- Big, wide, and thick.
Things that you may or may not want to be called
depending on where, when, and how it's being said, Sean.
But you can call me Theodore Tugboat up in this set
because we're about to talk about the platform out there
that feels like the equivalent
of having a rope tied around your waist
and not in a good way,
being thrown into water
only to find out that you're going tubing without a tube.
That is what it feels like to drive one of these cars.
And that is how the Dodge do.
I'm Alex, @alex.fi in Instagram.
And today we're gonna be talking about the car
that continues to be compared to the symphony
of the seas when it comes to the car scene.
Even though it can honestly spank just about everything else
on the road in a straight line without question
at any point with reliability and high horse-
A car that comes from a company that is likely one
of the last few domestic companies keeping true
to the roots in their vehicle production,
because they just don't give a sh-
A car that makes everyone without any hair get in
and immediately say, "Family, family."
I can't even, "Family."
Ladies and gentlemen,
today we're gonna be talking about you wanting
to own a Dodge Hellcat.
(car engine roaring)
And if this is your first time,
that's
okay.
Hi, I'm Alex.
Welcome to Fitment Industries.
We started this a couple of two or three years ago
to help people find what fits for wheels, tires,
and suspension for their vehicle.
Got through that sentence.
So we made a gallery where you can enter
in your year, make, and model and see what fits.
It's pretty honking big.
And if you haven't yet,
be sure to check us out over at fitmentindustries.com.
If you're looking
for aftermarket wheels, tires, and suspension.
Why talk about the Hellcat, Alex?
It's not a sub $10,000 car.
Well, okay. I get it.
I understand it's a little bit more expensive,
but it's still a pretty fun car.
And let me teach you why this car may
or may not be the right fit for you
if you
like
one fun smiles,
two fun,
and three fun smiles, okay.
The Challenger,
which is what the trim is actually based on,
was originally a value oriented trim back in 1969
for the full-sized Coronet.
It, well, did well enough,
that in 1970s it broke into its own name.
It had its ups and it had its downs.
And then it had its really far down,
particularly from 1978 to 1983,
because it was an import disgusting monster.
But for the most part Dodge always had the wants
to bring the Challenger to the market once again,
once it would allow it.
So in 2006, it would come back.
And it would come back wide, it'd come back muscly.
And it looked a little bit
like it probably wear a white tank top
on a Sunday morning for breakfast and also yell, "Family,"
whenever you were turning around.
In 2008, it would get in bed with Daimler,
which would give Dodge some cheat codes to new parts,
which was a really good merger for them
or acquisition or partnership, whatever you want to call it.
Mostly from Mercedes-Benz though is where a lot
of these parts would come from.
That would start their Challenger in 2008
with a whole little nice revamp.
And that's where the car really started to wake up.
Specifically in the rear multi-link suspension,
which came from the W211 E-Class,
and control arms from the W220 S-Class.
They're kind of just borrowing a couple things, alright?
The merger worked for Chrysler.
And it worked extremely well.
So much so that Dodge decided to double down
on the design of the most recent Challenger to enter
into the new age horsepower wars
that was coming into the mid 2010s.
It worked because in 2015 they introduced
the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.
Derived from the American Grunman, Grumman,
American Grumman, okay,
Hellcat fighter aircraft from World War II,
Dodge took the name to associate
with it's brash, aggressive, no negotiation style of car.
The engine of the F6F still had more horsepower though
than the demon or Hellcat,
'cause it had like 2000, power only had 707,
Which really doesn't make it
as impressive now, does it?
That's fast as an airplane.
Why'd you buy it?
So why did Dodge make a 707-horsepower,
supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI V8
with a name that aligns with this driving experience?
Because they could.
And this is really the most hilarious thing.
And it was pretty much the car that's shut out any car
in the muscle car category when it came
to just simple horsepower numbers.
Previously on the top
of the podium was the 662-horsepower Ford Mustang GT500,
which ended up still being short four
to five-horsepower compared
to this new big red somewhat heavy, wide, tall bean.
The brand new Hellcat would go 0 to 60 in 3.7 seconds
but what really touted it was the 11.7-quarter mile.
And it just couldn't keep traction to save its life
but to run an 11-second stocker,
which was nuts.
Which is why Dodge would give you two keys.
One for a peasant 500-horsepower,
which was lame apparently.
And then you'd get a red key,
give you the full 707-horsepower.
The car was also noticeably different from its other trims
with it missing a headlight for airflow,
wider wheel wells, and some arrow
that makes you think you could potentially take
out a small bird while going down the highway.
Just so everybody's aware,
please take off the bumper dart.
Please do that.
But they did build it because they could.
And that's actually a quote from Chris Cowland,
the director of SRT Powertrain Development.
And that is honestly,
that's just badass.
And that's everything with this car
from the power plant creation being done
in secret and hopes to sideline the industry, which it did,
to the fact that you could get this power
out of a very, relatively, reliable domestic V8
from a dealership was just nuts.
I mean, it was something that really came out
of the woodworks and a lot of people loved it
because new.
They were coming in around $60,000,
and they stayed around that.
And it buckled the decline
in the traditional passenger car sales
which were occurring over the past five years
by nearly doubling its own forecasted sales
for the platform.
So much so that Dodge has now introduced a plethora
of additional trim options,
more crazy horsepower
and an interior that doesn't feel
like my Jeep Cherokee Latitude edition.
Because honestly,
that's the one thing that they just didn't really get right.
It was the interior. It's a little rough.
But for $60,000, I'm not going to complain.
It doesn't matter if you're in a cloth seat
or if in you're a leather seat,
when you're going 180 miles an hour.
And that's why we're done talking
about the history of the crazy ass car, okay?
That's not what we're here for.
You want more of that?
Go watch Vin Diesel take his Hellcat off
like a 30-story building or something
or jump off to hair desert or punch somebody
or punch the ground and the whole thing bre-
I don't know family.
But the car is sick so here we go.
No, we are here to talk about you wanting to own one
of these bad boys.
So you want a Dodge Challenger Hellcat.
Alright, well set down any foreseeable compliments
from your friends about your car
and grab your favorite change of drawers,
because we're gonna talk
about what it's like to actually own one
of these king that cap feeling cars.
If you're looking to own a Dodge Hellcat,
there's a couple two, tree things
that you're gonna want to keep in mind prior to buying,
because these are just a little bit still,
a little bit more expensive.
Number one, Dodge built this car because they could
and if ego was built into a car,
this was the one Dodge did it with.
And they touted that the entire time.
What this means for you is that
if you're buying a used variant,
which you were likely going to,
you're likely going to be,
you're going to be picking up a little bit
of what we would call a damp towel, okay?
Because for the most part the car was 95% abused.
It just is.
There, it's a damn tire shredding.
It's a 700-horsepower, tire shredding wheel drive,
drag-prepped, fanatic car.
And don't believe anyone
that says they didn't do anything stupid with theirs
when you're looking for one.
There's no way they didn't, okay?
They did.
They're just hoping that you didn't notice.
It's your job when you go to pick up one of these cars
to notice those things.
Because a lot of times,
there's going to be a lot of wear and tear.
And because of the first thing I said,
lots of potential issues revolve
around the accelerated wear on both the car
and the wearable items that the car is attached to, okay?
Keep an eye on the following.
You're going to have
or you will see maybe some defective oil cooler launch,
shredded tires, transmission failures, or leaks,
drive system failures with axles, they do pop,
paint work touch-ups especially on the front end.
And because it's a Chrysler,
the good old classic electrical faults was windows,
gear, selector, and stereo,
specifically in the first couple of years.
They did kind of sorted that out by raising the price
and making it little bit higher quality.
But it's something to keep in mind.
The first year that Hellcat came out,
it was rated extremely well by J.D. Power.
And if you maintain the car, you should be relatively okay.
You just need to pick it up from somebody
that actually cared about it.
But a lot of these cars were owned
by 45 year olds going through midlife crisis
and treated this car like you treated your first car at 16
with lunch trays on the rear wheels in the wintertime,
because you wanted to drift
around the planet streets in Oakland, Wisconsin.
Don't tell me how I know that I just did it.
And then I hit a mailbox.
Also remember that the gas insurance tires are very limited.
Weather alignment will cause this car
to likely sit more than you think.
But if you're looking for an off metal show belt
or something that not many people have
in the scene right now,
you're going to wanna get a Hellcat
because they are a banging good deal.
As long as you don't mind not driving into the rain
because you really don't have the best traction.
You're going to just slide all over the place.
And because you're young,
you're going to have an ego and you're gonna crash.
Most people are going to end up going
with a wider wheel set up.
If you do end up going with wider aftermarket wheels,
usually a 20 by 9 1/2 and 20 by 11 is a really nice fitment.
The wider wheels do do a good job, ha do do,
at filling the wheel well
without losing too much function.
And the wider or taller wheels,
the diameter helps at a time.
After all, it's either 90% though, stock suspension,
or if you want to be a cool cat,
you slam it on air suspension.
Because the cars are typically shaped like a donut
with filling inside,
slamming the car on the crown,
gives it an incredible look that sleeks up the entire car.
These cars from factory are not low
in any way, shape and form.
And you'll actually notice
that they feature a little bit of a rate.
So the aftermarket suspension does help
tighten everything up.
It seems like the Hellcat is one of those cars
that does get a little bit of flat.
Mostly around its weight,
obvious focus on straight line performance,
I get it alright and simple designs.
I mean, there's not really a whole ton to look at.
But if you're looking for a car that fits
into the younger enthusiasts community,
like the WRXs, S200s, Type Rs,
this isn't going to be the car.
And it was never really built
for that scene to do that stuff.
It was built to give a middle finger to anyone
that question Dodge's commitment
to making a car that focused on fun, aggressive,
conventional drag racing,
that wasn't going to cost six figures
and really never wanted to to begin with.
It's a $60,000 car that was new
and it's not like $40,000 that checks boxes
that no other car in the same price point ever did.
And if you get over the somewhat simple interior
and the fact that it's still
just a little bit wonky and wide,
this is a car that you'd fall in love with
in absolutely no time.
It's a cheaper version of a Mercedes-AMG pre depreciation
with more power stock.
It's a Mustang with more presence.
It's a Corvette that doesn't take itself so seriously.
It's a car that will likely teach you
that JDM isn't the only type of car you can buy
for $40,000 use.
And that may not be a bad thing.
Because having a little variety
in the seat didn't hurt anybody.
If you've ever knocked the Hellcat,
find a friend on the forum and go for a ride.
Then while you're changing your pants after your first ride,
check out your local marketplace
where you can make a fine one for yourself.
Because there's not many times
I've found people not enjoy a smokey burn-out
for like ripping two or hundred miles an hour
in a 700-horsepower car.
You just can't not enjoy that.
I don't understand how you could enjoy,
like how do you not enjoy that?
But what do you think about the Dodge Challenger Hellcat?
Too much? Not enough?
Maybe a little bit in the middle?
Here's a little intake, exhaust, wheels, tires,
suspension, slammer on the ground,
some 20 by 9s, 20 by 11s? (screams)
It looked so good.
But if you're looking for aftermarket wheels, tires,
and suspensions,
be sure to hit us up over at fitmentindustries.com,
where we have everything you could possibly want
for your newly acquired Hellcat or otherwise.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries.
And we will see you later. Peace.
(rhythmic outro music)