The Challenger SRT Super Stock: Muscular charm

The present-day Dodge Challenger has extended been acknowledged as the most genuine interpretation of a contemporary muscle mass motor vehicle. Ford’s Mustang ostensibly had the segment to by itself when Dodge introduced the retro-impressed equipment back again in 2008 (the Chevrolet Camaro experienced bowed out in 2002 and would not return until finally 2010), and by that time Ford was commencing to shift the Mustang’s concentrate away from its muscle mass vehicle roots toward that of a far more svelte, superior-revving athletics coupe.

Dodge selected to acquire a distinctive approach when reviving the Challenger nameplate, shortening and widening their existing LX whole-measurement sedan architecture to give the car or truck the ideal actual physical proportions as effectively as a noticeably greater footprint. The tactic contributed to the Challenger’s supplemental poundage as opposed to its rivals, which negatively afflicted its general performance opportunity, but it also endowed it with much more usable storage and inside space as effectively as better general presence—factors that helped the Challenger come to be the major seller in its phase for the first time in heritage final 12 months. 

It was not an right away feeling, however. Shortly soon after its debut the Challenger confronted rigid levels of competition from both Ford and Chevrolet as they dished out ever-much more-able iterations of the Mustang and Camaro. But about time, Dodge engineers refined the Challenger method, and by 2018, they experienced a legit environment-beater with the Challenger SRT Demon. 

Billed as a drag automobile for the avenue, the 840-horsepower Demon was the fastest creation car at any time designed, capable of hitting 60 miles for every hour in 2.3 seconds on the way to a National Hot Rod Affiliation-accredited quarter mile time of 9.65 seconds. And if you bought the launch just suitable, the Demon would even pop a wheelie. 

But creation of the Demon was minimal to just 3,300 automobiles for the United States and Canada for a solitary design 12 months, and it did not just take lengthy for Dodge to fill the order textbooks. Although the Demon’s engine and other powertrain parts lived on in marginally-detuned variety in the a lot more road-welcoming 797-hp Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye, numerous would-be Demon customers ended up nonetheless still left wanting a additional purposeful street-lawful drag vehicle to call their very own. 

But now, right after a little something of a grace period of time for Demon entrepreneurs (along with COVID-similar manufacturing delays), Dodge has unleashed the Challenger SRT Super Inventory. Not bound by creation restrictions, the Super Inventory in essence serves as a center floor among the Jack-of-all-trades Hellcat Redeye and the bonkers, confined-version Demon, and it will come packing an array of performance hardware that is aimed at having this Challenger down the drag strip a lot quicker than the car in the other lane. But Dodge also insists that the Super Stock is not a “Diet Demon.” We resolved to invest a week with the 807-horsepower brute to suss out just what the new offer involves. 

Meet up with the Tremendous Inventory

Using its moniker from a drag-racing course made for really modified manufacturing cars and trucks, the Tremendous Inventory bundle provides a variety of upgrades that go above and past the normal Challenger SRT Hellcat. It commences with the major fender flares that appear as element of the Widebody package, a treatment method that stretches the car’s overall width by a few and a half inches in purchase to accommodate the 315mm-wide Nitto NT05R drag radials that are outfitted at all 4 corners. 

Those people tires are wrapped all-around the very same 18×11-inch wheels that the Demon rolled all-around on, rather than the 20-inch wheels that are ordinarily common machines on Hellcat designs. Despite the fact that the scaled-down wheel diameter lets for more tire sidewall in the exact total of space, delivering a mechanical gain all through drag racing launches, the big 6-piston Brembo calipers and 15.7-inch rotors that comprise the Challenger SRT Hellcat’s conventional front brake technique wouldn’t in good shape at the rear of the lesser wheels. In buy to make it all perform, Dodge engineers experienced to swap the smaller Brembo program that was utilised on the Demon, which is made up of 14.2-inch discs and 4-piston calipers.

The Super Stock also rides on a set of uniquely tuned, electronically-managed Bilstein dampers that aid the suspension make superior use of the sticky drag tires, but it is not outfitted with the Demon’s other one of a kind suspension factors, like its drag-tuned springs and light weight sway bars. Though the Demon was civil out on the road, its suspension tuning prioritized fat transfer to rear wheels earlier mentioned all else for additional steady drag launches, and it resulted in considerably less physique handle in the course of other maneuvers like cornering and braking. 

The Tremendous Stock, in the meantime, receives a additional typical suspension tune that is closer in line with the regular Hellcat Redeye, and it gives the car a far more buttoned-down experience overall. 

But as with all significant-general performance Challengers, what lurks beneath the hood is the actual star of the show. Here it is a modified version of the Hellcat Redeye’s supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V8. The engine usually will make 797 horsepower and 707 pound-toes of torque, but the Tremendous Inventory gets a exclusive software program calibration that raises the redline from 6,300 rpm to 6,400 rpm and bumps the peak output to a healthier 807 horsepower. Also together for the ride is the SRT Power Chiller that debuted on the Demon, a system that diverts refrigerant from the air conditioning procedure to cool air-intake temperatures for improved on-monitor performance. All of that grunt is routed to the rear wheels through an 8-pace automatic transmission that features distinctive shift scheduling and all round habits centered on the travel method picked. 

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The Super Inventory also comes packing plenty of go-quick tech to enable place all of that energy to good use. Though it eschews the Demon’s finicky Trans Brake characteristic (which lets the motor to construct torque even though remaining stationary for a lot more forceful launches by locking the output shaft), it does arrive with a wide variety of other tricks that are aimed squarely at having the automobile to efficiently place the muscle to the pavement. Together with a normal start regulate method that holds the engine revs at a specified amount till you facet-step the brake pedal, the Tremendous Inventory also has Launch Support, a process that is intended to detect and reduce oscillations in the rear suspension as the automobile is accelerating. 

Also on hand is Torque Reserve, which permits the supercharged motor to make increase tension while the motor vehicle is stationary, and a Race Cooldown mode that’s developed to lower the results of supercharger heat soak by retaining the engine enthusiasts and very low-temperature circuit coolant pump running just after the motor has been shut down. Also aiding in the pursuit of rapid quarter mile situations is the drag-targeted Keep track of generate method which, amongst other changes, tweaks the shocks’ compression and rebound properties to present much better traction when launching the motor vehicle from a standstill.  

Force the huge crimson button

Our loaded tester vehicle ($97,711 with location price) was outfitted with several optional offers that deliver suede-like Alcantara and true carbon fiber into the interior, but the cabin is if not largely regular Challenger fare. The very good information is that the Tremendous Stock is just as at ease for extended stints behind the wheel as any SRT Challenger we’ve occur across considering the fact that 2015, and there is even now acres of head and leg home, even for taller passengers. And if this unique example have been optioned with a back seat, it would most likely be just as usable as the back seats in other Challenger types that we’ve analyzed, way too. (Like the Demon, the rear seat of the Tremendous Stock can be deleted for one particular dollar to shave off some bodyweight for much better general performance. If so optioned, a cargo net is put in in its place.)

While the Challenger’s infotainment appears to be a bit dated by modern day specifications, it has seen a selection of components and software package updates considering that the 8.4-inch Uconnect 4 program debuted in 2015. As a consequence it nonetheless delivers an intuitive menu format and fast reaction to person inputs, and the SRT Dashboard operates effectively as a centralized pathway into all of the car’s various performance parameters, push modes, and telemetry facts. But it is continue to a technology at the rear of the newest Uconnect units in vehicles like the Dodge Durango and Ram 1500, and it is a bummer that the Challenger however lacks present day capabilities like wireless Apple CarPlay. 

A whole lot of complications seem to be to vanish when you push the big crimson ignition button, while. A cold start out provides the supercharged Hemi V8 to everyday living with a quintessential muscle vehicle roar, but at the time almost everything arrives up to running temperature, the active exhaust technique settles down to rumble which is a little bit extra community-helpful. 

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If you can continue to keep your foot out of it, driving the Tremendous Inventory all around town in the default Car generate method can be a remarkably mellow expertise. The suspension isn’t rather as compliant as the Demon’s tremendous-tender spring charges had been, but the experience high-quality is arguably far better than a regular Hellcat Redeye thanks to the supplemental sidewall supplied by those major drag radials. Meanwhile the eight-pace automatic operates quietly in the track record to assure it’s in the most successful gear when the car is in its default push mode. 

Prod it with some throttle, while, and this muscle auto reveals its real mother nature. A deliberate stab of the loud pedal delivers sonic savagery from the V8 and its twin-screw blower, and despite the extremely-wide drag rubber, the Tremendous Inventory will mild up the tires at freeway speeds ahead of the electronics intervene to obtain everything back up. 

On a drag strip surface with the suitable procedure, the Super Stock is capable of hitting 60 mph from a standstill in 3.25 seconds on the way to a 10.5-2nd quarter mile time, and it will not let up until it hits its electronically-minimal best velocity of 168 mph. (A typical Challenger Hellcat Redeye will blow earlier 200 mph prior to it operates out of steam, but the layout of the drag radial tires restrictions terminal velocity to 168 mph.) 

Replicating people acceleration numbers is not a very simple point-and-shoot affair, even though. Even if start manage is established conservatively for the conditions, the drag radial will nevertheless go up in smoke if the road surface or other situational conditions are not really to the Tremendous Stock’s liking, so extracting its comprehensive potential tends to take a little bit of trial and error. But if you get it right, this significant coupe is capable of rivaling some of the quickest functionality automobiles on the industry these days. It’s also remarkably excellent in the corners many thanks to the abundance of grip on tap, but the downgraded brakes hold spirited operates through the canyons relatively quick. 

As with most modern-day Challengers, the Super Stock is genuinely in its factor when you’re out cruising or blasting down the highway. Even though the offer provides a more powerful focus on drag strip overall performance, the Tremendous Stock is nevertheless additional of an everyday incredibly hot rod than a objective-crafted drag strip terror. And even though the platform’s age has been exhibiting for some time now, it however provides muscular attraction by the bucketful.