RE: Charger Hellcat bulks up with Widebody Pack

RE: Charger Hellcat bulks up with Widebody Pack

Friday 28th June 2019

Charger Hellcat bulks up with Widebody Pack

Standard 707hp Charger a bit too meek? Say hello to the Hellcat Widebody



It's funny, really. There are manufacturers in Europe producing their most powerful saloons ever - Jaguar, Mercedes-AMG, BMW - and insisting on four-wheel drive for the sake of usability, traction and so on. Then in the US, Dodge is making the most powerful saloon in the whole world, and has done so since before all of the above cars were introduced, with just rear-wheel drive. More than 700hp, four seats, four doors, and rear-wheel drive - it's easy to see why the Dodge Charger Hellcat has won so many fans.

Expect it to accrue a few more now, too, with the introduction of the Widebody Charger. Following the template set out by its Challenger sibling - a car we drove as a Widebody Scat Pack recently - this Hellcat adds 3.5-inches to the width of the standard car, allowing the fitment of 11-inch wide forged wheels and 305/35 ZR20 Pirelli tyres. The chassis has been revised to take full advantage, front spring rates up 32 per cent over the standard Hellcat (that this car now replaces), with larger anti-roll bars as well - 34mm up front and 22mm at the back, up from 32mm and 19mm respectively. Dodge has reworked the Bilstein adaptive dampers to function in conjunction with stiffer springs, and bigger Brembo brakes will make it stop better.


Slightly less encouraging is the introduction for the Widebody of selectable EPAS steering modes, "to better manage increased grip, improving handling performance" thereby "delivering better steering feel and ease of turning efforts at parking lot speeds." There will be Street, Sport and Track settings as part of the wider SRT drive modes,too.

Despite an identical 707hp and 650lb ft, the Widebody Hellcat makes good use of its chassis changes: Dodge claims it's 2.1 seconds faster than the old narrowbody car around a lap of just 2.1 miles. In addition, this new model for 2020 comes with Launch Control and Launch Assist to convert that 707hp into some forward motion, as well as Line Lock to get things warmed up beforehand and Race Cooldown for when your drag is done.


Furthermore, for those for whom 700hp is a bit much, the Widebody Package is also being offered for the 485hp Charger Scat Pack (but with the standard Scat still also available). On the same test track, the new car claims a 1.3-second lap time advantage. But you want the supercharged one, don't you? Dealer orders will open this autumn, with first deliveries to US customers early in 2020. Finally, for those who are keen, don't forget that one or two UK companies already import Chargers- don't be surprised to see one or two Widebody SRTs in their stocklists this time next year...

 

 













Author
Discussion

DooM_II

Original Poster:

95 posts

131 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Great to see the latest Mondeo is RWD.

Oh wait

Nerdherder

1,773 posts

96 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
What a vulgar display of power. I like it. A lot.

Gecko1978

9,603 posts

156 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
huge fan of the dodge look, but I suspect comparisons to european brands are not valid given interior and the way it handels an drives v say a M5.....but if it were me and they did a RHD one and it was around the £50,000 mark (is that the GBP equivilent) I would have one over AMG, M, R's etc because say what you like about handelign etc this does over 200mph and that is a top trumps winner.

Tuvra

7,920 posts

224 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
It's not for me....

F1GTRUeno

6,335 posts

217 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
That looks so fking good.

Gameface

16,565 posts

76 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
fking marvellous!

RicksAlfas

13,355 posts

243 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
I like it a lot.

Username...

95 posts

80 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
With an interior from a mk1 Ford Mondeo?

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
sooooo much wanttttt !!!

i will take the challanger srt widebody redeye edition with 797 BHP thou sperm



Edited by Dave Hedgehog on Friday 28th June 15:58

RazerSauber

2,262 posts

59 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
I have a proper soft spot for these modern chargers, even the slightly older ones. Uncomplicated engineering that's shouty and noisy. What's not to love?

budgie smuggler

5,359 posts

158 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Plainly idiotic.


WANT

Water Fairy

5,475 posts

154 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Objectively inferior to it's european counterparts in many ways I imagine.

But who cares?

Give me one immediately!


unsprung

5,467 posts

123 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Dave Hedgehog said:
i will take the challanger srt widebody redeye edition with 797 BHP thou sperm
that's a handsome green... lends the Challenger a serious tone

although I tend not to be a "stripes guy," your rendering looks smart with black on green


Fleckers

2,851 posts

200 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Very nice

Love the sun roof as well

Wonder if the demon pack can be had with the wide body ?

powerstroke

10,283 posts

159 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Tuvra said:
It's not for me....
Don't worry plenty of people only like bland soulless Euro trash ...

mfp4073

1,940 posts

173 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
I wish Dodge had called this car anything but Charger. I've never loved the four door version.
Having said that the car is very imposing and has a brutal look about it, and I do like the rear lights, there is no mistaking that come night time.
OK maybe I do like them just a little,but those 60's and 70's Chargers are just bloody gorgeous in comparison.


Edited by mfp4073 on Friday 28th June 21:32


Edited by mfp4073 on Friday 28th June 21:33

anonymous-user

53 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Gotta love US car ad's compared to ours

Guvernator

13,104 posts

164 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
Bloody fantastic looking thing and that noise. This and the widebody Challenger are amongst two of my favourites cars released in the last year. The four door practicality is good but I think I'd just about pick the Challenger over this.

unsprung

5,467 posts

123 months

Friday 28th June 2019
quotequote all
mfp4073 said:
I wish Dodge had called this car anything but Charger. I've never loved the four door version.
Having said that the car is very imposing and has a brutal look about it, and I do like the rear lights, there is no mistaking that come night time.
OK maybe I do like them just a little,but those 60's and 70's Chargers are just bloody gorgeous in comparison.
+1


selym

9,539 posts

170 months

Saturday 29th June 2019
quotequote all
mfp4073 said:
I wish Dodge had called this car anything but Charger. I've never loved the four door version.
Having said that the car is very imposing and has a brutal look about it, and I do like the rear lights, there is no mistaking that come night time.
OK maybe I do like them just a little,but those 60's and 70's Chargers are just bloody gorgeous in comparison.


Edited by mfp4073 on Friday 28th June 21:32


Edited by mfp4073 on Friday 28th June 21:33
I'm in agreement. This is the first of this kind of crazy that I'm not 100% smitten with. 75% maybe! Still bonkers and I'd rather go down this route then Euro borebox.

I'd still have one but prefer the two door examples, with a little more power too (because 7-800bhp is obviously not enough).