Dodge (Page 37)

The order banks have opened for the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and this leads many to question how Chrysler will decide which dealerships get Hellcat models during the early rush – and today we examine the allocation rules that will likely help keep dealerships from adding a huge markup while helping buyers save money.

The information for the 2015 Ford Mustang, 2015 Dodge Challenger and 2015 Chevrolet Camaro is pretty much all available and while the world is focused on the higher performance models, I thought that this would be a good time to compare the most affordable versions of the three American muscle cars – in their entry level, V6 forms.

The configurator page for the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat officially went live last night so you can now price out your dream Hellcat, but far more importantly, the automaker is now taking dealer and consumer orders on the most powerful American production car ever.

In order to help boost lagging sales, the Chrysler Group has cut the 2015 Dodge Viper pricing by $15,000 across the entire model lineup while also re-issuing pricing for the 2014 model year SRT Vipers that are currently unsold and to help cushion the blow of this huge price cut, the company will also issue $15,000 new car vouchers to those 2014 Viper owners who paid the old price.

The 2015 Dodge Viper Time Attack 2.0 has gotten a handful of features that are reminiscent of the previous generation Viper ACR and a few more ponies – all of which should help make this street legal/track purposed supercar a bit faster around the world’s road courses in an effort to back up records set by the old ACR package.

Since the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat was introduced before Detroit’s Woodward Dream Cruise, the popular topic of discussion has shifted to the pricing of the world’s most powerful 4-door sedan so using what we know of 2014 Charger pricing, 2014 Challenger pricing and 2015 Challenger SRT Hellcat pricing – I offer you my estimates of what I expect to show up on the bottom line of the 707hp Charger’s monroney.

The embargo on 2015 Dodge Viper information has finally lifted, meaning that I can now talk about the return of the Viper to the Dodge brand, the two new colors, the new GT trimline and the improved aerodynamics of the Time Attack package – all of which combine to improve an already stunning American supercar lineup.

The Chrysler Group has offered up the first information and images of the 2015 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak, a purpose built race car that is based closely on the production road model right down to the Hellcat-like front end, but rather than the supercharged 6.2L Hemi, the 2015 Drag Pak test car is powered by a naturally aspired 426 cubic inch race Hemi.

The Dodge community has collectively mourned the loss of the Magnum sport wagon since it was killed off in 2008, but the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Shooting Brake rendering done by Hansen Art could be a 707 horsepower muscle wagon that we could all love…albeit only in our dreams.

We were so busy drooling over the fact that the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is the world’s most powerful sport sedan at the recent media debut that we forgot to mention one piece of very disappointing news – neither the Hellcat powered Challenger or Charger will be offered in Europe.

The performance world was surprised to hear that the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat would fall short of a 200 mile per hour top speed, but a video of the 707hp Mopar muscle car on the K&N dyno shows the beast hitting 202 miles per hour – leading many to question the seemingly official top speed of 199 miles per hour.

Shortly after the first 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat models were introduced to the media, a report surfaced suggesting that the 707hp Hellcat Challenger would see just 1,200 examples – a report which Dodge boss Tim Kuniskis insists is 100% inaccurate and unfounded, as the company plans on building as many Hellcat powered Chargers and Challengers as they can sell.

The 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat is the most powerful American production car of all time so it is clear that the price starting under $60,000 is a smokin’ deal – but this cool graphic from the folks at BBC Autos shows just how great of a deal buyers of the 707hp Challenger are getting.

The Dodge Viper has always been the top dog in terms of performance from the Chrysler Group until the introduction of the new Hellcat Charger and Challenger, but if some rumors floating around the Mopar world prove to be true – the next generation Viper could pack a supercharged V10 that will blow away anything that has ever been built by an American automaker.

Sales of the Dodge Viper SRT have gotten bad enough that the Chrysler Group has extended production downtime, leading many to question the future of the Mopar supercar but I have the solution – put the automatic transmission from the Challenger and Charger Hellcat in the Viper.

The folks from Motor Trend recently took the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat to the dyno at the K&N Engineering shop and they found that the official figures 707 horsepower and 650lb-ft of torque are underrated – possibly by a whole lot.

The Chrysler Group is looking to make an even bigger splash in the world of road racing with the introduction of the new 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Trans Am racecar that hit the track for the first time this past weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – with a top ten finish and a very real chance of taking home the season championship even though there are only 4 races left.

I recently had the extreme pleasure of spending time in the 2014 Dodge Challenger Shaker and while some will accused it of being little more than a gussied up Challenger R/T, I think that it is the coolest special edition appearance package on the market today and based on the number of compliments I got on it – so do many other people.

Those folks attending the Mopar display at the 2014 Woodward Dream Cruise will have a chance to not only see some of the hottest new Dodge products – they will also get to drive them and while doing so, they will be entered into a drawing to win $45,000 towards the purchase of a new Chrysler Group product.

A while back I wrote a piece speculating that the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat could actually be faster than the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and after getting a fair number of nasty emails and comments about that speculation – I am here to point out that, once again, I was right.

Today in a small restaurant along Detroit’s Woodward Avenue, the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat was introduced to a small group of media as the most powerful, the quickest and the fastest sedan in the world – not in the US – in the WORLD.

While I have been covering just about every aspect of the 2015 Dodge Challenger over the past few weeks, a few readers have written in, asking about the availability of the unique Shaker models and while they are most certainly on their way – they won’t be hitting showrooms until the spring of 2015.

While the NHRA has certified that the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat will run 11.2 with stock tires and an experienced racer, my observations at the media launch of the 707hp beast lead me to believe that anyone who is racing on a well prepped drag strip will be able to run in the 11 second range – even if they have very little racing experience.

The Chrysler Group rolled out information of the new 2015 Dodge Charger Pursuit and while this is all bad news for street racers, the next generation Hemi powered cop car might just be the coolest police car ever – with the power and the look of the Charger R/T applied to a hard working special service vehicle.

Dodge boss Tim Kuniskis announced last week that there will be a big performance reveal that we expect will be the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat at the 2014 Woodward Dream Cruise, but while the car might debut to the public on Saturday August 16th, it seems as though the media will get its first look a few days before the massive Detroit cruise day.

Since driving the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, I have been asked by countless people whether the 6-speed manual transmission or the new heavy duty 8-speed automatic transmission is the better choice so today I will answer the $60,000 question – although there is really no “right” answer to that question.

At the recent Dodge Challenger launch, SRT powertrain boss Chris Cowland was asked about the possibilities of seeing the new Hellcat Hemi under the hood of the Dodge Viper and while he was quick to point out that the blown Hemi won’t fit in this Viper – we have to wonder if there isn’t something spicy coming with the promised 2015 refresh of the Mopar supercar.

The Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is all but official at this point and when the 707 horsepower 4-door sedan arrives later this year, it will offer at least the same level of performance as the Hellcat Challenger and depending on how the Chrysler Group equips the supercharged Charger - there is chance that the Charger could offer up some better figures.

Since we learned that the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat would have 707 horsepower from a new supercharged Hemi, the critics have demanded to know the weight and not surprisingly, the Hellcat Challenger is pretty heavy with a curb weight of 4,439lbs – but that weight is hardly noticeable whether you are blasting down the quarter mile or rocketing around a road course.

Based on comments made by Dodge brand CEO Tim Kuniskis, it seems as though the 707 horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat could make its grand debut at the 2014 Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, with the official announcement coming on Tuesday and the public debut of the car coming on Saturday, August 16th.