2023 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Plus

ALISTAIR WEAVER: Come on, power. It's close. Come on. JONATHAN ELFALAN: You got it, Audi. ALISTAIR WEAVER: I'm Alistair. That's Jonathan. This is a Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat. And that is an Audi RS Q8. And this is the very, very latest Edmunds U-Drags. Let's get on with it. [MUSIC PLAYING] JONATHAN ELFALAN: Today, we have one of the meanest SUVs in the block, the 2023 Dodge Durango Hellcat. This all-wheel drive beast is rocking 710 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque. Going up against the sophisticated assassin, the 2023 Audi RS Q8, which has 591 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque. A little less power, a little more class, and a whole lot more braking power. How much crypto are you betting on this one? You guys still holding? Me too. Sucks. These two brutes are going head to head on our Edmunds U-Drag track, which starts with a 1/4-mile drag, then they hit the brakes, do a 180, and power back to start finish. At the end of the first run, we'll swap drivers and lanes and do it again, and maybe even again. And if you like and subscribe, we love you. If you didn't, we're not mad. We're just disappointed. And for everything else, check out edmunds.com/u-drags. ALISTAIR WEAVER: So this really is American brute force versus German finesse. He's got 23-inch rims with massive carbon ceramic brakes. So he's going to stop quicker than me. But can I get to the braking zone first? That is my key to victory. So to do that, we've turned the vehicle into track mode, we've turned stability control off, and now we're dialing up launch control, which bizarrely puts the all-wheel drive mode back to street. But let's not worry too much about that. Then left foot on the brake with as much force as I can muster, right foot up hard on the accelerator. That activates launch control. Wait for the countdown, and away we go. JONATHAN ELFALAN: All right. I am in the Audi RS Q8. Right now, I'm going to tell you how to launch it. So first thing is to turn it into dynamic mode. You can also set up a custom RS mode. For this purposes, dynamic is fine. It just switches everything to the highest sport setting. And next, you shift to drive. And you got to make sure that it's in the sport shift mode. And then you can either run with ESC set to Sport, or you can run with it completely off, which is what I'm going to do. So press and hold. I'm all set. And then we're ready to go. I just mash the brake, floor the accelerator, and launch control should be activated. I'll get a little notice in the gauge cluster. And off we go. This thing's going to rip. I think it has a really good chance in beating that old dinosaur of a Hellcat SUV. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Let's do this. Big American muscle. [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh [INAUDIBLE]. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Oh, we got the launch. Come on, you American stallions. Give me a bit of Rocky. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Come on, Audi. Oh my God. He got some power there. ALISTAIR WEAVER: That's the 1/4 [INAUDIBLE]. That's the [INAUDIBLE]. Brake. Come on. Turn. Turn. That was not bad. That was not bad. Straight line it. Where is he? Come on, power. JONATHAN ELFALAN: We got it, Audi. Oh, it's close. It's close. [INTERPOSING VOICES] ALISTAIR WEAVER: Oh my God. What a finish. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh my God. Hellcat. ALISTAIR WEAVER: I admit, I got a bit excited then. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I was excited for you. ALISTAIR WEAVER: I was like, so late on the brakes. And I thought I'd overcooked it. But I just got it stopped, got it turned quickly, and then it just managed to get a good drive out. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I mean, this thing will oversteer. I mean, it's great that we have SUVs with all-wheel drive that can oversteer. I mean, what a world we live in today. Maybe we should swap lanes, and swap cars, and see if the Hellcat can pull out another win. ALISTAIR WEAVER: I will switch to my air of European sophistication. JONATHAN ELFALAN: All right. SRT time. Hopefully, it's my turn to win. ALISTAIR WEAVER: That one the first race. But this definitely has a chance if I can get it stopped, get it turned, and get it fired out of the corner. OK. [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Go. Oh she got a head start. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Let's go. Come on, Hellcat. ALISTAIR WEAVER: This changes gears so well. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Whoo. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Right. That's a 1/4 mile. Come on. Turn. Struggle. Feed the power. Come on. Straight line it. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh my God. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Come on. Where has he gone? Tough to say this as a Brit, but I think that was victory for Germany. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Well, now, you're just messing it up. ALISTAIR WEAVER: So what happens now? We have a runoff? JONATHAN ELFALAN: So this is the third race, tie-breaker. The RS should pull out a win. Or maybe, I'm-- I should just go home. We'll see. ALISTAIR WEAVER: And now we have a runoff. It's possible both these vehicles, certainly, the Durango is getting pretty hot. And that might be impacting its braking and everything else. But we'll give it a whirl. Let's do this. One last gallop. [MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. ALISTAIR WEAVER: And we launch. And we're side by side. Here we go. JONATHAN ELFALAN: All right, Audi. ALISTAIR WEAVER: All right. Let's pick your braking. Don't screw the braking up this time. All right. Get it stopped. Get it turned. Get it turned. Off the brakes. And give it full beans. Can use all the track. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Let's go. Got this. ALISTAIR WEAVER: I think he's got me. JONATHAN ELFALAN: There we go. There we go. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Come on. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I knew it. I knew it. Oh, it's close. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Ooh. [MUSIC PLAYING] JONATHAN ELFALAN: Well, there we go. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Well, there we go. That's close. This is a big old lump to stop and get turned. It's such fine margins. That is such a kind of sinewy instrument compared to this blunt object. But it's closer than I thought it was going to be. I thought the Audi was going to have it. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah, I mean, again, this thing with how much it costs, and how much technology they've thrown at it, it shouldn't be this close to something that, I mean, frankly, a little blunt. It's big, it's heavy, it's got tons of horsepower. They threw some brakes on that, but you really have to work to get that thing stopped. And when you're pushing that hard. It's really difficult for me at least to be a little more delicate with how much pressure you're putting, whereas the Audi, you can really focus on what you're doing. You're not sweating as you're trying to slow this thing down. I can actually think when I'm driving this. ALISTAIR WEAVER: No, I agree completely. That was just sort of brute force trying to pick the brake, and get it stopped, really slow in, fast out, and then trying to unleash the horse as quickly as possible. The Audi, you really can kind of drive like a sports car. This, it's all about kind of aggressive inputs, hard on the brakes, get it stopped, get it turned, hard on the power. But I think the old girl has done a pretty good job. I'm proud of her. JONATHAN ELFALAN: You haven't even responded to my DMs, but you want my best numbers? All right, fine. 0 to 60, the Q8 barely gets it by 0.1 second at 3.9 seconds. In the 1/4 mile, the Q8 takes it again by only 0.1 second at 12.0 seconds flat. And in the turn, it was the Audi again, pulling 1.11 Gs. And the best time overall goes to the Audi at 35.5 at 123.6 miles an hour, a half second away from the Durango. And it's leaderboard time. The Audi slid right above the Tesla Model Y in 11th with a time of 35.5 at 123.6. And the Durango Hellcat did not beat its previous best time of 36 seconds flat. Now might be a good time to put your headphones on. Let's go. All right, Audi. SPEAKER 2: You can operate everything that is currently being shown in the display by-- JONATHAN ELFALAN: Let's go. Got this. Whoo. There we go. There we go. I knew it. I knew it. Oh, it's close. ALISTAIR WEAVER: And we're launched. And we're side by side. Here we go. Come on. All right, let's pick your braking. Don't screw the braking up this time. Right. Can it stop? Get it turned. Get it turned. Off the brakes. Feed. And give it full beans. Can use all the track. It's super close. I think he's got me. I think he's got me. Have I got the power? Come on. Come on. Ooh. So that, Jonathan, was much closer than we thought. We thought the Audi with all its ceramic disks and everything else was just going to walk it. This old girl, good fight. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I was genuinely shocked. The launch, and then I saw you creeping up, and I'm like, nah. I mean, I got this. I got carbon ceramics. I'm going to stop in 50 feet shorter than you. But you just-- you took it all the way to the edge. I think there wasn't any braking left on the table. And so you ran the perfect race. And I think because it was fresh, it had the horsepower, it was able to pull out the race in race one. But as we saw, a little bit more heat and brake heat, engine heat, everything. I mean, technology, it's hard to beat. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Because this car, you sort of drive properly like a sports car. This car, you just go as fast as you can, brake as hard as you can, get it turned as quickly as possible, and get back-- it's like the heavyweight that's got a big punch. It's like one heavyweights like a Lennox Lewis and the other guy's just a big slugger. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah, I mean, this is like the Manny Pacquiao, and then that's like the Mike Tyson. It's like, if he lands that punch, then it's game over. But staying power, Manny. It's-- ALISTAIR WEAVER: Can I talk to the analogy and say it's like George Foreman when he came back? He was old, but he could still do it. One-punch Michael Moorer. Done. You remember that? JONATHAN ELFALAN: Who's George Foreman? ALISTAIR WEAVER: He did the grilling machine. Anyway, that's it for U-Drags this time. Check out edmunds.com U-Drags for all the other races, our fancy leaderboard, everything else. Check out edmunds.com/sellmycar if you've got a car to sell. Check out all our news, reviews, all the latest EV range tests, and all the serious stuff that we do every day. Thanks for watching. That's it for now.