Wednesday 2nd July 2014

Dodge Challenger Hellcat: 707hp

So 'over 600hp' may have been underselling it a bit. Your move Mustang...

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You may remember from the short Challenger SRT Hellcat vid that Dodge was promising over 600hp from its new car. Today the power has been officially confirmed at a fair bit over 600hp. Specifically 707hp, with 650lb ft of torque. The second key limits that to 500hp for mooching around.

707hp and 650lb ft will do this!

Obviously the Challenger's heft will count against it for pure acceleration, but what a wonderfully ludicrous creation. To think US customers will soon be able to walk into a Dodge dealer with probably not that many dollars (rumours are around $75K) and purchase a car with more than 700hp is barmy. Brilliantly barmy.

Will it run a 10-second quarter mile? It seems like the most relevant question surrounding the Hellcat. There aren't any performance stats yet but they will surely follow soon. Dodge is offering the 'most powerful muscle car ever' with a six-speed manual or eight-speed auto. It probably needs about three gears.

And here's a challenge to finish on. Which cars on sale makes more power than the Hellcat? The P1 and LaFerrari are sold out so perhaps the Porsche 918 Spyder would qualify. The Pagani Huayra and Ferrari F12 do just make it with 740hp but the car you see above is more powerful than a Lamborghini Aventador. Unbelievable.

[thatdude]

I quite like this

Second key though? a bit of further elaboration on that?

Sounds like with the usual ignition key, you fire it up and theres your 707 bhp. If you then later decide you are a pussy (say it with a thick american accent ya'll) then you can limit it to a girls power level of 500 bhp...right?