One thousand and twenty-five horsepower on E85 from the manufacturing unit. Zero to 60 in 1.66 seconds, and greater than 2 g at launch. 1 / 4-mile time of 8.91 seconds at 151.17 mph. Skinny tires up entrance and steamrollers within the again. An unlimited 3.0-liter supercharger, the biggest ever fitted to a manufacturing automotive. A $96,666 base value. These are simply among the numbers that make up the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 – the ultimate Challenger after 15 years in the marketplace. There actually isn’t any higher option to say farewell to Dodge’s infamous coupe.
Try a full gallery of Demon 170 photographs proper right here!
The Challenger Demon 170’s quarter-mile time is so quick, the automotive is banned by the NHRA as a result of it doesn’t have a parachute or a roll cage, gadgets required for any automotive that runs the quarter-mile in lower than 9 seconds. Don’t fear, although. Dodge will promote you a chute for the Demon 170 by way of its Direct Connection in-house efficiency elements catalog.
To be honest, that quarter-mile time goes to be robust to attain. As with the 2018 Demon, you’re going to wish a prepped drag strip floor and loads of ability to get essentially the most out of the Demon 170. However if you happen to nail it, you’ll have the ability to get each entrance wheels within the air.
How the Challenger Demon 170 Got here to Be
The Demon 170 traces its origins again to a parking zone outdoors of SRT’s headquarters in Detroit, Michigan. Workers held a socially-distanced gathering there through the top of the COVID-19 pandemic to determine what to do concerning the Challenger. The 2018 Demon was constructed with the intention of being the ultimate, final Challenger, based mostly on the platform that had been in steady manufacturing since 2008. However the Challenger stored promoting, and Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis says the mix of the pandemic and FCA’s merger with PSA to type Stellantis gave the Challenger a number of extra years to stay. The automaker even put aside a special-project finances to ship the massive coupe out with a bang.
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The automotive that resulted from this parking-lot brainstorm follows in Stellantis’s lengthy line of what Kuniskis known as “batshit loopy” Challengers at a media preview unveiling the Demon 170. SRT has a bit of little bit of a “let’s do our personal factor” mantra, as Kuniskis places it. That’s how Dodge ended up promoting greater than 80,000 Hellcats.
Chances are you’ll keep in mind the marginally odd “Final Name” teasers Dodge printed on YouTube in February that includes a leprechaun. We lastly know what the leprechaun is all about. The Challenger Demon 170 is called for the E85 gasoline that makes its 1,025 horsepower attainable — ethanol, 170-proof. At a media preview, Kuniskis described the Challenger Demon 170 as being rather a lot like a leprechaun for 3 vital causes: “It’s quick, it drinks on a regular basis, and if you happen to catch it, you get its pot of gold.” Kuniskis additionally mentioned the leprechaun idea got here to him in a dream. That rocks.
The Challenger Demon 170 Engine and Drivetrain
It takes rather a lot to make a car as heavy because the Challenger Demon 170 get from 0-60 in simply 1.66 seconds, as Dodge claims. (That quantity is achieved with a one-foot rollout, however Dodge says with out rollout the 0-60 time remains to be below 2 seconds.) To make all that occur, Dodge created a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 engine that may pump out 1,025 horsepower at 6,500 rpm and 945 lb-ft of torque at 4,200 rpm when operating on E85 — or 900 horsepower and 810 lb-ft of torque on E10 pump gasoline — and beefed up the remainder of the drivetrain to take care of it. Dodge says the one engine part shared with lesser supercharged fashions is the camshaft.
Up high, an infinite 3.0-liter supercharger (greater than the Demon’s 2.8-liter blower) pushes 40 % extra enhance than the one within the 797-hp Hellcat Redeye — 21.3 psi at most. The engine has new pistons, rods, and cylinder head studs. Dodge says the Demon 170’s most cylinder stress is 2,500 psi – 50 % larger than a Redeye.
Whereas the Demon 170 prefers to run on E85, the automotive can run on any mixture of ethanol. Dodge says the Demon 170 consistently displays its gasoline, analyzing the ethanol content material and tailoring the gasoline supply and spark timing to take most benefit of no matter ethanol is current. At any focus above 65 % ethanol, the ECU will provide you with the complete 1,025 hp.
It received’t come as a shock to study that the gasoline mileage goes to be brutal. We don’t have precise figures but, however Kuniskis known as it “horrible,” explaining that the injectors within the Demon 170 can movement 164 gallons per hour at wide-open throttle. However you’ll by no means have the ability to try this, as a result of at WOT the Demon 170 empties its whole 18.5-gallon gasoline tank in simply 5 minutes.
The remainder of the driveline is equally bulked-up. Kuniskis says the brand new driveshaft is 30 % stronger than the 2018 Demon’s, and the differential is a whopping 50 % stronger. Not the whole lot is all new, although. Dodge says the entrance suspension of the automotive is carried over from the common Demon. The Demon 170 is about 25 kilos heavier than its 2018 sibling, although the 170 is 157 kilos lighter than a Challenger Hellcat Redeye Widebody — however provided that you go for essentially the most hardcore setup, with no passenger seats, no trunk lining, and a downgraded audio system.
The Demon 170 additionally will get a revised model of the trans brake – known as TransBrake 2.0 – from the 2018 Demon for hard-hitting drag strip launches. If you recognize what you’re doing, you’ll be able to change the torque output in every gear, individually, to maximise your grip as your roar down the quarter-mile. Should you try this proper, you’ll have the ability to push the gasoline pedal right down to the ground and rocket off with out shedding traction or adjusting throttle.
There’s just one key for the Demon 170: The crimson one. No dialed-back black key on this man. You’re getting all the ability on a regular basis.
The Wheels and Tires
Regardless that the Demon 170 is a pair dozen kilos heavier than the common Demon, Kuniskis says the burden acquire can be even larger if it wasn’t for a number of kilos saved within the wheels and tires. Non-obligatory carbon-fiber wheels made by Lacks Enterprises shave a number of kilos of unsprung weight.
Whichever wheels you select, they’ll come wrapped in DOT-approved Mickey Thompson ET Avenue R drag radials — provided right here on a manufacturing unit manufacturing automotive for the primary time ever, with a rubber compound customized tailor-made to the Demon 170.
These tires imply enterprise. They’re good for laying down lap instances, however not a lot else. Up entrance, you’ll discover skinny 245/55R-18s on 18-by-8-inch wheels, and on the again you’ve acquired monstrous 315/50R-17s on 17-by-11-inch wheels. In contrast to the final Demon, with this new tire setup, there’s no want to vary the entrance wheels out for skinnies to put down a greater drag time.
The rear wheels are an inch smaller in diameter to extend sidewall top to assist with the “wrinkle impact,” Dodge mentioned, the place the rear tires deform on a tough launch and put extra rubber in touch with the monitor.
The Demon 170 on the Exterior
Some weight financial savings additionally come from the Demon 170’s altered bodywork. The very first thing you discover about this automotive is that the Widebody fender flares are solely on the again.
The rear flares, coupled with the extraordinarily staggered wheel-and-tire setup, offers the automotive an actual dragster look. The large Air-Grabber hood scoop comes straight from the 2018 Demon.
Alongside the hood is an etching that reads “Alcohol Injected.” Dodge says the Demon 170 is accessible in 14 totally different coloration choices. The Demon badge on the entrance fenders has been reworked, now that includes a “170″ neck tattoo (that is the time period Dodge used to explain it) and yellow eyes that pay homage to the automotive’s thirst for corn-derived ethanol.
Getting Your Palms on a Challenger Demon 170
Challenger SRT Demon 170 pricing begins at a devilish $96,666, an insane cut price for a automotive with Bugatti horsepower. Dodge hasn’t launched possibility pricing simply but on the Challenger 170, however I can promise you that even when you choose each single possibility, this would be the most cost-effective 1,000-hp automotive you should buy.
Proper now, Dodge plans to construct 3,000 Demon 170s for the U.S. and an additional 300 for Canada. That will put Demon 170 manufacturing proper in step with the unique Demon — however Kuniskis says that’s extra of a hope than a purpose. Manufacturing is slated to start in July, and ends for good on December 31, 2023, so nonetheless many have been constructed by then, that’s it.
Fortunate Demon 170 consumers is not going to get a Demon Crate like Dodge provided in 2018. There’s no want, since the entire vital efficiency elements are already put in. As an alternative, they’ll get some alcohol-themed trinkets like a Demon 170 decanter with matching tumblers and shot glasses with the proprietor’s identify and the automotive’s VIN etched into them.
Lastly, identical to the unique Demon, anybody who buys a Demon 170 should signal and notarize a letter stating that they perceive how wild this automotive is — if you happen to crash and die as a result of it rained a bit of bit, it isn’t Dodge’s fault.
The subsequent muscle automotive from Dodge is going to be an EV. It seems very promising, nevertheless it’s going to have a tough activity following up what this Challenger has carried out for the Dodge model over the previous decade and a half. It’s the tip of the street for this era of Challenger, and as at all times, Dodge refuses to let it go quietly into the evening.
Ordering books for the 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 open on March twenty seventh at DodgeGarage.com, and shut on Might fifteenth. Dodge says it should give first precedence to sellers who decide to promoting the Demon 170 at MSRP.