Speed demons: Cars, SUVs get more pep in their step

NEW YORK - Fred Croatti often drives his silver Dodge Charger Hellcat to the grocery store, turning heads as he rumbles through the parking lot with a supercharged 6.2-liter 707-horsepower engine.

Although Croatti’s car sounds like a NASCAR racer, the retired pilot from Port Orange, Florida, isn’t looking for attention. He just loves the power.

“The visceral effect of the air, the sound,” he says. “All you’ve got to do is tickle the gas a little bit and the hairs on the back of your head stand up.”

At a time when mainstream and luxury cars look similar inside and out, buyers like Croatti are hungry for sound and speed. Companies are happy to oblige.

On Tuesday night, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles’ Dodge brand used explosions, burnouts and a small drag strip to ramp up horsepower even more. Ahead of the press days of the New York auto show, Dodge rolled out the 840-horsepower Demon Challenger, which FCA says is the fastest and most powerful production car made.

The horsepower craze isn’t limited to big cars or domestic automakers. In New York, Honda’s 306-horsepower compact Civic Type R will make its U.S. debut. Mercedes will roll out two new AMG high-performance vehicles including the AMG GLC63 Coupe with a 469-horsepower 4-liter V-8 twin turbo engine. Both can go zero to 60 in under four seconds. Porsche’s 911 GT3 will make its North American debut with total output of 500 horsepower.

With the exploding popularity of SUVs, the craze extends there, too. One of the Mercedes AMGs is an SUV. Last week Chevrolet rolled out the Tahoe RST with a 420-horsepower version of the Corvette V-8 and a zero-to-60 time of 5.7 seconds, unheard of previously for a truck-based vehicle. Not to be outdone, Fiat Chrysler on Sunday unveiled a 707-horsepower Jeep Grand Cherokee, which it says is the fastest SUV ever with a zero-to-60 time of 3.5 seconds and a top speed of 180 mph.

Horsepower has risen so high that some experts are proclaiming a new “golden age of muscle cars” that far outpace the first generation from the 1960s.