The Dodge Durango and the Tesla Model Y aren’t what you’d call direct competitors, even in their most potent variants. Sure, they’re both made in America, they’re both SUVs/crossovers, and in some variants, they can both offer three rows of seating.
But that’s about where the similarities end because, in SRT Hellcat trim, the Dodge Durango is a gasoline-drinking people hauler powered by a massive 6.2-liter V8, while the Model Y Performance scoots along silently thanks to an electric dual-motor setup.
The Durango sends all of its 710 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission, while the Model Y doesn’t have a gearbox, relying on a single speed to get moving.
Furthermore, the three-row V8-powered SUV isn’t exactly light, tipping the scales at 5,567 pounds, while the electric crossover weighs 4,419 lbs.
Pricing-wise, the electric Model Y Performance, which doesn’t offer a seven-seat layout in the United States, starts at $54,490, while the bigger Durango SRT Hellcat goes from $93,605. The Durango is also quite old, with the current generation going into production at the end of 2010, while the Model Y is ten years younger.
With this being said, the good people at Edmunds put the two cars head to head in what they call a U-drag race, where the vehicles go down a quarter mile straight, then brake, turn around, and go down the quarter mile again but in the other direction.
Embedded at the top of this page, the video of the race shows that both cars accelerated from 0 to 60 miles per hour in exactly 4 seconds and that the Durango managed to ever so slightly get the edge on the quarter mile, scoring a 12.4-second run, while the Tesla was at 12.5 seconds.
In other words, even though the two vehicles seem different on paper, it turns out that in reality they’re very closely matched. But, as always, there can be only one winner, so head over to the video to see the outcome.
