Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat WHEREIN GROSS EXCESS IS PERFECTLY ADEQUATE.

THE HELLCAT V-8 WASN’T ALWAYS GO-ing to make 707 hp. Until nine months into the 30 month project, that leading seven hadn’t been discussed.

The original target of 600 hp was scrapped when Ford revealed the 2013 Shel-by GT500’s 662-hp V-8.

SRT met the new 700-hp goal and surpassed it, in the process creating the most powerful American production car and therefore the most American car in history. (Can you keep a secret? The guy in charge of engine develop-ment is British, the engine is built in Mexico, and final assembly takes place in Canada. Don’t tell the guys at the drag strip.)

Dodge Challenger SRT

The 707-hp Hellcat is the eighth most pow-erful car on sale right now; spots one through four are occupied by Bugatti, Ferrari, McLaren, and Porsche supercars. In contrast to those Eu-ropeans, the Hellcat doesn’t do anything fancy to generate big power, which is partly why it of-fers a freakishly low sticker price. Based on the 6.4-liter  “Apache”  Hemi  used  in  Dodge’s  SRT 392 Challenger, the Hellcat is an iron-block, pushrod lump. No space-age coatings to keep the cylinders from melting, no direct injection or cylinder deactivation.

The focus instead was on bringing in enough fuel and air to light the fire and then dealing with the aftermath. Chrys-ler’s highest output fuel pump primes half-inch lines. A cutout in the left parking lamp rams oxygen into a massive twin-intercooled super charger. And strengthened transmissions standard six-speed manual and optional eight-speed automatic get external coolers to handle the pissed-off engine’s load.

None of that matters once you hit the big red start button. “Roar” and “growl” are not ad-equate descriptors. It probably didn’t take much doing, but the SRT guys are proud to have de-liberately engineered in supercharger whine somewhat surprising, since you barely hear it over the exhaust. Three selectable drive modes manage the usual stuff, like ride, steering weight, throttle response, stability intervention, and exhaust volume. So it can go from merely loud to barely legal. A fourth setting, Custom, is the most important, letting you combine the most noise with a semblance of ride quality and the safety net you’ll need to explore this mechanical band on the street.

Enormous, 275/40R-20 Pirelli P Zeros re-quired hemming of the rear wheel wells for clearance. At 9.5 inches, they’re a half-inch wider than the old car’s Goodyears. How far you’ve passed their limit is mea-sured by the maniacal smile on your face. Too much gas, the car will go sideways even if you have it pointed straight. It’s not a ques-tion of if, but how much, and the answer with the Hellcat is always “more than you need.” But this isn’t an untamable monster, just a car that demands a little respect.

Compared with last year’s Challenger, and to accommodate the 209 pounds added by the engine upgrade, the Hellcat gets wider front and rear tracks, bigger anti-roll bars, and retuned everything. That’s not a lot of change compared with the 222 extra ponies, but enough that the Hellcat outhandles the lighter car, without the boat-like tendencies of yore. It’s surpris-ingly neutral. The old car’s hydraulic steering remains, and the Hellcat benefits from bigger (15.4-inch) six-piston Brembo front brakes. With a top speed of 199 mph, it needs them.

As you might expect, this car is really good at traveling in a straight line. And that’s what you’re going to want to do with it. Not because it doesn’t turn and stop, but because that’s what a human does with something like this. The Hell-cat will do quarter-mile pass after pass without complaint; I contend that I could have done better than 12.1 seconds at 117 mph if I’d remembered to turn off the air-conditioning, but I was laugh-ing too hard to notice.

Dodge says the car’s good for an 11.2 at 125 mph on stock tires, or 10.8 at 126 on drag radials. The big weapon at the strip is the optional automatic, the largest ZF makes.

It and the engine’s 650 lb-ft act like a combo shrink ray and Star Trek  transporter to move this 4449-pounder through the quarter-mile.

When not rocketing forth, the Challenger still feels big, but not lost-in-a-bathtub big like before. There’s control to give you confidence, and less sloshing around. The interior, now soft plastic with soft curves, is no longer a depress-ing cave. Customers complained that the last Challenger felt too retro inside, but the new look borders on melted anonymity.

Sixty grand buys a car that isn’t all engine but might as well be. Because, hey, it’s mostly engine. And 707 is the number that matters; even if it was nearly as quick, we wouldn’t be as excited about a 600-hp car.

PRICE  $60,990
POWERTRAIN
6.2-liter V-8, 707 hp,
650 lb-ft; RWD,
6-speed manual
WEIGHT 4449 lb
0–60 MPH 3.8 sec (est)
TOP SPEED 199 mph
ON SALE Fall