{"id":40402,"date":"2020-07-14T12:31:03","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T16:31:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dodgegarage.com\/news-api\/?p=40402"},"modified":"2024-03-25T11:22:40","modified_gmt":"2024-03-25T15:22:40","slug":"highway-to-hell-cat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.api.dodgegarage.com\/news\/reviews\/2020\/07\/highway-to-hell-cat.html","title":{"rendered":"Highway to Hell…Cat!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

They say getting there is half the\nfun, but that also depends on your destination. If it\u2019s the annual Carlisle\nChrysler Nationals, you\u2019re on the right route for all things Dodge and Mopar\u00ae<\/sub>. The\nsprawling 82-acre fairground is in the heart of the rolling Pennsylvania countryside\nand has been a gathering point for Chrysler enthusiasts for decades. Tons of old-school Dodge and Plymouth high-performance machines, along with late-model\nChallengers and Chargers, take over the show and bring together generations of\nMopar fans while thousands of car lovers from across the country descend\non this show. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Carlisle Chrysler Nationals has been a big part of the hobby for over 30 years and I feel as if I\u2019ve attended every one of them. So when the opportunity came up to drive a 2020 Dodge Charger SRT<\/a>\u00ae<\/a><\/sup> Hellcat Widebody<\/a> from Detroit to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, I pounced on it. I knew this was going to be a memorable road trip with lasting impressions. The bulk of the 1,100-mile round-trip journey would take me piloting this award-winning, 707-horsepower sedan through the flatness of the Ohio Turnpike, then crossing the state line and jumping on the Pennsylvania Turnpike that climbs and twists through the Allegheny Mountains with some tunnels thrown in to make it interesting. The PA Turnpike is like a main circuit cable through the state that begins and ends in the city of brotherly love. The recent accolades bestowed on the Dodge brand from J.D. Power for becoming the first domestic brand ever to achieve a No. 1 ranking in the Initial Quality survey confirmed what I knew all along. This prestigious study has been around for 34 years and Dodge grabbed the top spot among 31 competitors. FCA’s performance brand found its groove and charged past seven places from last year\u2019s results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It\u2019s\nno secret why Dodge received this impressive award from J.D. Power. The Charger\nSRT Hellcat Widebody is no ordinary performance car, it continues to be the\nmost powerful\nand fastest mass-produced sedan in the world.\nIt\u2019s also a car with dual personalities that can\nbe well-mannered one moment, and a mean machine the next. It gobbled up the\nmiles on the turnpikes like Pacman on speed. I grinned like a teenager when I\nwhacked the accelerator with my right foot just to hear the sweet sound of\nthe blower whine. The interior was well-appointed with heated and cooled\nleather seats, leather-wrapped steering wheel and safety features like Lane Departure\nWarning with Lane Keep Assist, just in case someone is sneaking up in your\nblind spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Pitch Black exterior paint made it look just as\nmenacing, like its 1968 forefather who starred in the blockbuster movie Bullitt.\n<\/em>But unlike its famous ancestor that was powered by a 440 Magnum big-block\nV8 and smoked its skinny whitewall tires on the big screen, the 2020 Charger\nSRT Hellcat Widebody\u2019s 6.2L supercharged HEMI\u00ae<\/sup> engine will instantly shred its massive 305\/35ZR20 Pirelli P-Zero performance tires when you whack the throttle. It\u2019s\nthe HEMI\u2019s ground-pounding 650 lb.-ft. of torque that’s to\nblame for laying waste to perfectly good rubber. In the movie, the vintage\nCharger R\/T had wheel covers flying off along the streets of San Francisco\nduring the iconic chase scene, but today, the 2020 Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody is\nfitted with 20-inch-by-11-inch split-five spoke wheels. They looked great in\ntheir Low-gloss Carbon Black finish with contrasting red painted Brembo brake\ncalipers grabbing your attention. When it came to shifting gears, the standard\nTorqueFlite\u00ae<\/sup> eight-speed automatic transmission on the Charger SRT Hellcat\nWidebody had premonitions on exactly when to downshift and upshift. When\nscaling the grades that went over valleys, ravines and mountains along the scenic\nPennsylvania Turnpike, the engine speed and gearing was perfectly match.\nThe standard six-piston Brembo brakes hauled this kitty down in a hurry while\nthe competition suspension with Bilstein three-mode adaptive damping made it\nsure footed on all four paws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2020 Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody is a sledgehammer of\nspeed. It\u2019s a 4,400-pound howitzer shell that will lay waste to anything in its\npath while maintaining social distancing guidelines. Every part of my body was\nengaged, every fragment of my mind was activated. It was almost like a religious\nexperience when piloting this machine. The Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody has a\nbipolar personality. It can idle all day in 90-degree heat without breaking\na sweat while plodding along in stop-and-go traffic. But hit the SRT button on\nthe center stack and with your index finger press \u201cTRACK\u201d mode, look out.\nYou\u2019ve just unleashed a wild animal out of the cage. The car feels totally\ndifferent as the front and rear Bilstein shocks get electronically recalibrated\nwhile the transmission\u2019s shift schedule becomes very firm. So firm that under\nwide-open-throttle, it feels like you\u2019ve been punched in the gut each time it upshifts\ninto the next gear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When arriving at the Carlisle Chrysler Nationals, we\nparked the Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody in the Dodge display in the sponsor\nmidway among the other J.D. Power award-winning products from the Brotherhood\nof Muscle. The enthusiasts loved the look of the car and even had a chance to\nexperience firsthand the power and quality of the 2020 Challenger and Charger\nSRT Hellcats at the the Dodge Thrill Rides going on at Carlisle\u2019s Autocross Track. They\nfelt what I felt when driving the\nCharger SRT Hellcat Widebody – power, speed, safety and comfort. Yep, it\u2019s no\nsecret why Dodge earned the number one spot in the J.D. Power Initial Quality\nsurvey, and with what\u2019s coming down the line in 2021, we don\u2019t see anyone\nknocking Dodge off the podium anytime soon. In the meantime, here are more pics\nfrom our epic road trip to the Carlisle Chrysler Nationals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n