First Drive: 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

A lust for power has sunk more civilizations than it has saved, but in the auto industry adding rather than subtracting engine output has long proven to be a safe strategy. Witness the case of the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, a full-size sedan that has drawn an enormous amount of attention by way of its gaudy horsepower numbers.  To wit: this four-door family cruiser boasts 707 ponies and 650 lb-ft of torque from a supercharged 6.2L Hemi V8 borrowed from the Challenger SRT Hellcat coupe that debuted earlier this year.

Publicity stunt?  Maybe.  This is, after all, the car that Dodge’s own CEO claimed no one had asked for, and the only reason to produce a super sedan without a clear demand from customers is to shine a spotlight on a brand that is currently making itself over as the performance-oriented arm of the Fiat-Chrysler empire.  But does it really matter what motivations guided the Charger SRT Hellcat to market as long as I get a chance to drive one?  I submit that it does not.

Does it really matter what motivations guided the Charger SRT Hellcat to market as long as I get a chance to drive one?Location, Location, Location

What better place to sample the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat than at a race track like the one found at Summit Point Motorsports Park, West Virginia?  While it might seem logical to exercise such an over-gifted machine in a high performance setting like a road course, I had actually found Charger’s predecessor, the Challenger SRT Hellcat, to be far too raw for legitimate enjoyment while lapping, preferring to sample its charms in a less frenetic street environment instead.

The Charger SRT Hellcat, however, took me completely by surprise.  At the end of the first lap it was clear that the sedan’s similar chassis was somehow less nervous at the limit than the coupe’s, allowing me to confidently navigate the nicely drawn curves at Summit Point without worrying too much about meeting a concrete barrier wrong-way round.  When set to Track mode (one of three available driving modes, on top of Sport and Street), the car’s adjustable suspension system goes full hardcore, limiting body roll to the best of its ability, and the eight-speed automatic transmission’s programming bangs through the gears as quickly as possible.  I didn’t even feel the need to play with the car’s paddle shifters, as the autobox did an excellent job of making sure that the optimum ratio was selected at any given moment.

Not that you absolutely have to be careful about which gear you’re in when you’ve got 707 horsepower and 650 lb-ft lurking under your right foot, of course.  Roll onto the throttle on a straight section of road and you’ll discover endless fields of acceleration, culminating in a drag-limited 326 km/h top speed.  Throttle response is instantaneous, the supercharger whine under the hood is harmonious, and the thunder from the Hellcat’s dual tailpipes announces your arrival a good one to two minutes prior to your actual appearance on the horizon.

Careful Where (and when) You Step

Given that your morning commute almost certainly doesn’t include a carefully manicured race track, I feel compelled to reveal the other side of the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat’s personality.  Outside of the carefully controlled environs of Summit Point, the car’s driving dynamics were more of a mixed bag.

2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, wheel, dashboard. Click image to enlarge

A wet and woolly fall storm meant driving the sedan through standing water on the way back to our home base in Washington D.C. When set to Street, the Charger’s manners were beyond reproach.  On drier roads, however, with the Sport setting engaged, the Hellcat wasn’t quite as compliant.  Its two-ton curb weight gave it a propensity to overwhelm the mid-level tuning of the adaptive shocks, making frequent bottoming out of the front splitter and rear bumper a consequence of taking a sequence of rolling hills too quickly.  Then there’s the question of throttle management: hammer the gas at any point in Sport and you’ll incinerate the rear tires faster than the traction control system can reign you in.  Or go sideways into something solid.

That being said, I must applaud the engineers behind the Charger SRT Hellcat’s launch control system, which was able to rocket me to 96 km/h in 4.0 seconds – about 1.1 seconds slower than what the car is claimed to be capable of accomplishing should one swap its 20-inch Pirellis for drag radials.  You’ll also blaze through the quarter mile in 11 seconds with street tires present and accounted for, which is incredible given the sheer mass of the Hellcat.

Looking The Part

The 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is more than just a collection of electronic nannies married to a fabulously overpowered engine, of course.  Like all other members of the 2015 Charger lineup, the Hellcat benefits from a styling refresh inside and out.  The interior of the sedan is much improved, especially when it comes to eliminating the harder plastics of the previous-generation car, and I really liked the new leather used on the Charger’s seats and interior panels.

On the outside, there are the same LED taillights / LED-wrapped headlight treatment given to the base Charger, but it’s been enhanced by way of a unique front bumper (which hides a number of secret cooling channels), a gaping maw of an air scoop on the hood that sucks oxygen into the supercharger, and a set of slits that extract heat from the engine bay at speed.  Out back you’ll find a special wing treatment that is paired with the front fascia to help reduce lift, an always-important consideration when traveling over 300 kilometres an hour.  Fun fact: you get about 13 minutes of full-throttle fun on a single tank of gas with the Hellcat.

2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat, gauges, infotainment. Click image to enlarge

A More Rounded Effort

The 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is a more complete car than its Challenger namesake, and that’s by design.  Dodge wanted their muscle coupe to feel more unhinged than the refined-in-comparison sedan and its engineers have certainly accomplished that goal, presenting a spacious four-door automobile that’s wild when you want it to be, and well, actually it’s pretty much wild all of the time with bits of civility thrown in for good measure.  This is true even if you drive the Hellcat with its black key, which puts training wheels on the car by restricting engine output to 500 horsepower and forcing you to launch in second gear (the also-provided red key closes the door, welds it shut, and makes all 707 horses available to you).

With an MSRP of $64,495 – a premium of nearly $25k over the Charger R/T – is this car going to connect with more than a handful of enthusiasts?  It’s hard to say.  Currently, the bestselling SRT model is the Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT, another similarly priced eyebrow-raising, ultra-fast heavyweight that deserves the adoration it’s been getting from performance SUV fans.  The Hellcat isn’t all that far off from the Jeep’s weight class, and while it lacks all-wheel drive it does provide over 200 additional horsepower and the rights to claim dyno-day superiority over any other eight-cylinder production car on the road.  Think of it as the daily driver that you’ll be parking for a couple of days every two weeks after it scares the living daylights out of you.

Competitors:
Lol. No.