What It's Like to Live with a 2024 Dodge Durango Hellcat (POV)

Hey crew, I've got the key to that 24 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat. And today we're going to see what it's like to live with. Starting with Remote Start. Good morning, neighbors. Yes, that deep, throaty idle is coming from this Durango Hellcat. And it's cool for me, but if I wasn't cool with everyone else in the neighborhood, they may be upset. Now, Remote Start's perfect for if you want to get the vehicle warmed up on a chillier day, but today is not so chilly, so this was just to show off. Now, speaking of showing off, let's show off the spacing in my driveway, which is 16 feet wide by 19 and a half feet long. And the Durango Hellcat is just a couple inches there from the edge, sitting next to a new Toyota Sienna that my wife is reviewing. If you want to check out her content, it's at Mobile Mama on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube. And that one is parked there right at the edge. And with that park job, there's plenty of room to walk between the two vehicles or even wheel a double stroller through. And also, the nose of this Durango Hellcat is just right at the beginning of my driveway, before the gutter, and that leaves plenty of room at the back of the vehicle between it and the garage door. Now, if it was parked right there where the Sienna is, I might have enough space to squeeze between the hedge on the path to my front door, but here, let's just look at the door opening space. Now, there is smart keyless entry. If I've got the key fob in my pocket, so I just put my hand on the handle there, that is unlocking the door. And if a passenger were to get in, that's just one defined notch there. And you could go two, not quite three though, but that's plenty of room to get inside the cabin. But I don't want to be a passenger, I want to be a driver, so let's go over there. There we go. Hello, cabin crew. Thanks for joining for this day in the life in a Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat. Now, in this video, I want to see if sport tuning and 710 horsepower make this a better or worse family SUV. And as you can see, we've already been doing some family living in this SUV, but we're about to head out on vacation, so I've got to load it up a lot more. Before I load up the cargo, I'm going to load up our doggo, because he's going to go stay with our in-laws. And he is a 95-pound Rhodesian Ridgeback, so he's not going to fit in this space behind the third row, nor is he going to fit in this little storage cubby under here. So, I'm going to fold down the seats just by pulling on this lever and pressing down. And I like the simplicity and speed of this process. Hey, power-folding seats, that's nice, but this is just fast. Here we go. Bed, food, leash, treats. And now, come on up, Obes. Good boy. And... he fits! I do wish the Durango Hellcat had a digital rearview mirror, because Obi doesn't always want to stay down, and I wish I could see right through him with that tech. Down, Obes! Not going to happen. Okay, have a good time in the bigger yard, and be scared of... a kid's basketball hoop? I don't understand that dog. Okay, just a little bit of playtime, then we've got to go. Then we've got to go. Of course, it's after I drop off the dog, a.k.a. the visual obstruction in the rearview mirror, that I found a small workaround. I can pull up the rearview camera at any time. Moving on to the loading of stuff for people. Let's see how these items fit in there. And with room to spare, let's get the kids in next. Small change of plans. Our older daughter is really not feeling well, so Christina's going to hang out here with her to let her rest a bit longer, while I head down with our younger daughter to go meet up with the grandparents. Then, when our older daughter feels better, she and Christina will come down in the Sienna. Okay, goo-goos, let's get in here. Okay, I've got about an hour and a half drive ahead of us before we arrive in Palm Springs for vacation, and this gives me a good chance to talk about the long-haul considerations of this Durango Hellcat. So, coming back to visibility, even though I don't have a dog in the way now, I do have luggage still interrupting my view out the back, where, once again, I would be grateful for a digital rearview mirror. No such option in the Durango. I do have that shortcut that I showed you with the backup camera system, but even without luggage or dogs in the way, I still have a blind spot at the C and D pillars. There is blind spot monitoring, which is now standard for all 24 model year Durangos. That does help, but there are other issues. So, out over the nose of the vehicle, that bulging hood does make it a bit tough to know where exactly the front of the Durango is, and the side windows feel a little narrow for a big three-row SUV like this. I'm going to rate the visibility of this Durango like a C, or maybe even a C-. I am going to have some traffic along my route, and that's when I can rely on the adaptive cruise control system. Instead of the regular cruise control, which they maintain for some reason. I can't think of a situation where I wouldn't want the vehicle to automatically slow for me and maintain a following distance. Can you think of one? Let me know in the comments where regular cruise control would be preferred. It's just bizarre to me. Anyway, there's that, and there's also a lane keep assist function. It's not a lane centering assist, so the steering isn't going to automatically maintain the center of the lane. It's just going to correct me if I deviate from the lane, just kind of ping-ponging me back and forth. Not the most sophisticated thing in the world, but these systems do help reduce my driving fatigue on long trips like this. Now that the pace has picked up somewhat, I'm going to quiet up for just a sec so you can listen to the cabin volume at these speeds. My daughter just halfway asleep going, trying to ignore that for a sec. Just listen. I get road noise. I get wind noise. I get tire noise. This is a louder road surface, so that's making some of that tire noise, but also if I have to give it any throttle whatsoever, you hear the rumble of that Hemi V8, and I am in the eco drive mode, so it doesn't get any quieter from this engine than this. Compared to other $100,000 SUVs, this is going to be loud. It's not tremendously loud, so I think if Romy could talk, then she could hear what I was saying, and perhaps we'd have a back and forth, but if I had anyone in the third row, without any sort of voice amplification system like you get in some other SUVs, we'd be shouting at one another for sure, but is it too loud to hear this 19 speaker Harman Kardon sound system clearly, and I'm not worried about my daughter waking up for this. She sleeps through just about anything. Here we go. Wow, so that's the solution. I mean, just like half volume of that cancels out everything else. That's a good punch from that system, and if a great sound system isn't enough to entertain you, there is always the Durango Hellcats party piece, power. What do you think of that, Romy? She's awake now. More, daddy, more. Oh my goodness, you're talking so much, but you asked for it. All right, I've been in the saddle for about an hour now, and yesterday I was actually in it for longer. Mobile Mama and I went up to LA for a friend's birthday, and we sat in a ton of traffic, so I have some opinions about the seat, about its adjustability, the material, and the shape. So first of all, the positioning. I've got lots of headroom here at six feet tall. I can lower it plenty. The tilt and telescope of the wheel is perfect for myself. The material, this Laguna leather, is so supple. I've got the same stuff in my Dodge Demon 170, and I love it there too. The shape of the seat for the first hour is pretty great. I'm comfortable, but beyond that, I start to feel this buildup of pressure points, and feel like I want to get out of the seat. So I think if your commute is going to be up to an hour, maybe a little longer than that, you'll be okay. But for road trips, you're going to want to build in some stretch breaks, at least I do. And after a brief but stimulating conversation with Romy here about particle physics, we've made it. And now to await the arrival of the rest of our family to start vacation. Oh, what are we looking at today? 85 degrees already. And it's going to be 96. I better get that AC going. Well crew, things have again not gone according to plan, because as soon as my wife got out here, our younger daughter also got sick, and our older daughter got even more sick. So Christina will spend today tending to the girls, and I am going to present the rest of this Durango day in the life, solo. But that doesn't mean I can't talk about family friendliness. So for car seats, there are four top tethers, two sets of lower latch anchors on the captain's chairs. For my family, we had the forward-facing car seat behind my driver's seat, and I didn't need to move my chair at all. Our rear-facing car seat was behind this passenger seat, and I haven't moved that since. So let's look at the legroom. Ooh, plentiful. Yeah, this is great. Back angle is perfect for me, and I've got headroom all at six feet tall. This would be comfortable on any distance journey. And it is worth mentioning that to get the car seats in and out, we've got these nice wide opening doors. For older kids or adults sitting in the second row, there is a grab handle to get in. And then once inside, I've got plenty more knee room. This is all hard plastic, though. And this mesh mat pocket. That's going to wear out so quick when you start stuffing stuff back there for kids. I do have headroom. That's great. And a third zone of climate with air vents up top and down low. These captain's chairs are heated. They're not ventilated, though. There is two USB-A ports and an AC outlet. No USB-Cs. This console setup does provide cup holders, which are perfect for bottles, and some storage behind, perfect for binkies. Inside the console, there is a shallow storage cubby up top and a much deeper one down low with a DC outlet and another USB-A port. These captain's chairs do recline, though not very far. To get the seats to fold, I pull on that same lever to go all the way down, and then once more to get them to tumble forward. And that's a good access point to the third row of seats, which is just a pair. No middle seat. They are perforated. That's nice. Now, pulling this back down, checking out the legroom situation. Without this seat reclined, I've got plenty of knee room. Head is kind of just resting against the roof. Still pretty good, though. I am missing out on some conveniences, like reclining seat backs or padding for the armrest or USBs on either side, although I can access the ones in here by pressing on that button. The real win for this Durango Hellcat, though, is the space. The fact that you can fit full-size adults in all three rows, whether you've got car seats in the captain's chairs or not, that's awesome. And if you do need seating for seven, this console can be swapped out for that middle seat. Back up front now, I don't feel like I'm missing out on nearly as many features as the second or third row, where they don't have a panoramic sunroof. I at least have a sunroof for myself and my front passenger. I've got a wireless charging pad, four USB ports, 2A and 2C, spot for the key, cup holders, physical climate controls, which I appreciate because I'm not distracted finding those while driving. Inside the Uconnect 5 system, I find everything I need very quickly, and it's got CarPlay and Android Auto, both wirelessly. Inside the console, which is very soft and nicely padded, I've got two levels of storage, like the back, and the bottom one is deep enough to hold my GoPro accessories. I wish the door pockets were bigger to hold my big bottle, and I wish I had four one-touch windows, not just two. Could also benefit from power-folding door mirrors, not just power-adjusting ones. I do use the two positions of memory for this driver's seat as Mobile Mama and I switch off, and I am very thankful the seats are not just heated, they're also ventilated. I'm using that a ton here in Palm Springs. What I'm not using is the heating for this leather-wrapped steering wheel, though I love the feel of that wheel. Don't love the half paddles on the back of the wheel for manual control, just like in my Dodge Demon. I also don't like the digital TFT display. I think at this point it should be a fully digital gauge cluster and in higher resolution. There's also no head-up display. I do have a spot for my sunglasses with padding so I don't scratch the lenses. And I don't want to overlook the fact that while there are some cheap panels and misaligned ones, the cabin just feels very cool. The chopped carbon fiber, the red leather, the suede wrapped headliner, you're not driving your average family SUV. And it's not just that noise that tells you that. Let me show you with a real-world zero-to-sixty test before I get lunch. Alright, it's time. I've got my race box set up to record. I'm gonna hit the launch control button here from the sport drive mode, hold my foot on the brake, pin the throttle, let it go. There's 60 in 3.76 seconds. Hot dog. Oh, I guess hot cat. Hell, hot hell cat. Whatever, it's fast. I'd say the power makes this a little better to live with than your average family SUV, but the question is whether all this wow comes at a cost. And the answer is yes. The first problem is more of a personal matter. It deals with self-control, something I don't have a lot of, admittedly, but maybe you do. The second problem is about the drive modes and the throttle response in the drive modes, because unless you are in the eco drive mode, which is found by going into auto and then tapping on the eco, all the other modes I mean, I'm just gonna take it off eco in auto, that's like mid-throttle right there. It's just raring to go, and that can be startling to your family, so I go eco, and that kind of dulls the throttle response and allows me to build up the pace, though never really going too dull, because I can just put a little more throttle in, and it's gonna pick up the pace pretty quickly. But eco is the saving grace for someone who, like myself, lacks the self-control. And the other saving grace is the fact that this is an all-wheel drive vehicle, so you're probably not gonna end up in too much trouble physically, though I can't really make any promises about not being in trouble with the law. But as noble as the eco name sounds, it's not gonna help you with the other problem with power, which is fuel consumption. So the EPA rates the Durango Hellcat at 12 mpg in the city, 17 on the highway, and 14 combined, which is not great, but it would be better than what I've been seeing over the last 300 miles, which is 11.2 miles per gallon, and that's with a lot of highway driving, a lot of eco-mode driving, and still I'm not gonna get much more than 300 miles out of this 24.6 gallon tank. And now to fill this tank with premium 91 octane fuel that this vehicle requires when it costs $5.35 per gallon, it's gonna be $131. But there is good news! Even though I'm gonna have to fill up so often, I'm not gonna have to remove a cap! Capless fueling. Thinking about us as the consumer. And the final power problem is actually related to the suspension that's intended to handle that power. It's firm. Firm enough that I feel pretty much all of the imperfections of the road channeled straight in through this very cushy seat directly to my body. And in addition to that, the rebound of the suspension is such that I'm bouncing all over the surface of the road. And that gets pretty old. There is some good news. These big Brembo brakes are no tougher to modulate than your standard Durango brakes, so just smoothly come up to a stop, and then in eco-drive mode, smoothly, apart from that suspension, get going again. It's time at last for lunch, and thanks to a recommendation I know for sure, because this is the second day I'm coming here, that there is no better sandwich in Palm Springs than one from The Real Italian Deli. So what do we have here? A meatball sub, broccolini, and a lemon Italian soda. Sounds kind of weird, I'll be honest, but... Oh my. Oh my goodness! Tastes great. Oh, that was a heavy meal. Delicious. But one I think I need to digest on a hike. So I'm gonna go do that now, and on the way, I'll have a chance to talk about some things I have yet to. Like... the backup camera situation. Now it is screen-filling, but the image quality is pretty low resolution. I do have trajectory lines, but I don't have things like a surround view camera system, which would be helpful in a vehicle of this size. And now, we can talk about the turning radius. Which, in this situation, with the wheel fully cranked, is tidy. That's a great turning circle. Okay, but now let's say someone cuts me off, and I need to alert them to their error via horn. What does it sound like? Oh. So basic. I'd rather rev at them than honk. You made a mistake. And I'm hoping I didn't make a mistake deciding to go on a hike in this heat. But I can't worry about that now. I'm already here. I thought this was a hike. What am I doing? Oh, chasing the sunset. That's what. Look at this view. Oh, I think I see the Durango. Way down there. Can I remote start it from here? No. This will have to do. Well, crew, at the beginning of this video, I pondered how lots of power would make a family three-row SUV better or worse to live with. And despite some changes of plans, I've had enough quality time with this Durango Hellcat to extract a few key ways in which power and sport tuning make it more enjoyable to live with and some ways it's less. Let's start with what isn't compromised by all the extra performance. Utility. The Durango Hellcat is still spacious enough for adults in all three rows or to have some kids scattered throughout. It can also accommodate big dogs or a lot of cargo for a family trip. The Hellcat equipment level also unlocks soft leather and a more enticing cabin than lesser Durango trims. And predictably, 710 horsepower is a riot and will keep you laughing just as much as your kids. There are some penalties to pay for the extra performance like a stiff, bouncy ride that doesn't make for the most pleasant daily driver. These sporty seats are comfy for an hour or two but do create some pressure points after a while. Oh, and you'll run through fuel about as fast as you'll get to 60 miles per hour. Big power in a big SUV is so cool it makes me want to shrug off the downsides but for $111,000 this tested, this is a lifestyle you've really got to be committed to. I hope you guys have enjoyed this day in the life and I will see you again next time.