POWER CORRUPTS
The Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is one insane “family car”.
Overview The world’s most powerful production sedan is addictive and insane
Pros Absolutely stupefying power, surprising practicality, intoxicating sounds
Cons Fuel consumption increases dramatically with performance use
What would I change? Enthusiasts will question the lack of sixspeed manual
How would I spec it? Exactly as driven There’s no such thing as a “quick stop” at Thompson Automotive. Roger and Bill Thompson, who together comprise TNT Performance, are well-known in the Peterborough, Ont., muscle car community, and their garage is the gear head’s equivalent of the local watering hole. Colourful stories, gossip and benchracing tales are swapped here among waiting car owners and drop-in visitors, coffees in hand, with the occasional interjection from Roger or Billy from the pit down below. A short visit invariably stretches into an afternoon of laughter and tall tales.
Needless to say, they were the first ones I thought of when I picked up the ultimate Mopar.
I had finally acquired the keys to the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, so a visit to Thompson’s was obviously in order. By the time I rounded the corner to their shop, everyone was standing in the driveway, alerted by the clarion call of the Hellcat’s blownHemi rumble.
With a staggering 707 horsepower on tap, the Hellcat is Dodge’s middle finger smackdown of every other muscle car on the market, despite the fact that it has four doors.
While the snarling feline badge first appeared on the sinister-looking Challenger coupe, it now transforms the four-door, rear-wheel-drive Charger into the world’s most powerful production sedan. Just a fraction more softly sprung than the ferocious Challenger, the Charger variant easily makes the transition from street to strip.
At first glance, the SRT Hellcat resembles an ordinary, everyday Charger. But then you notice the domed hood, beneath which resides the Hellcat’s deep, dark secret: An enormous supercharger that requires 80 horsepower alone just to drive it. It sits atop a 370 cubic-inch (6.2L) V8.
The regular Charger’s grille is already aggressive, but the Hellcat looks even more malevolent with a blacked-out fascia and gaping brake ducts and front splitter. This venting fore and aft isn’t merely decorative l i ke so many posers out there; it’s needed to cool the gigantic 15.4-inch Brembo brakes — Mopar’s largest brakes ever. A fairly modest spoiler tops the squatting rear haunches, which house 20-inch matte black rims wrapped in Pirelli tires.
Inside, the muscular cues and questionable intentions are more obvious. Bucket seats are aggressively bolstered and wrapped in red suede. Between the spokes of the flat-bottomed steering wheel, the gauges give off an evil red glow. Brushed metal trim is augmented with carbon fibre.
Like Ford’s Boss 302 Mustang before it, the Hellcat employs a two-key system. Use the black key, and the Hellcat trundles along, powered by a “mere” 500 horsepower. In fact, the “Eco” mode helps the Hellcat become a fairly docile cruiser. The eight-speed automatic transmission keeps the engine’s revs low and helps deliver surprisingly good fuel economy. I averaged 10.8 L/100 km on the highway and 12.5 in the city during my weeklong test drive. The Hellcat could conceivably be considered practical, too: not only does it comfortably seat four adults, but it also boasts 456 litres of cargo space, and a host of safety features, including adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning and rear cross path detection.
The red key, on the other hand, unlocks the devilish options behind the SRT button — a driving mode where all hell can break loose. Using the touchscreen, the driver can choose “Sport” mode, which firms up the suspension and steering, activates the paddle shifters, quickens the throttle and shift response and alters the cam profile — unleashing the engine’s full 707 hp and 650 lb.-ft. of torque. In this mode, the Charger accelerates like a rocket-propelled freight train. The high-pitched whine of the supercharger meshed with the explosive exhaust note is truly intoxicating. Fortunately, the six-piston Brembo brakes are fabulous — they’re easily modulated, aren’t too grabby and rein in all that speed com- mendably.
For when you’re feeling brave with the red key in hand, there’s a full suite of performance apps located within the “track mode” — which deactivates all of the safety nannies governing traction control. It also opens the exhaust-restricting baffles, which let the twin tailpipes erupt with the glorious trumpeting of an enraged bull elephant.
Of course, in order to properly evaluate the Hellcat’s truly spectacular launching ability, I turned the wheel, and the red key, over to the pros, our distracted shop men.
With more than 20 years of drag racing experience (and the trophies to prove it), Billy Thompson knows his way around an explosive start. The Hellcat is capable of a 10.7-second quarter-mile, and rockets from zero to 60 km an hour in 3.7 seconds — 2.9 on drag slicks. That’s not too far off from a Porsche 911 (and it’s a fraction of the price).
And so it was this launch evaluation that found four typically sane adults on a secluded strip of flat tarmac, laughing like power-mad lunatics as the full force of 707 screaming horses slammed them into their seat backs.
“This is a ridiculous car,” concluded Thompson, as he reluctantly handed over that magical red key.
“It launches harder than my race car! Oh, God, do I ever want it.” A ringing endorsement from someone who was raised on horsepower.
I have a feeling that the Charger Hellcat will provide many hours of conversation back at the shop.