Actor, comedian and famous car guy James Douglas Muir Leno, better known as Jay Leno, takes Chrysler's new Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat for a spin and takes a video of it for his Jay Leno's Garage YouTube video series.
With its 6.2-liter HEMI supercharged V8 engine, 707 horsepower, 650 pounds feet torque and its ability to go from zero to a quarter-mile in 10.8 seconds hitting 126 miles per hour on proper drag radials, the Hellcat is undoubtedly the fastest and most powerful muscle car in the world. It is not surprising that Leno, a big Challenger enthusiast himself, decided to feature the Hellcat in his video series. There was no question about it save for when he would actually do it.
The first part of the video takes place in Leno's garage, which as many of his subscribers have noted, looks like a showroom of the world's most expensive vehicles. Leno introduces viewers to the original Challenger 1970, which runs on the legendary 426 HEMI engine. Today, it's not much, but the Challenger 1970 was the biggest, baddest muscle car of its time.
"This is my 1970 Challenger 426 HEMI car," Leno says [video], approaching the car. "This was like the scariest car in the world when I was a kid. 425 horsepower, 0 to 60 mph in 6.4 seconds. Now, it's not so much. It's kind of like walking around with a rolled up sock in your pants. It looks good but it's not really that impressive."
"This," he continues. "This is impressive. This is the new Challenger Hellcat 2015."
Dodge President and chief executive Tim Kuniskis later joins Leno in the video and talks about how Chrysler decided to raise the bar on the car's horsepower. Along the way, Kuniskis drops in a number of mind-numbing facts about the Hellcat, such as the fact that each of the Pirello P Zero tires cost a whopping $300.
And although Leno looks a tiny bit disappointed that Kuniskis brought him the eight-speed automatic Hellcat, which he says can shift gears in 160 milliseconds - way faster than any human can ever do -- instead of the six-speed stick-shift, the latter part of the video shows Leno is obviously sold on the Hellcat.
Check out the video below to watch Leno's test drive of the ultra-high-performance Hellcat. Of course, as with any burnout test drive, expect a billow of fumes as the Hellcat leaves behind the video's viewers in the dust.
