2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye

MSRP: $71,350

Engine: 6.2 Liter V8

Horsepower: 797 (!)

Torque: 650 ft/lbs

0-60: 3.4 seconds

Text: Yousef Alvi // Photography: Geoff Dennis

The sheer audacity of Dodge to make a car like this is hilarious to me.  Someone at Dodge looked at the Hellcat and said ‘that needs more power’. A Hellcat!  A car with already 707 horsepower! This model comes with a tire melting 797 horsepower and I have to let that sink in for a moment.  7.9.7. horsepower. We live in an an era where any person can go buy a car that has more horsepower than most used car lots….combined.  I have 4 words for that. God bless you Dodge.

The entire history of Dodge has been remarkable to me.  As automotive fads ebb and flow, they have always been the stick in the mud.  As our current vehicle climate embraces electric/hybrid technology...Dodge went slightly insane and have been dropping Hellcat motors into everything.  From the Challenger, Charger, Grand Cherokee and now the upcoming Ram. It’s an automaker that looks at the current automotive landscape and goes ‘needs more power’.

We need more manufacturers like this in the world.  Instead of bending to the will of focus groups and the internet.  They are bending to the will of the enthusiasts and it truly seems like enthusiasts are running the company.  Who else would drop Hellcat motors into every product line but us??

Now onto the actual car itself.  It’s nothing short of hilarious, death is on the way, fun!  I had the Redeye when Atlanta was blessed with 30 degree rainy weather.  Not the most optimal conditions for this car to be honest…and every time I got near the throttle the rear end would come out to say ‘hello’.  Once the cold rain finally subsided I got some real seat time in the car and my God it’s fantastic. Get some heat in those tires and the way the Redeye will lurch itself into the next county is hilarity on wheels.  The sounds, the way the chassis moves and that motor. It feels like the Redeye is alive. The Redeye genuinely feels like you have bought yourself a fire breathing dragon. One that can fly calmly and surprisingly comfortably when you want it….but poke it with a stick, you better hold on because it will turn around and eat you alive.  

So how do I sum up the Dodge Challenger Redeye?  A car made by an American company, which is owned by the Italians, on an old German platform and assembled in Canada with 797 street legal horsepower. Globalism works people!