Hellcat? HELL YES!!! I couldn’t wait to get into the 2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. I loved the 2015 Challenger R/T Scat Pack we had painted in a retina burning sublime green and badged with the scat pack bumblebee. Powered by a 485-HP 6.4L 392 HEMI V8 engine, matted to a six speed manual transmission with massive 245/45ZR20’s gripping the pavement, I didn’t think things could get much better. Then the 2016 Challenger SRT Hellcat arrived in my driveway. 6.2L supercharged HEMI SRT Hellcat V8 engine blasting out 707 horsepower and 650 LB-FT torque. Top speed 199 mph. 0-60 in 3.5 seconds. Quarter mile in 11.2 seconds. What more could you ask for? How about a price tag under $70,000? Ok. No problem. Ours with the optional 8-speed automatic transmission (add $2,995) ended up at $69,280 all in. The most horsepower for the dollar money can buy. Period.
My initial disappointment of having the Torqueflite 8-speed automatic HP90 transmission (instead of the manually shifted 6-speed Tremec 
transmission) quickly dissipated after the first time I stomped on the gas. The guys at Roadfly told me to start out with the black key restricting output to a mere 500 hp or so because they said I couldn’t handle all 707 (because you trust the valet with 500 hp but not 707 I guess). No way!! I fired up the huge 6.2L supercharged HEMI using the red key unleashing every single one of her 707 horses and backed her gingerly out of my driveway. I switched the cat into track mode and sat in the street for a few minutes idling just listening to this cat growl. In track and racing mode the exhaust notes are wicked. Give her a little pedal and she sounds downright mean. Nate, the six-year old boy who lives across the street (who absolutely loves cars) started clapping. A standing ovation and I hadn’t even put it in drive yet. So I gave Nate a little wave and stomped on the gas. After the smoke settled I could see twin black stripes about 40 feet long and little Nate jumping up and down. Its a good thing I only put the gas three quarters of the way down. Otherwise I might have been in Nate’s front yard. This car is raw, unbridled power. Built for the track or long straightaways.
2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Photo Album
Our Hellcat came with Redline Red paint on the exterior with black premium Laguna leather on the inside. With the Hellcat you have to add either the dual carbon stripes on the hood or the satin black aluminum hood with functional vents – I would add hood tie downs too. With as much attitude as the engine has you need an exterior to match. The plain Redline Red with no stripes just didn’t do it for me. 20-inch by 9.5 inch SRT matte black forged wheels with ultra sticky Pirelli 27540ZR20 P zero summer tires worked well for me. And don’t forget about the massive 6-piston high-performance Brembo brakes. Because if you can hit speeds upwards of 199 mph you need some pretty good brakes to bring you back to zero. I didn’t hit 199 mph but there may have been a time or two where the speedo read triple digits. Maybe
