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2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat is here to be the king of all SUVs

This was inevitable, right? The 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat has arrived, and Dodge hasn’t held anything back. FCA has essentially taken its lovely Hellcat engine and dumped it into the largest SUV it sells. Cheers to that. Power from the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 is rated at 710 horses and 645 pound-feet of torque in this application. It has 3 extra ponies beyond the traditional 707-horsepower version, and thatÂ’s probably just so Dodge can call it the most powerful SUV in the world, eking by the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk that has 707. The Durango Hellcat will crack off a 3.5-second 0-60 mph time and hit a top speed of 180 mph, assuming youÂ’re brave enough to take it there. The 0-60-mph time is 0.9 second quicker than a non-supercharged Durango SRT. Dodge pitted the two against each other on a 2.1-mile road course, and the Hellcat completed the lap 1.5 seconds quicker than the base SRT. All the shifting continues to be handled by an eight-speed automatic transmission. Of course, Dodge is also giving the Durango SRT Hellcat more braking and more suspension to handle the extra power. The upgraded suspension is tuned to be more comfortable in Auto mode and offer better handling in Track mode with less roll, less understeer and better rebound control. This is thanks to newly tuned shocks and stiffer top damper mounts. The brakes are upgraded to massive Brembo six-piston calipers in front and four-piston calipers in the rear. They clamp onto vented rotors at all four corners (15.75 inches in front and 13.8 inches in rear). Tires are 295-square, which is the same size as the regular SRT. You can choose between all-season or summer Pirelli tires. 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat View 17 Photos SRT says it tailored the Hellcat engine to the Durango to make sure it could handle sustained track use. It has a unique cooling circuit for the charge air coolers thatÂ’s designed to keep air going to the engine cooler than 140 degrees. The lower front fascia hides a “cold-air scoop” where the Durango pulls air in from. ItÂ’s all spit out through a new exhaust system thatÂ’s definitely going to be loud as hell. Dodge says it features a 260 mm X-pipe, which is the largest in the SRT lineup. From a styling standpoint, the Hellcat stands out from its brethren without looking too ostentatious.

NHTSA investigating power modules on Chrysler Group SUVs and minivans

The Center for Auto Safety is officially petitioning the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to begin scrutinizing alleged problems with the totally integrated power module (TIPM) on about 24 Chrysler Group SUVs and minivans. The advocacy group claims that the part's failure can cause affected vehicles to stall or not start at all. NHTSA is still looking into the accusations and deciding whether a full investigation is actually warranted.
The CAS petition claims at least 70 TIPM failures, but according to NHTSA, six of the complaints are for models that don't have the modules. In 34 of the reported cases, the vehicles refused to start, and in 17 of them the engine stalled. There were also two allegations of smoke and one of a fire. However, none of these affected airbag deployment or resulted in a crash.
This petition isn't the first TIPM-related problem for Chrysler Group. A recent report in the New York Times alleged that it found 240 complaints potentially related to the issue on NHTSA's website alone. In September, the automaker also recalled 230,760 examples worldwide (188,723 in the US) of the 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Dodge Durango replace the fuel pump relay circuit inside of the TIPM-7 with one external to the unit. The original part could allegedly cause the models to stall without warning. Even earlier, the company also recalled about 80,000 examples of the Jeep Wrangler and Dodge Nitro in 2007 to have the module reprogrammed.

Autoblog's Editors' Picks: Our complete list of the best new vehicles

It's not easy to earn an “EditorsÂ’ Picks” at Autoblog as part of the rating and review process that every new vehicle goes through. Our editors have been at it a long time, which means weÂ’ve driven and reviewed virtually every new car you can go buy on the dealer lot. There are disagreements, of course, and all vehicles have their strengths and weaknesses, but this list features what we think are the best new vehicles chosen by Autoblog editors. We started this formal review process back in 2018, so there's quite of few of them now. So what does it mean to be an EditorsÂ’ Pick? In short, it means itÂ’s a car that we can highly recommend purchasing. There may be one, multiple, or even zero vehicles in any given segment that we give the green light to. What really matters is that itÂ’s a vehicle that weÂ’d tell a friend or family member to go buy if theyÂ’re considering it, because itÂ’s a very good car. The best way to use this list is is with the navigation links below. Click on a segment, and you'll quickly arrive at the top rated pickup truck or SUV, for example. Use the back button to return to these links and search in another segment, like sedans. If youÂ’ve been keeping up with our monthly series of the latest vehicles to earn EditorsÂ’ Pick status, youÂ’re likely going to be familiar with this list already. If not, welcome to the complete list that weÂ’ll be keeping updated as vehicles enter (and others perhaps exit) the good graces of our editorial team. We rate a new car — giving it a numerical score out of 10 — every time thereÂ’s a significant refresh or if it happens to be an all-new model. Any given vehicle may be impressive on a first drive, but we wait until itÂ’s in the hands of our editors to put it through the same type of testing as every other vehicle that rolls through our test fleet before giving it the EditorsÂ’ Pick badge. This ensures consistency and allows more voices to be heard on each individual model. And just so you donÂ’t think weÂ’ve skipped trims or variants of a model, we hand out the EditorsÂ’ Pick based on the overarching model to keep things consistent. So, when you read that the 3 Series is an EditorsÂ’ Pick, yes, that includes the 330i to the M3 and all the variants in between. If thereÂ’s a particular version of that car we vehemently disagree with, we make sure to call that out.