Challenger SRT Hellcat

Make
Dodge
Segment
Coupe

Jay is a big fan of the Dodge Challenger, having owned the fourth one ever built way back in 2008. He then went on to own the 707 horsepower Hellcat, with the six-speed manual transmission of course. This is a car he still owns, so was clearly quite excited to sample the Hellcat Redeye and two other Challengers brought over to his garage by Steve Beahm, head of passenger car brands and a certified gearhead who has been with Dodge for over 30 years.

Jay starts off slowly by taking a look at the R/T Scat Pack, the 485-hp sports car that comes in at under $40,000, making it one of the best price-per-horsepower cars out there that can now be had with the widebody kit for 2019. They quickly move on to the Hellcat which gets a 10 hp power bump to 717 hp thanks to a dual snorkel intake and it is now capable of a blistering 10.9-second quarter mile time.

The main event though was the Hellcat Redeye, a car that comes with components borrowed from the limited-edition 840 hp Demon. The most important component being the actual 6.2-liter supercharged engine and eight-speed automatic transmission. While it retains all the heavy-duty internals the power output has been slightly detuned to 797 hp.

It does not require the high octane fuel the Hellcat does to produce maximum power, but it also does without the transmission brake and drag mode features. Seeing as it is intended for street use, that is not really an issue and it will still do a 10.8-second quarter mile with the optional widebody kit. Top speed is a serious 203 mph.

What does matter is that it comes packed with a lot more interior luxuries as standard and is far more usable on the road. When they do head out Jay comments on how responsive and great sounding the Redeye is as well as how good it feels to drive at legal speeds. The spacious interior is also unique at this performance level, something Jay enjoys in his Hellcat as well. And that name? Steve says that it comes from it having the engine from the Demon, giving it glowing red eyes.