As the era of electrification becomes apparent, Dodge is ready to say goodbye to its legendary Hemi V8 powered muscle cars. But right before they bow out Dodge has decided to pay homage by coming out with the most insane, extreme vehicle to roll-out from the Dodge factory, the Challenger SRT Demon 170. The Challenger was first introduced in 1970 and has received such worldwide adoration that many instantly associate the tag of ‘muscle car’ with it. Hence, this is why it is the perfect car to symbolise the end of what is referred by some as the ‘golden age of motoring’.
The car features an Air-Grabber hood that maximizes air-flow
The SRT Demon 170 is the quickest, most powerful car ever produced by the Dodge over the course of its 100-year history. The power figures of the car are sure to put its competitors to shame as it produces a total of 1,010 bhp at 6,500 rpm and 1281.2 Nm of torque at 4,200 rpm from the 6.2-liter high-output supercharged HEMI engine. If these specs didn’t already blow your mind, the engine is belted to a 3.0 litre supercharger which increases boost pressure to 40% over the Challenger Hellcat Redeye Widebody. Weight saving has been a significant objective while building this car. It gets two-piece lightweight carbon-fiber wheels that saves 157 pounds, along with a further reduction of 16 pounds via the removal of front flares.
Almost every component of the car's engine has been updated except the camshaft
The car is said to feature a 0 to 100 kmph time of just 1.66 seconds and supposedly does so with an accelerative force of 2.004 Gs, which is the highest ever, for any production car. To cope with the insane power output, Dodge has revised the pistons, rods, bearings, a new crankshaft, and billet main caps. It also gets upgraded injectors for better fuel flow. Dodge has also upgraded the driveline to make it capable of handling enormous amounts of power. An interesting component of the engine is the SRT Power Chiller which diverts the air conditioning into the supercharger to cool it. The car also features a Transbrake 2.0 system that will limit wheel slip by sending extra torque into the wheels when it is required. The car is available with 3 driving modes, Street, Custom and Drag.
SRT Demon 170 instrument cluster
On the inside, the Demon 170 features yellow stitching and special badging. The customers will have four interior trims to choose from, including a lightweight single-seat finished in cloth, a full-cloth interior, black Nappa leather with Alcantara, or Demonic red Laguna leather. The car will be available in 14 exterior color options which will include heritage exterior colors like B5 Blue, Plum Crazy purple and Sublime green. The car will be available at a price tag of $96,666. Dodge has confirmed that the car will be limited to just 3,300 units with 3,000 for the USA and 300 for Canada. Manufacturing of the car is all set to start in summer this year.
The car will be available at a price tag of $96,666
The fact that cars as iconic as the Challenger will come with an alternative powertrain is quite hard to accept for purists like you and me. But the fact that Dodge took the time to say goodbye with such vigour lets us know how proud they are of their creations. From watching Dominic Toretto pull off street races in it, to watching Jack Nicholson drive it around a racetrack, good old memories of Dodge’s muscle cars will still surface from time to time.
