Hellcat What? Meet the ten,000-hp Version of the 2015 Dodge Charger

What’s technically “funny” but actually has zero sense of humor? This issue, the new 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Funny Vehicle that was freshly unveiled by Mopar at the 2014 SEMA show. Okay, it is a little funny looking, but don’t say that to its face.

The 2015 Charger R/T Funny Vehicle is the very first collaboration in between the production and racing engineers at Mopar, Dodge, and Don Schumacher Racing since the last Charger R/T Funny Automobile was introduced way back in 2006. The redesigned physique is aesthetically a small far more cab-rearward than before, and it utilizes Kevlar and carbon to increase strength and durability while lowering w7 Unless you are an NHRA fan, you’re almost certainly thinking: Does weight matter when you have got about 10,000 horsepower at your beck and call? Completely. When the difference between a win and a loss can come down to a single one-thousandth of a second, each gram counts. (These automobiles weigh about 2400 pounds, like the driver. Nice power-to-weight ratio, eh?)

The red and black paint scheme is especially sinister, although it is unlikely that we’ll see it raced in that livery, at least not with no a billion sponsor stickers plastered all over the thing. The side scallops are a new feature for the vehicle, and we’re told they have a neutral effect on aero but do some thing for the body rigidity just as critical from a spectator standpoint, they aid make it appear more like the production 2015 Charger. Other Charger-isms consist of the front- and rear-finish graphics, which are just as distinctive as these of the actual car. And even the window line has that Charger kink.

Speaking of windows, the most significant improvement, according to DSR driver Matt Hagan, is outward vision. The greenhouse has been moved back toward the driver, resulting in 10 degrees of additional side view and twice as a lot upward visibility, therefore offering a panoramic view of the world as its topographical functions stretch into time-warp blur. “When I sat in it, my ‘lights’ time enhanced,” Hagan said of his reaction time to the drag-strip beginning lights. “I truly believe it is going to improve the driving capacity of anybody fortunate adequate to get behind the wheel. Producing Friday-evening qualifying runs with the new physique is going to be so significantly fun.”

The new design also optimizes clearances for injectors, blowers, and the engine itself, Dodge says, as effectively as gives enhanced downforce to hold the issue on the ground at the 300-plus mph that the automobile will regularly see in competitors.

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The Charger R/T Funny Auto has some fast shoes to fill, provided that the last 1 earned 68 Funny Car occasion titles, was the initial vehicle to run the quarter in less than 4 seconds in 2011 (which it has carried out 10 more instances since), and has seen 320 mph “many times,” according to Dodge. We will be watching to see if it certainly fills the footwear when it charges out to Pomona, California, for its racing debut subsequent February at the 2015 Winternationals.

Hellcat What? Meet the ten,000-hp Version of the 2015 Dodge Charger

2015 Dodge Charger Priced—Yes, Including the 707-hp, 204-mph Hellcat

Dodge just announced pricing for the 2015 Charger sedan, with the lineup beginning at a reasonable $ 28,990 for the eminently sensible 292-hp V-6 model. But lest you forget—and how could you?—this is the sedan into which the mad SRT scientists have stuffed a Hellcat V-8—which sends the sticker price, energy rating, and best speed by means of the roof.

All Chargers received a thorough refresh this year. The entry-level Charger SE packs the Pentastar 6 and an 8-speed ZF-made automatic transmission, and it provides all-wheel drive. Move up to the SXT trim, and you’re rewarded with 18-inch wheels, LED fog lights, and infotainment upgrades for an upcharge of $ 2000. The SXT is also the highest trim level available with 4 driven wheels. The Hemi-powered and 8-speed-packing 370-horse Charger R/T in next, and it rolls on 20s, has a spoiler, and rings in at $ 33,990.

Now is when things get genuinely beefy. The Charger R/T Scat Pack, like the Challenger of the same name, packs a 6.4-liter Hemi kicking out 485 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque. With red-calipered 4-piston Brembo brakes and 20-inch wheels, the Scat Pack stickers at 10 bucks beneath 41 grand. The Charger SRT 392 upgrades to 6-piston Brembos up front, a 3-mode adjustable suspension, and adaptive drive modes that incorporate a track setting. It costs $ 48,380.

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Then there’s the king of them all: the Charger SRT Hellcat. Dodge calls this supercharged bruiser the quickest, quickest, and most effective sedan ever. With a brain-melting 707 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque from its burly 6.2-liter V-8, it’s a believable claim, and as far as we know it is the only way to bring 3 friends along for an 11-second quarter-mile or a 204-mph best-speed run. Offered the utterly outrageous efficiency the Hellcat delivers, its $ 64,990 price tag tag is astoundingly low. Needless to say, we can’t wait to strap our test gear to the factor.

2015 Dodge Charger Priced—Yes, Including the 707-hp, 204-mph Hellcat

From the C/D Archives: 1968 Dodge Charger Hemi Tested

Archived Instrumented Test

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It appears like the Chrysler Corporation is flat out in the automobile buisness again.

• MIKE BRADY AND


• THE MANUFACTURER

From the November 1967 Concern of Auto and Driver

Final year, we applauded Plymouth for creating what we believed was the greatest hunting Detroit vehicle of 1967, the Barracuda. A remarkable feat, contemplating the Chrysler Corporation’;s odd, unstable styling history which, since the Airflow, has been marked by committee-styled cars which, aside from lacking integrity of design, have oscillated between being far out to the point of vulgarity and becoming timid to the point of sterility—a seemingly endless series of more than-compensations for each preceding year. With this background, we had been pleasantly surprised by the ‘67 Barracuda, but fairly ready to wait years just before Chrysler came up with a worthy successor. We conjured a image of designers and stylists lying about their studios, spent, from their Barracuda work, and barely capable to create so much as a new bumper for 1968.

Envision, for that reason, our surprise—again pleasant—when we saw Dodge’;s new Charger. Operating with Chrysler Corporation’;s 117-in. wheelbase “B” series body/chassis, the designers that we’;d imagined have been worn out have not only accomplished far much more than a face-lift, they have very easily surpassed the mark of excellence set less than a year ago.

The only 1968 automobile which comes close to challenging the new Charger for styling accolades is the new Corvette, which is remarkably similar to the Charger, particularly when viewed from the rear quarter. But, we give the honors to the Charger for numerous motives. Initial, the Corvette, getting a smaller sized auto in both seating capacity and wheelbase, has a significantly easier time attaining the desired sporty image. Second, Dodge stylists have shown that they can generate a automobile in the present idiom with originality, combining just the correct quantity of tasteful conformity with that novelty and freshness which attracts consideration. Originality takes guts in Dodge’;s position as the smaller division of the quantity 3 automaker, but the Charger’;s aerodynamic wedge theme is not only distinctly new but it is quite like the new breed of wind-tunnel tested sports/racing automobiles which are just now producing their debut in the 1967 Can-Am series. Third, although the Charger is a vast improvement over its predecessor, the 1968 Corvette is anticlimactic soon after the Mako Shark show automobiles which preceded it.

Chrysler Corporation, then, is flat-out in the automobile organization once more. The Marlin‑like Charger of the previous (actually a Coronet with a hastily added fastback roof), and the similarly makeshift Barracuda have been grim reminders of the Corporation’;s close get in touch with with financial disaster in the early Sixties. But the belt-tightening policies of Lynn Townsend—Chrysler’;s chief executive considering that 1961, and a lot more not too long ago Board Chairman—combined with his intense efforts to boost and enhance the Corporation’;s manufacturing facilities look to be paying off. The 1967 Barracuda and the new Charger, each and every with its own distinctive sheet metal now, are evidence of Chrysler’;s growing strength and capacity to meet both the financial and inventive challenge of the specialty automobile age.

Specialty automobiles are conceived from a drastically different preparing philosophy than that of the bread-and-butter cars which Detroit utilised to create exclusively. Bread-and-butter vehicles are constructed with the principal intention of offending no possible purchaser, rendering the vehicles largely featureless and unexciting. Specialty cars, on the other hand, are constructed to please certain groups of clients. We like the far more positive philosophy behind the specialty automobile, and the Charger is chock-full of attributes with obvious appeal for the functionality-minded enthusiast.

The aerodynamic look of the Charger (it’;s as aerodynamically slippery as it appears, according to Chrysler’;s engineers) is accented by a rear spoiler combined with a truncated rear finish for a Kamm effect—a design and style strategy which has become almost mandatory in contemporary racing vehicles. The Charger takes on the nose-down look widespread to each NASCAR and NHRA, and the bulging rear fenders ought to accommodate the racing tires utilized in each drag and stock car racing with a minimum of rework. The greenhouse, following the sharply curved side-glass, slants steeply towards the center of the automobile, quite reminiscent of Le Mans Ferraris, particularly when viewed from the rear. A tunnel-sort backlight is employed rather of a pure fastback (a styling feature rapidly going out of fashion from more than-use). The smaller sized rear window of the tunnel roof also provides considerably less distortion to rear vision than a steeply slanted fastback window.

Further visual overall performance identity is achieved by the use of a racing-style gas filler cap mounted higher on the left rear quarter, and quasi fog/driving/parking and turn signal lights mounted low in the front bumper. Matte black paint is utilized extensively in the grille and around the tail lights. Full wheel cut-outs, fat tires on 6-inch rims, and simulated engine compartment exhaust vents in the hood (which also residence turn signal indicator lights, like the Mustang GT) and at the major edge of the doors complete the Charger’;s complement of visually “in” functions.

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From the C/D Archives: 1968 Dodge Charger Hemi Tested

Spied! 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat: It Was Only a Matter of Time

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The Hellcat V-8 sinks its claws into the Charger.

• CHRIS DOANE AUTOMOTIVE AND


• THE MANUFACTURER

What It Is: A pair of Dodge’s complete-size, 4-door bruisers wearing front and rear camo, reported to be packing a version of the Challenger SRT’s Hellcat V-8. Caught testing in southeast Michigan, the partial cover-up on these Chargers can’t hide the presence of a huge hood scoop, aggressive chin and trunk-lid spoilers, and bigger exhaust guidelines. The white Charger pictured attributes plain honeycomb upper-grille inserts, following the styling lead set by the Hellcat SRT Challenger. While pictures alone can be misleading—often intentionally so—the earlier news that Chrysler has filed papers with the Society of Automotive Engineers regarding the use of the Hellcat V-8 in the Charger indicates that the carmaker is currently invested in finding a residence for said engine beneath the sedan’s hood. Combined with rolling stock identical to that of the Challenger Hellcat (20-inch wheels wrapped in 275/40 Pirelli P Zero Nero tires) and the presence of upgraded brakes in the kind of slotted rotors and Brembo calipers, the writing on the wall is relatively legible.

Why It Matters: As Chrysler’s standalone tuning division, SRT was responsible not only for the Viper, but also for injecting adrenaline into a quantity of Mopar goods in the name of functionality. So when the refreshed-for-2015 Charger debuted in New York earlier this year, we were a small befuddled that the manufacturer made no mention of what SRT may be cooking up for the 4-door muscle car. In hindsight, it’s clear that corporate wheels had been turning vigorously behind the scenes, putting the maker’s program to bring the SRT banner underneath the Dodge brand into complete effect. With that circumstance tidied up (the Chrysler 300 SRT is discontinued and the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT lives on), the subsequent order of organization was to make a big statement with the Challenger SRT Hellcat. How much better to stick to that up than with a 4-door barnstormer packing the exact same wallop? Following the Challenger SRT Hellcat’s naming scheme, we anticipate the Charger’s official title to be Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.

Prime: 2015 Dodge Charger R/T. Bottom: 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat (spy photo).

Platform: In spite of wearing a fresh exterior, the 2015 Charger is constructed on an evolution of Chrysler’s LX platform, which also underpins the current Chrysler 300 and Dodge Challenger. Count on the Charger SRT Hellcat to make use of the very same or equivalent upgrades that Dodge performed on the Challenger to cope with the Hellcat’s prodigious output.

Powertrain: This car is all about the engine, in this case the Hellcat’s supercharged V-8. We expect the Hellcat V-8 to arrive packing the very same 707 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque it makes in the Challenger, its may well backed up to the identical ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. The thought of offering a 6-speed manual in the outsize sedan appeals to us dearly, but the Charger has thus far gone with out, so that choice most likely will be primarily based on purchaser demographics and customer interest. A single final believed: If Dodge decides to make Hellcat V-8 engine–equipped Chargers offered to law-enforcement agencies (we’re pondering Dubai, perhaps), it will forever change the nature of televised police chases.

Competitors: Chevrolet SS, Cadillac CTS-V, Top Fuel dragsters, Funny Cars

Estimated Arrival and Cost: There’s still plenty of time to slip the Charger Hellcat into showrooms as a 2015 model, but halo vehicles like this can usually transcend model-year designations with tiny effect on sales. That said—and thinking about considerably of the development was completed along with that of the Challenger SRT Hellcat—it could arrive as early as this fall. Pricing will most likely follow the Challenger’s lead, the Charger SRT Hellcat retailing for about $ 15,000 a lot more than the base SRT model, bringing it in around $ 65,000.

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Spied! 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat: It Was Only a Matter of Time

Super Charger: Dodge’s 707-hp Hellcat V-8 is Headed for the Charger Sedan

2015 Dodge Charger R/T

The whompin’, stompin’, 707-hp supercharged 6.2-liter Hellcat V-8 from the Challenger SRT Hellcat appears poised to make its way into an additional Dodge’s engine bay. Anybody surprised? The Hellcat’s second application has been offered away in papers filed with the Society of Automotive Engineers that describe engine information for a Hellcat-powered Dodge Charger sedan.

For these keen on cold, bizarre-sounding titles to technical papers, the SAE filing in question is called “J1349 Certified Energy Engine data for Chrysler as employed in 6.2L SC HEMI (Hellcat) 2015MY Dodge Challenger 6.2L SC SRT 2015MY Dodge Charger 6.2L SC SRT – Level 1.” Enable us to simplify that wordy mess to what we suspect the production auto will be known as: “2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat.”

So it appears like we have a 707-hp supersedan on the way sometime throughout the 2015 model year, at which point it will become the most horsepower-drunk production 4-door in the planet. Go ‘Murica. Mission accomplished. Bust out fireworks and the stars and stripes.

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But wait—what does Dodge have to say? So far, the automaker has been mum on the topic, even dodging the question (pun not intended) when we asked them about the notion of a Charger Hellcat at the current initial drive system for the 2015 Challenger. But if we were bettin’ folks, we’d say you could count on the automobile to appear in dealerships by the end of 2014.

Pricing need to fall within burnout distance of the Challenger SRT Hellcat’s $ 60,990 MSRP. Now that Dodge appears to be spreading the Hellcat really like, might we suggest tossing the supercharged V-8 into, say, the Chrysler 300? Or perhaps the Viper . . . ?

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Super Charger: Dodge’s 707-hp Hellcat V-8 is Headed for the Charger Sedan