This Week Is Challenger Week at TTAC

by Jack Baruth

Published: July 20th, 2014

I have been to the mountaintop! Well, I’ve been to Portland International Raceway, anyway, and I’ve met the 707-horsepower Hellcat. The embargo lifts Tuesday at 12:01 AM, so you’ll get a traditional review of the Hellcat here just the same time you’d get it anywhere else. But I have more, and better, things for you than that.

On Monday we’ll pay tribute to the existing car with a Reader Review of a recently-purchased 2014 Challenger.

On Tuesday we’ll have a traditional Hellcat review.

On Tuesday afternoon we’ll have a detailed analysis of Trackmaster data that I took of the Hellcat, the new 6.4 Scat Pack six-speed, and the surprising V6 Pentastar Challenger Track Pack.

On Wednesday and Thursday we’ll have reviews of those other Challengers for you.

So if you’re interested in the full scoop on the big Chrysler in all its various forms, as well as actual comparative acceleration and cornering data that nobody else will have, this will be the place. See you then!

Jack Baruth

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10 of 68 comments

Billfrombuckhead on Jul 20, 2014

Wait till you hear this Hellcat roar! I heard at Carlisle last weekend and it was transcendent. BTW, the "halo" effect is already selling Durangos and Chargers Mopar Uber Alles.

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- 3Deuce27 on Jul 21, 2014
  
  "Transcendent"... ? OK, Bill, even a little hyperbole goes a little too far unless it is made in jest, but around here it abounds when it comes to big horse Mustangs and Challengers. Transcendent auto sounds are sung by DOHC straight pipe Jags, Alfa Veloce's, Colombo Ferrari V-12's, Flatty Merc's with Lake headers, and Honda Benly's . all the rest are just a pleasant noise or something else. Reg; "“halo” effect is already selling Durangos and Chargers"... Purely anecdotal, if that. The only people who know about it are auto blog trolls who live in their mother's dank and dark basement, and are as white as newly bleached sheets. Oh, they would buy one if they had more then the price of a pizza. MOPAR's are not Germanic unless your referring to military tanks, and with those they have some shared similarities... except the Panzers.
  
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- FreedMike on Jul 21, 2014
  
  @3Deuce27 I'm actually with Bill here...I haven't heard the Hellcat, but I've heard the 392 in the current SRT...and it's WONDERFUL. Mellow and powerful at idle, and screams like King Richard's Superbird when you open it up. Real, real, real nice s**t.
  
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- Danio3834 on Jul 21, 2014
  
  @FreedMike Don't mind deuce, he's off his meds and back on the haterade again. The sound of the Hellcat at full throttle is incredibly viceral.
  
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- 3Deuce27 on Jul 21, 2014
  
  @danio3834 Danio, Danio,... 'Haterade'? With that comment you couldn't be so far from reality. I'm a car guy, all cars, don't hate any of them, and I don't look at any of them with a jaundiced eye, just a realistic overview. I like the Challenger. It is clearly the best looking of all the Ponies, but it is what it is, so is a Camaro and a Mustang or any car. I would have a lot of fun in the Hellcat for an afternoon, but that would be the extant of it. I again, temporarily own a much faster car, one that has 3.2 pds. per Hp, that is real excitement with a great exhaust sound from the LS376. At around 6_pds per Hp, the Hellcat has twice as many pds. per Hp then that, and weighs 2-1/2 times as much, but we are not talking apples & Oranges here, just reality. Besides, it is fun to poke at the Fans(fanatics) of anything, since regarding their chosen whatever, they are clearly unhinged. As far as exhaust note. I like your use of the term 'visceral', much closer to reality the 'Transcendant'. And visceral, describes any race type High compression engine, or one that sings at an extreme RPM. As far as 'meds'... col! Myself and one other friend are the only people I know at are advanced ages who aren't on any of big Pharma's poisons. But if your suggesting I need some, got it covered, mother nature provides naturally. Regards!
  
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Danio3834 on Jul 21, 2014

This is convenient as I pick a '15 Challenger to order this week.

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- Thelaine on Jul 21, 2014
  
  Congrats. Publish your impressions after you have abused it.
  
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- Johnny_5.0 on Jul 21, 2014
  
  I assume a Scat Pack is a safe assumption? 8HP or manual?
  
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Koshchei on Jul 21, 2014

This will be a good week :) Jack plus a porky (albeit very capable) platform plus excessively stupid amounts of power = NASTY automotive porn with literary allusions to Hunter S Thompson, Jack Kerouac, and Walt Whitman.

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Flipper35 on Jul 21, 2014

Yeah, all this is meaningless until we get some 'ring numbers. (/sarcasm)

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