Eric's Autos: Reviewing the 2015 Dodge Hellcat
But even so, few of them make 707 hp. Not even 8 liter V10s - as in the current Viper - make that kind of power. Nothing does. Well, nothing that's not a Nextel Cup stocker. Tony Stewart's car makes about 800 hp. And it does not have AC.
It does idle like a tin can filled with loose nuts and bolts being shaken up and down. And will overheat if there's not enough airflow over the radiator.
The Hellcat, in contrast, is remarkable as much for its vein-popping output as it is for its docility. The thing has a baritone rumble, but nothing even remotely indicative of what it's capable of. My '70s Trans-Am (with a 7.4 liter/455 cube V8) sounds much tougher, has a far more threatening idle.
But it would be the Hellcat's bitch if it ever came down to it. The old 455 makes maybe half the power the Hellcat's Hemi does - and it makes it on the ragged edge of street driveable. This is a metric of the changes the past 45 years have seen. Gas mileage being another.
The Hellcat is capable of 22 MPG on the highway. Astounding. This is nearly (within about 3-4 MPG) as economical as the Toyota Sienna minivan I drove (and reviewed) last week. And the Sienna cannot do 200 MPH. Or run an 11.8 second quarter-mile. Nor get to 60 in the high threes. The Hellcat can do all that.
A specially built version of the now-standard eight-speed automatic feeds the power to the rear wheels - which is truly sick, but in a good way. If you like to fry tires, you will love the Hellcat. Also, note the absence of an ugly plastic engine cover. This is an engine that's not bashful.
ON THE ROAD
The old muscle cars were a handful with 350 or so SAE "gross" (read exaggerated) hp trying to connect with the pavement via 15x7 wheels and maybe 60-series tires. They'd get sideways with minimal provocation - and that was on dry roads. Teenagers crunched them up (along with themselves) like so many aluminum beer cans.
Which is part of the reason why they went away. Too much mayhem, too obviously seen. (GM's PR people got in big trouble in the early '70s with an ad that seemed to endorse street racing.)
Insurance quickly became unaffordable - unless you were rich (or old). Then gas prices went up, emissions regs. came down - and muscle cars (the real ones) went away. Fast forward 40 years.
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