the Durango in a V6 version, a 5.7-liter V8 version, a 6.4-liter V8 version, and the supercharged 6.2-liter Hellcat V8. The Hellcat version is a one-year-only deal. They aren’t limiting production of the vehicle — the price will limit sales — but the Hellcat variant they are using onboard won’t be emissions-compliant after the 2020 model year.

All three of the V8 versions can tow up to 8,600 pounds, which is a number we’ll come back to later. The Hellcat makes 710 horsepower and 645 lb-ft of torque. Dodge claims that the SUV will scoot to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds and run the standing quarter in 11.5 seconds. Top speed is 180 mph.

As a fun side note, nobody at Dodge would tell me what the top speed of the Durango Hellcat is when towing 8,600 pounds. I want to find out.

All of this power and performance and capability is built into a three-row family SUV that you’d be able to climb into and drive across the country in comfort. The seats in our test model were wrapped in leather. They were heated and cooled. Unlike the Charger and Challenger Hellcat variants, the Durango has adaptive cruise control with stop and go. New LED headlights light up the night. In a lot of ways, the Durango Hellcat is the perfect family vehicle.

The 8,600-pound towing capacity exceeds most of the competition and is greater than in some pickup trucks. The Durango out-tows the Grand Cherokee and also has more seats. A towing mode even optimizes the vehicle for towing duties.

Permanent all-wheel drive shifts power to where it needs to be, and on the road, the Durango is proper quick. The latest version of Uconnect has zero lag when loading the Performance pages, and it’s easy to configure the Durango Hellcat to exactly what you want for the daily drive.

As for me? Give me the transmission and engine in the Track setting, and leave the rest of the car in Comfort. Bombing down some unimproved roads in rural South Carolina you can build up some “scare yourself to death” speed if you let it.

Of course, Dodge “made” us drive it on the track. Carolina Motorsports Park’s 2.27-mile road course is a fun circuit where you can let the 5,710-pound curb weight hang out. It’s a wide course leaving plenty of room for driver error, but what I enjoyed about the Durango Hellcat is that if you messed up a corner, the understeer let you know. Yes, understeer is safer than oversteer, but the way it communicates to you that you screwed up means you don’t screw it up on the next lap.

No, you won’t take the Durango Hellcat to the racetrack. But it’d be a fun way to haul your track car to the track.

For everyday livability, the biggest change for the 2021 Durango is the addition of Uconnect 5. The screen is super high resolution and is built on Android Automotive (not Android Auto). The system has been completely rethought, adding separate driver profiles to save settings, navigation locations, and performance configurations. Android Auto and Apple Car Play are now wireless, and the connectivity works well. The built-in, TomTom-based navigation is actually pretty solid, using the internet to route around traffic issues. It also learns as you drive, suggesting routes depending on the time of day or the vehicle’s location. If you go get in your Durango and 5 o’clock, it might suggest the route home as the route you want to take.

It’s also fast. In previous versions, various applications, including the Performance and Off-Road pages, were slow to load. In later vehicles, the delay in loading apps became painstakingly slow. All of that is fixed with Uconnect 5. There is no load time for Performance Pages, and we assume that as Uconnect 5 makes its way to other models their similar pages will also load quickly.

So should you buy one? If you want the strangest and wildest Hellcat out there, the Durango is it. You expect the Charger or Challenger to be fast, you don’t expect the Durango to be. Also, if you are a bit of a Mopar collector, you might want the single model year run of this vehicle.

If you’re just looking for a cool Durango that can tow and isn’t boring, opt for the 5.7-liter Hemi V8 with the Tow N’ Go package. It picks up the awesome SRT exhaust, the active Bilstein dampers, and bigger brakes. It sounds incredible. It pulls just fine — remember, all V8 Durangos are SAE J2807 rated for 8,600 pounds. It also gives you nearly the same experience for tens of thousands less.

But if you do decide to go for the full Hellcat, you’ll need at least $82,490 to put it in your garage. Maybe put it alongside your Ram TRX as the perfect Mopar dream garage?

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Dodge Durango Hellcat takes on the Camaro ZL1 and Mustang GT 5.0 Coyote