I have been to the mountaintop! Well, I’ve been to Portland International Raceway, anyway, and I’ve met the 707-horsepower Hellcat. The embargo lifts Tuesday at 12:01 AM, so you’ll get a traditional review of the Hellcat here just the same time you’d get it anywhere else. But I have more, and better, things for you than that.
On Monday we’ll pay tribute to the existing car with a Reader Review of a recently-purchased 2014 Challenger.
On Tuesday we’ll have a traditional Hellcat review.
On Tuesday afternoon we’ll have a detailed analysis of Trackmaster data that I took of the Hellcat, the new 6.4 Scat Pack six-speed, and the surprising V6 Pentastar Challenger Track Pack.
On Wednesday and Thursday we’ll have reviews of those other Challengers for you.
So if you’re interested in the full scoop on the big Chrysler in all its various forms, as well as actual comparative acceleration and cornering data that nobody else will have, this will be the place. See you then!
Talked to two dealers on Friday about ordering a Hellcat. Let’s just say that the shenanigans are already in full swing. But I’m definitely looking forward to Jack’s review.
Was there any doubt, if I might ask how what level of foolishness did they consider a fair asking price.
In my AO 20k over msrp is considered fair game for a 2014 GT500.
I know two people who stopped looking at C7 in the springtime as they were put off at the Chevy dealership games.
I feel bad for people who don’t have actual dealer competition in their markets.
Here there’s a 7k premium right now for ‘pre-orders,’ but if you are just looking to COPO a package with a specific color and whatnot, you can get within ~2k of the MSRP.
Are we going to get an ’81 Challenger 2.6L Junkyard Find?
I’d like to see one of those NOT in a junkyard. Would make an interesting engine swap candidate.
http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1981-dodge-challenger-that-thing-does-got-a-hemi/
Although ajla has likely already seen the above article, this is for all the confused young people who can’t remember when some of the classic American automotive names were being recycled for captive imports.
We now resume your regular commentary from the B&B.
I remember seeing a brochure for the L-body Charger when I was 10, and until then my only exposure to the Charger name was the General Lee. If I had done a double-take any faster, I would’ve broken my neck.
How ’bout a Charger 2.2 vs. Challenger 2.6 comparo?
But seriously, the Hellcat is a brilliant marketing move on Dodge’s part. I bet a lot of folks will show up at Dodge dealerships to see/drive the Hellcat and leave in a Challenger R/T or even a Pentastar V6.
Just to be explicit, I can’t wait for Challenger week. I’m really looking forward to TTAC’s coverage.
Track time only.
To bad you didn’t(?) take a rental car and run Washington Hwy.-14 East along the Columbia to The Dalles and then the old Columbia River Hwy, back to Portland. Would have put a nice cap on your NW stay.
That new corporate dash on the new Challenger, just looks to effeminate for a Pony car, though, it could be worst.
“Corporate dash”. LOL!
Educate yourself please.
Reg; ““Corporate dash”. LOL! Educate yourself please.” ‘Educate yourself, please.’
Apparently, you don’t understand the terms. Dodge seems to be putting, essentially, the same dash design into all of their vehicles. Avenger/Dart/Challenger/Charger/200 and maybe more vehicles I’m unfamiliar with.
Thats laughable. Take a look again and tell me with a strait face that the Avenger, 200 or even the Challengers closest relative the Charger has the same dash design as the new Challenger. Go ahead–we’re waiting.
here, let me help:
Challenger
http://www.allpar.com/photos/dodge/challenger-srt8/2015/srt-interior.jpg
Charger
http://www.allpar.com/photos/dodge/charger/2015-z/dashboard.jpg
200
https://i0.wp.com/www.allpar.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Chrysler-200-interior-Web.jpg
Avenger
http://www.allpar.com/photos/dodge/avenger/2011-dodge-avenger.jpg
The Avenger doesn’t fit in with the other, but the Dart does have the same ‘corporate-dashboard’ as the rest. No, they are not ‘identical’ (even if the instrument-pods are very close) but it’s obvious that they belong to similar cars sharing the same design language, with some individual parts. (differently shaped air vents more or less)
In other words it’s BTSR week.
YES it is BTSR WEEK.
It ranks right up there with Black History month.
I’ve got contributions coming.
If you REALLY wanna see something awesome just wait and see how many people start dropping money to try and make there cars as fast/faster than HELLCAT.
Everyone in my clubs are blowing cash on new exhausts and mods.
Bring it BTSR. I mean the Mopar part…
Looking forward to it.
A friend of mine already has a Challenger that makes the Hellcat appear weak, as it has about 850HP at the rear wheels. So far, he has about $75K in the car. It started as a 2010 SRT8, with a wounded 6.1 that used a LOT of oil. It had only about 4K miles on it when he bought it, and it looked showroom new. It’s Hemi Orange, and had all the stripes removed when he bought it for $24K about 2 years ago. The stock motor was traded in as a core for a 440 inch blower motor. It’s low boost and the same short block is used in other cars that make over 1000RWHP. The car had all kinds of upgrades when he bought it, and he’s added some more. What I can remember off my head:
Pedders bushings
Quafe Anti-Spin with majorly upgraded cradle and rear suspension components that he still managed to break with all the cratered streets around here. New parts were sent under warranty.
4 Point Roll cage.
Subframe connectors.
Front strut and rear shock connectors.
Drive shaft loop.
Upgraded drive shaft.
Transmission upgrades.
New Torque converter.
Headers, high flow cats, Solo catback with some kind of mod.
Major cooling upgrades.
One hell of a nice stereo/video setup.
I have driven it a few times. Very docile, unless you get on it. I was in the passenger seat recently, and was pretty terrified once when he got it up close to the top speed it will run. Not 200, but damn close. Right now, it has some wheels that look very close to the stock 2010 R/T 20″ Classic wheels, but wider, and it has white R/T stripes, and a body colored spoiler to make people think it’s an R/T that’s been lowered. The usual take on it is it’s got a 5.7 with a blower on it.
The issues he’s had with it after a year or so have been pretty minor, but he says the Hellcat appeals to him, just for the warranty alone, as his car will be expensive when something big breaks, and the 8 speed would be a nice change from the 5 speed auto his car has.
One of the few new car tests I’m looking forward too. Are you allowed to reveal if it is a more or less civilized beast than the so-close-to-666hp-Gt500, or do we have to wait for the full review?
It’s a big, heavy, IRS equipped Challenger, so I’m sure it out-cossets the GT500, which, despite optional adjustable Bilsteins, was just not a comfy cruiser.
I know they are very different cars to begin with, but by European standards they are both about downright insane power, in pretty mediocre ‘cheap’ cars.
I guess, somewhere in Germany, there is a crowd from Audi lobbying to the EU -leaders to make it illegal over her, while BMW tries the old, ‘it’s not the size it’s how you use it’, and at Mercedes/AMG, they are trying to stuff the wildest ‘black series’ engine with some extra turbos, into a CLS made completely from carbonfiber, just in case.
Finally something to look forward to in the automotive world. All we’ve heard about for the last 10 years is about how much weight we can add to vehicles while gaining a 1mpg improvement each generation by using an extremely over complicated undersized engine.
This is the only thing exciting in the last few years, new vette, new SS sedan, raptor, the new diesel half ton are cool and all, but this, this is full on awesome.
The Hellcat is great but….I wish Dodge would put some of it’s efforts into making the the base R/T V8 performance/horsepower numbers competitive with the Camaro and Mustang. You know, the car that average slobs like me can actually afford.
Agreed that the RT still needs the most love. The 8HP will help the numbers, but it is still going to be a tweener with the V6 and V8 Mustangs and Camaros in a straight line. It would be nice if they gave it enough of a bump to overcome its weight and keep up with those two, at least until the road got twisty. I think the Scat Pack at $38K is really the star of the lineup. I hope dealer stock is plentiful enough to walk away with one on the cheap like a GT or SS…I’ve got my eye on one in billet silver.
Maybe the regular RT will get more love once the 2016 Camaro arrives. If they slap a ‘barely gimped compared to the Vette’ LT1 in, it should be brutally fast for the money on alpha with GM’s new 8 speed.
For ’15 you can get the 6.4L in the R/T now with the Scat Pack option. It costs 38K, more than your base V8 models, but still a lot less than the 45K for an SRT.
The week is looking better already :)
This will save time as I know not to read the blog until Friday.
Agree. I can’t bring myself to care about a $70k Dodge.
What 70k dodge are we talking about? You don’t have to add 10k of options…
_ … “You don’t have to add 10k of options…” No, just another $10,000 in ADP, Options will be extra, and don’t forget the Gas Guzzler Tax and that should be $10,000.
Dodge factored the Guzzler tax into the 60,000 figure. As for options, not sure what more you need beyond the long list of standard features.
The Challenger SRT (as well as the rest of these SRT vehicles). Are too big and heavy for a track.
Sure the HELLCAT has bigger Brembos but most likely it overpowers them on the track and the car under or oversteers.
These cars are for straight line acceleration fun off the lights and designed to face down everyone else with a 4 cylinder or V6.
Especially those silly turbocharged cars…
…unless It’s a GT-R…
…because those gT-R’s TERRIFY SRT owners.
They are the one car that’s stock that can take us in our stock form and because it’s relatively cheap, it’s the car we are most likely to meet on the road.
Reg; “These cars are for straight line acceleration fun off the lights and designed to face down everyone else with a _ 4 cylinder or _ V6.”
Wow! Some clarity among all the fanaticism… Kudos
You don’t understand how bad these cars are on the track till you try the SRT Experience and drive every single car back-to-back all day long.
I OWN THE ROAD. No one else can even hope to out-accelerate me or catch up to me unless they have some sort of monster.
But on the track, the car’s up against itself. And it looses.
Sure the HELLCAT will make short work of a dragstrip, but through curves? It’s as useless as a Veyron.
I’m betting the car’s power has been downtuned and it’s capable of a lot more power. Problem is, the rear breaks loose and they’d need a roll cage to run faster.
Track performance is meaningless to 99% of owners.
When I go out of my driveway, is there a racetrack there? No, last time I checked it was a road. Is the grocery store off a racetrack, the dentist, nope.
Engineering cars to dominate the track and then suck at everything else is just dumb.
Reg; “Engineering cars to dominate the track and then suck at everything else is just dumb.” Seems to me it makes them exquisitely better at everything else, but then, maybe that is just BMW’s and ‘M’ cars, unless your talking about the quarter mile track, and that is dumb.
It’s only dumb if there isn’t enough return on investment to justify what it cost to build/sell, be it through actual sales or through ‘halo’ sales of Caravans and Darts.
“Useless as a Veyron” in the curves? Have you tracked a Veyron? Know anyone who has?
My only reservation regarding Challenger week is the fact that it’s going to be difficult enough to hang onto my 2012 Charger Road and Track without reading about the Hellcat et al.
I’m thinking maybe a nice, 6.4 R/T will suit me fine for daily duty. Hellcat might be a bit of overkill and I really don’t want 3 cars in my driveway/garage.
Do it. Do it. Do it.
I’m hoping to trade my 2010 R/T for a 2016 6.4 R/T. I want to take a year off car payments and then order one when it’s time, hopefully the color choices will be better in 2016 than they are in 2015. If the colors stay the same, TorRed will be my choice, but Detonator Yellow or maybe Hemi Orange again would be my color of choice if they have it available. If they had Petty Blue or whatever it’s called, I wouldn’t be able to resist, I would have to have it, with white stripes.
“the surprising V6 Pentastar Challenger Track Pack”
With greater acceptance of V6 muscle cars it’s hard to know what counts as a “surprising” review, but I’m guessing that still means it’s good.
Still no six speed with the V6, right?
A six speed V6 would be a pretty awesome mile eating grand tourer.
“A six speed V6 would be a pretty awesome mile eating grand tourer.”
That’s a combo I’ve wished for since the original release in 2008. A Penstar V6, manual trans, R/T would be pretty sweet right now. Reminds me of when Car and Driver used to pick out the “best performance bangs for your buck.”
The V6 is ok, but the small mileage benefit isn’t worth it, IMHO. A friend of mine kept his about a year, then traded it on a PCP 2014 R/T. About 1.5 MPG difference most of the time, and it was just slow enough to annoy him at times. His wife loved it though. Even she has to admit, the R/T is better in every important way.
I’ve never driven a V6 Challenger, but with my driving style the current-gen 300 and Charger V6 versions are pretty close to the V8 ones.
Really the only reason I’d go for the 5.7 on the sedans is for my ego and maybe future resale.
I guess this will have to do until (if?) Buick releases the new Grand National. God, I hope they do that car right.
LOL – BUICK.
They couldn’t even get the Lacrosse right.
Put me in charge of Buick and the Lacrosse would have been AWD with an LSA (from the CTS-V Coupe) in it…BREMBO brakes and 3 inches lower.
I wouldn’t LOL too hard at a car that hasn’t been released yet. If GM sticks to its heritage (a big if, I know) the GNX variant may be the kind of car that’ll already be a school bus’s length ahead of your precious Hellcat before it can even get traction.
Heritage? What heritage has GM stuck to…with the exception of piss poor management?
General Recalls
Will there be a review of the Hellcat that doesn’t involve track testing? I want to see this be treated like a normal car. While it’s a nice car, this whole power thing is turning the Challenger into the 2013 Accord; overhyped but special new car that I’ll probably find the good in later.
Whose ever overhyped an Accord? Do they still have a job?
Haha, I know what you mean, but really, 707HP starting at 59k can’t disappoint but so much.
What in particular are you interested in knowing? Interior quality? Handling feel?
707HP for 59 grand is a huge selling point, I agree. I wasn’t even really caring about the driving; I was mainly thinking it would be neat to do a review on this as if it were a regular car. Interior quality, infotainment, seat comfort, luggage capacity. Go beyond the main point, which is the engine.
I used to film automotive reviews in which I looked at cars; however, I didn’t usually start them up. Just look up “2014 Honda Odyssey EX In Depth Tour” on YouTube; that video is one of my tours. I have several others I filmed over a year ago.
Are you really going to make a buy/no buy decision on a $60k, 707hp Dodge based on luggage space and infotainment performance? This car is the working man’s CL65 AMG, and exists solely to remind everyone on the block you’ve got the biggest schwantz, and from that schwantz you’re going to fly a massive American flag while handing out mushroom stmaps like they’re candy.
Hopefully Kowalski and Super Soul Man will make an appearance.
@fiasco ………I had to think about that for a minute. But I got it .
…with no bulldozers…
Wait till you hear this Hellcat roar! I heard at Carlisle last weekend and it was transcendent.
BTW, the “halo” effect is already selling Durangos and Chargers
Mopar Uber Alles.
“Transcendent”… ? OK, Bill, even a little hyperbole goes a little too far unless it is made in jest, but around here it abounds when it comes to big horse Mustangs and Challengers. Transcendent auto sounds are sung by DOHC straight pipe Jags, Alfa Veloce’s, Colombo Ferrari V-12’s, Flatty Merc’s with Lake headers, and Honda Benly’s . all the rest are just a pleasant noise or something else.
Reg; ““halo” effect is already selling Durangos and Chargers”… Purely anecdotal, if that. The only people who know about it are auto blog trolls who live in their mother’s dank and dark basement, and are as white as newly bleached sheets. Oh, they would buy one if they had more then the price of a pizza.
MOPAR’s are not Germanic unless your referring to military tanks, and with those they have some shared similarities… except the Panzers.
I’m actually with Bill here…I haven’t heard the Hellcat, but I’ve heard the 392 in the current SRT…and it’s WONDERFUL. Mellow and powerful at idle, and screams like King Richard’s Superbird when you open it up. Real, real, real nice s**t.
Don’t mind deuce, he’s off his meds and back on the haterade again. The sound of the Hellcat at full throttle is incredibly viceral.
Danio, Danio,… ‘Haterade’?
With that comment you couldn’t be so far from reality. I’m a car guy, all cars, don’t hate any of them, and I don’t look at any of them with a jaundiced eye, just a realistic overview.
I like the Challenger. It is clearly the best looking of all the Ponies, but it is what it is, so is a Camaro and a Mustang or any car. I would have a lot of fun in the Hellcat for an afternoon, but that would be the extant of it. I again, temporarily own a much faster car, one that has 3.2 pds. per Hp, that is real excitement with a great exhaust sound from the LS376. At around 6_pds per Hp, the Hellcat has twice as many pds. per Hp then that, and weighs 2-1/2 times as much, but we are not talking apples & Oranges here, just reality. Besides, it is fun to poke at the Fans(fanatics) of anything, since regarding their chosen whatever, they are clearly unhinged.
As far as exhaust note. I like your use of the term ‘visceral’, much closer to reality the ‘Transcendant’. And visceral, describes any race type High compression engine, or one that sings at an extreme RPM.
As far as ‘meds’… col! Myself and one other friend are the only people I know at are advanced ages who aren’t on any of big Pharma’s poisons. But if your suggesting I need some, got it covered, mother nature provides naturally.
Regards!
This is convenient as I pick a ’15 Challenger to order this week.
Congrats. Publish your impressions after you have abused it.
I assume a Scat Pack is a safe assumption? 8HP or manual?
This will be a good week :)
Jack plus a porky (albeit very capable) platform plus excessively stupid amounts of power = NASTY automotive porn with literary allusions to Hunter S Thompson, Jack Kerouac, and Walt Whitman.
Yeah, all this is meaningless until we get some ‘ring numbers. (/sarcasm)