With a garage filled with at least 130 cars and over 90 motorcycles, Jay Leno was still impressed when he got a chance to test drive the 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat and poke around under the muscle car's hood.
The Challenger made its return in 2008, after roughly 25 years of lying dormant. Thanks to decades of innovation in the automotive world, the 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat overwhelmingly outperformed the 1970's models that Leno said scared him in his youth.
The Hellcat's supercharged, 6.2-liter HEMI delivers 707 horsepower engine can push the muscle car from idle to a quarter of a mile in just 10.8 seconds, according to Dodge.
"This is impressive," said Leno. "This is the new challenger hellcat 2015 - [it has] 707 horsepower, making it the most powerful muscle cars built in America and one of the most powerful cars anywhere in the world. Think about this: this car has more horsepower than the Lamborghini Aventador which cost somewhere around $300,000."
A lot of the hardcore enthusiast said they loved the earlier versions of the revived Dodge Challenger and said it was the most true-to-form muscle car, according to Tim Kuniskis, CEO of Dodge and Street and Racing Technology (SRT). They said they loved almost everything about it, but complained that it was a little bit bigger and heavier than other cars in its class, Kuniskis said.
"We said we like the fact that it has a longer wheelbase. We like the fact that it has a functional rear seat and a big trunk," Kuniskis stated. "But how do we overcome performance disadvantages of handling, braking and power to weight? We went to our SRT engineers and said 'let's get absolutely crazy with the horsepower and shut everybody up. To them, that was 700 [hp].'"
During a test drive of the Hellcat with Leno, Kuniskis seized on the opportunity to show off the muscle car's interior and its variable tuning. There are redundant controls, but everything, from heated seats and climate controls to streaming music and pairing mobile device, can be managed from the console's 8.4 touch screen, stated Kuniskis.
"But the other really cool thing is the performance pages that are built into the SRT [system]," said Kuniskis. "This really allows you to not have to have two cars. You don't need a track car and an everyday driver. This car will literally do both and allow you to customize it."
Hellcat owners can use the car's console to adjust the vehicle's tuning to "track mode," "street mode," "custom mode" and default, according to Kuniskis. Hopefully, the SRT console comes with a firewall to keep it off the list of most hackable cars.
