The 707hp Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is, courtesy of a 204mph top speed, the world’s fastest and most powerful four-door saloon in the world – and the planet’s only four-door muscle car.
Its supercharged 6.2-litre HEMI V8 engine also produces 650lb ft of torque, pulling power that helps it scrabble from a standstill to the quarter-mile in an NHRA-certified 11.0 seconds. Equally staggering, it accelerates from 0-100-0 mph in less than 13 seconds.
Despite its dizzying 707hp headline output, it’s not just brute force, either: Dodge is insisting the Charger SRT Hellcat is also the most capable and technologically advanced four-door muscle car in America, courtesy of features such as:
- 15.4-inch six-piston Brembo two-piece front brakes, the biggest ever offered in a Chrysler Group vehicle
- Three-mode adaptive damping
- TorqueFlite heavy-duty eight-speed automatic transmission with 160-millisecond shifts and rev matching
- SRT Performance Pages allowing drivers to tailor horsepower, transmission shift speeds, paddleshifters, traction and suspension
- Two keyfobs – one red, one black (the red one is the 707hp one; the black one, which reduces power, caps the rev limit and disables launch control, is for the valet…)
- 20-inch forged aluminium wheels wearing Y-rated Pirelli P Zero or P Zero Nero tyres
Despite the press shots being of a white car in snow, there’s no missing the Hellcat. It boasts unique front, bonnet, rear fascia and spoiler. The aluminium bonnet’s power bulge has a dedicated cold air intake and the blacked-out front fascia and grille are intentionally designed to look as sinister as you’d expect a 707hp four-door saloon to be.
There’s a single-deck spoiler at the back, ‘racetrack’ LED lights and four-inch round tailpipes. Oh, and although it’s a proud four-door saloon, dodge has restyled the base of the C-pillar, moving it rearwards to create a ‘fastback’ appearance.
Inside, the 7-inch TGT dial pack has been given a Hellcat-specific look and upgraded seats include better cushioning and contours. They’re also heated and cooled – the latter, presumably, to try and control stress levels when driving a four-door saloon at 204mph.
A quite incredible machine, the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat certainly puts all of the established German musclecars into the shade: remarkable as it sounds, it makes both the BMW M5 and Audi RS 6, at 560hp each, look positively puny by comparison. Even the 600hp M5 30 Jahre is more than 100hp behind the Dodge in terms of power.
Launched in America this week, production of the new Hellcat begins in Q1 2015. The big question is, of course, how it drives: if the experience is anything like as dramatic as the stats associated with it, the world’s fastest 4dr could also be one of the world’s most talked about.
Particularly give the price: $59,995. Yes, $59,995. That’s £36,000…
