Most customers purchasing a 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat aren’t likely considering fuel economy as a reason for wanting one of the most brutal machines ever assembled. That said, the pony car is fairly efficient on the highway in comparison to more exotic fare.
The lieutenant to the Charger Hellcat’s general, the Challenger Hellcat delivers an EPA rating of 22 highway via its eight-speed TorqueFlite automatic, losing only a single mpg for those who opt to row their own boats through a six-speed manual. Chrysler notes the highest rating comes from the auto’s 7.03 gear ratio spread, allowing the elephant to be that efficient on the highway more often.
In comparison, exotic beasts like the Lamborghini Aventador Roadster, Aston Martin Vanquish and Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG GT deliver similar amounts of firepower to the battlefield, but only manage to put out 18 mpg to 19 mpg in so doing.
Furthermore, unlike the six-figure price tags for said exotics — of which only the Aventador comes closest in matching horsepower with the supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI Hellcat, the others falling just under 600 horses — the Challenger comes in at just under $60,000. Not a bad place to be, one would suppose.
Figures for city and combined mpg were not announced as of this writing.
Over 700 HP, 22 MPG HWY, under $60K….pretty awesome when you think about it! Too bad it will be almost impossible to get one without insane dealer mark-up.
Chrysler should allow this and the Charger to be sold directly to customers to avoid such dealer rip-offs, they would sell a lot more of them.
Selling directly violates the state laws giving dealers the local franchise rights. Automakers would need to contribute to local political campaigns much more regularly and generously to overturn these laws.
Chrysler is leaning on dealers who engage in such practices. Those who move the most will get preferential allocation, while those to choose to mark-up will end up with Hellcats with longer turn times and won’t get the allocation. While the built in profit in one of these isn’t as much as what a dealer could snag in markup, they’d be smarter to make the run for the volume. Production won’t be restricted on them, so customers can always go to the dealer accross town and place an order. Heck, my closest dealer (not a particularly huge store) has 6 on the way.
While market adjusted pricing might appear at first, within a few months supply will catch up rapidly. If you’re the kind of person who must have something before everyone else, well yeah, you’re going to pay for the privilege of being avaricious.
Wow… 2MPG better than my ’69 Grand Prix with the 400.
We sure have come a long way.
I mean that both ways. :-)
SO ah, did I miss something?
What happened to BigTruck?
Internet communities as large as this are fickle–people come and go as they please, with no discernible pattern and certainly no fanfare as they depart.
B-but, without his constant reminders to the contrary, I might settle for something practical.
Remember the ad that says you should go see a doctor if you have an erection lasting more than 4 hours?
He didn’t.
>> He didn’t.
The hellcat’s first casualty! :^)
HAHAHA!
Actually, I’ve wondered where he went, also. Hope all is well; I enjoy his rants.
That’s awesome, but I know if I owned one the black key fob would be collecting dust. It’s kind of like difference between how much alcohol people tell their doctors they consume and how much they actually drink.
WoW! Chrysler and the SRT team deserve a real “Attaboy!” for a job well done. That is truly impressive.
I was all set to pull the trigger on a Lamborghini Aventador, but having seen this, I’m going with the Hellcat.
Or 5.
Wait for a real-life numbers .. I think this thing will drink much more ..
Is that true that if you put it in 500bhp-mode, it will drink the same amunt of fuel as 707bhp-mode ? .. that’s strange ..
When moto-magasines will start making comparisions with ZL1 and GT500 ?!?
“Wait for a real-life numbers .. I think this thing will drink much more ..”
I would expect this car to meet, or even beat, its official highway fuel consumption rating when driven at moderate speeds on the highway.
Around town, when driven with a heavy foot, I would expect real world fuel consumption to be horrendous.
“Is that true that if you put it in 500bhp-mode, it will drink the same amunt of fuel as 707bhp-mode ? .. that’s strange ..”
Doesn’t seem strange to me at all; during highway cruising the engine will be making just enough power to overcome wind and rolling resistance – which will be nowhere near 500hp, much less 707hp – so I would expect the official highway fuel consumption of both modes to be about the same.
I would expect the 707hp mode to consume more fuel than the 500hp mode when drag racing – I think I read somewhere that at full throttle a Hellcat can empty its fuel tank in ~15 minutes.
To put it another way: A Hellcat can deliver 22 MPG, or 707BHP – but not both at the same time…
The average owner of a Hellcat probably won’t see 22mpg for the same reason Hemi Ram owners complain about poor fuel economy. It’s usually the loose nut behind the wheel.
Actually if any owner reports 22mpg the car should be confiscated and resold to someone who will take it to the drag strip.
Now that’s The Truth About Cars!
@danio3834: A friend of mine recently picked up a new Hemi Ram and mentioned the poor fuel economy – he wasn’t complaining though!
Nice truck, a big step up from the older versions, and the Hemi exhaust note sounds really good…
As my grandfather (autoworker) always reminded me: “It takes hundreds of bolts to hold a car together, but only ONE nut to scatter it allover the highway.”
Only to be upstaged by his wife: “Drive like hell and you’ll get there.”
Enjoy them now.
Future regulations will prevent any of these from being sold, even with better economy of any competitors.
What is this, 1974? This kind of efficiency would be unheard of even a decade ago.
[Citation needed].
No, Drzhivago, the Citation didn’t come out until 1980.
The 2004 Viper was rated at 12 City/21 Highway.
That car had *only* 500 horsepower, so this is 207 more. And 1 MPG better.
Not bad, Dodge. Not bad.
What’s the mileage when you’re rumbling past sidewalk cafes showing off what a tool you are?
Enough.
Especially for a guy who named himself a wanker.
I’m smart enough to recognize what I am. Sometimes I point out what I think others are. Sorry if that offends.
Was this in reference to your previous Aventador comment? Because if so, I approve.
Jay Leno did a feature on his original Hemi (426) Challenger, and I believe he said the best MPG he could expect was about 8, so this is almost 200% better with about 50% more power and much better drivability. We are living in the golden age of performance.
Off boost and on the bypass it takes little power to run the blower and the air/fuel mix can be dialed back as well. Hellcat owners with a light foot will probably report even better numbers.
And by simply running it in all-cylinder deactivation mode, powering it up to EPA test speeds with a tiny scooter motor in the trunk, it could get 50!! Yeah! aren’t we being all relevanty and stuff…!!!
My 2008 IS-F got 27 mpg hwy with summer gas, so I’m honestly impressed with the mileage numbers for an engine with a 300+ hp advantage. As others have mentioned, it wouldn’t be surprising to hear reports of 24 mpg hwy after break-in (and before mods LOL). Kudos to Dodge for their design effort…