Dodge Charger Hellcat is unbridled fun

In the Charger Hellcat, Dodge takes the 707 horsepower of a 6.2 L V8 Hemi and stuffs it into a family-ready four-door sedan. Why? Because they can.

I remember my indignance like it happened yesterday.

I asked my editor if I could test drive the Dodge Charger Hellcat. He replied: “Are you sure you can handle it?”

Surely, he’s not implying what I think he is, I thought. His gender equality views are normally so progressive …

“I’m serious,” his note continued. “I wouldn’t want to drive one.”

Phew. That saves a phone call to the HR department.

But it also demonstrates the lore that follows these Hellcat-badged beasts around: that they’re feral, untameable monstrosities that you need to be slightly imbalanced to want to drive.

Fortunately, I carry just enough crazy around to be useful. I gleefully informed my editor that the Charger Hellcat’s sibling — the Challenger Hellcat, which I had a brief fling with last summer — is one of my very favourite cars ever and that my muscle-car loving self was curious to see whether the four-door, family-ready sedan could offer a similarly magical experience with more practicality.

He agreed, and a few weeks later, I found myself approaching the Goliath that is the Charger, its fabled red key in my grasp.

I nestled myself into the red Alcantara-lined seat and hit the start button, then shuddered with delight as its 6.2 L V8 Hemi let loose its guttural, maniacal roar.

Then I shoved it into drive. Sadly, while the Challenger Hellcat can be equipped with a six-speed manual transmission, there’s no choice on the Charger but an eight-speed automatic.

And away I went to carry on with life’s menial tasks in a car massively overequipped for every one of them.

It started out fun. But after a couple of days, I felt my initial enthusiasm give way to a number of questions.

Chief among them: Was the Challenger as dreadfully tail-happy as this Charger is?

Granted, I drove the Challenger Hellcat for only a couple of hours, and the experiences were separated by months. But my memory of the Challenger is that I found it surprisingly planted, more so than I had expected.

The Charger, though? Man, that thing stepped sideways just pulling away from a stoplight on a sunny day with zero encouragement — stupid fun at times, but inconvenient at others. And if you get caught in the rain, prepare to feel like you’re driving on sheer ice.

I skimmed through the numbers, looking for any mathematical reason why this might be the case but came up empty. The Charger’s wheelbase is wider than the Challenger’s (3,058 millimetres to 2,951 mm), and its weight distribution is about the same (56/44 to Challenger’s 57/43). The tires on both are the same spec of Pirelli PZeros, and the ones that were on the Charger looked to be in good shape.

Who knows — maybe the manual transmission in the Challenger helped me feel a little more in control of putting the power down, or maybe my expectations for the Charger were higher since I enjoyed the Challenger so much.

Anyway, the insanity of these cars is the appeal, right? People buy them to prove their driving prowess to their friends, more than anything else.

And culturally speaking, with the Challenger, I completely understand that mentality. When you’re driving one of those around, people just expect you to peel away from intersections with panache.

With the Charger, though, presumably a prospective buyer has some anticipated need for the rear seats, such as to put kids in them. Do those people really need to drop the extra coin for the Hellcat version? For them, the 485 hp of the Charger Scat Pack would surely provide enough thrills.

Sure, you could just use the Hellcat’s black key, which limits engine output to a mere 500 horsepower. But it might save some money to consider exactly how often the wife is going to let you use the red key before making a decision.

Others might consider buying this car merely because Challenger Hellcats have become scarce. Having driven both, I found the Challenger comes with a machismo and mystique factor that the Charger doesn’t quite match.

And it needs to be said that having at least dabbled in advanced driver training would be wise before stomping on the throttle in one of these, for the sake of those around you, if not yourself.

In short, despite how desperate I was to drive the Charger Hellcat, by the time I was done with it, I found myself puzzling over why exactly it needs to exist. Apart from police departments, who on earth could possibly use the full capability of a 707 hp four-door sedan often enough to want to drop $70,000 and change on one?

Then again, it may not need to exist, but it does, because it can. The Charger’s combination of brazen brute force and stoic practicality may not be strictly necessary, but for some drivers, it could be magical. To the notion of restraint that’s rampant in today’s world, it’s a giant, cathartic middle finger.

And that, perhaps, is reason enough.

2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

PRICE: $69,695-$77,735; As tested $73,635

ADD-ONS: Federal Green Levy: $1,000; Destination: $1,695; A/C: $100

TYPE: Four-door performance sedan

PROPULSION: Front-engine, rear-wheel drive

CARGO: 456 L

ENGINE: 6.2-litre V8 HEMI, supercharged

TRANSMISSION: 8-speed automatic

POWER/TORQUE: 707 hp (527 kW) at 6,000 r.p.m.; 881 Nm of torque at 4,800 r.p.m.

FUEL CONSUMPTION: 18.0 L/100 km city, 10.7 hwy.; 11.2 as tested (premium fuel)

BRAKES: Front: two-piece aluminum hat vented and slotted rotors with Brembo six-piston fixed monoblock aluminum calipers; Rear: vented and slotted rotors with Brembo four-piston fixed calipers with aluminum housing

TIRES: P275/40ZR20

STANDARD FEATURES: Rear backup camera with park assist and cross-path detection; blind spot detection; heated front and second-row seats; UConnect system with 8.4-inch screen, AM/FM/Sirius XM radio and Bluetooth; dual-zone climate control

ACCESSIBILITY: Typical for a family sedan; both front-row seats are power adjustable.

COMPETITION: The Cadillac CTS-V’s 640 HP is the only thing that even comes close without wading into prestige marque territory.

WHAT’S BEST: Its pure, unbridled insanity.

WHAT’S WORST: Its pure, unbridled insanity.

MOST INTERESTING: Boasts an NHRA-certified quarter-mile time of 11.0 seconds on street tires.

WEBSITE: www.dodge.ca

LOOKS: Styling is highly subjective. That said, I understand why the current generation of Charger is styled the way it is, but it’s still never really worked for me. To each his own.

INTERIOR: Looks great, especially done up with the red seatbelts to match the Alcantara seat and door inserts. Well laid out ergonomically.

PERFORMANCE: Did I mention the pure, unbridled insanity?

TECHNOLOGY: There’s a lot of it, as one would expect on a car like this: all-speed traction control, three-mode electronic stability control, anti-spin rear differential, adaptive damping, and hydraulic assist brake booster are among the highlights. Can be tweaked somewhat through custom settings in SRT drive modes.

RATING: If you’re the kind of driver who needs the amenities of a sedan but wants your car to be a handful at all times, this is the one for you. But do be sure you’re that kind of driver before you plunk down the coin for it.

SCORE: 7.5/10.