The torch has been passed and the gauntlet thrown down. Dodge has fired a shot across the bow of their rivals in Warren and Dearborn by introducing what they call “America’s most powerful muscle car ever.”
If Siri weren’t around to tell me what year it is, I would have thought this was 1969 all over again.
The all-new Challenger SRT with the supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI Hellcat engine, produces 707 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque and has run a 10.8 second quarter mile time (on drag radials) certified by NHRA. These numbers easily eclipse the previous title-holder, the 2014 Ford Mustang GT500 Cobra, which made 662 hp and 631 lb-ft of torque.
While the Challenger is hardly a driver’s car – my lap in the SRT Shaker at Road America was enough to prove that handling is not the marque’s forte – it does go in a straight line faster than any muscle car Detroit has ever produced.
Starting at $59,995 MSRP, the Hellcat is a relative bargain when you consider it on horsepower per dollar basis. Based on this video from our friend Nik Miles at testmiles.com, however, the owners may want to hold a few thousand dollars aside in a tire fund. The rest of us should talk to a broker about buying stock in Pirelli.
