Standard 707hp Charger a bit too meek? Say hello to the Hellcat Widebody
It’s funny, really. There are manufacturers in Europe producing their most powerful saloons ever – Jaguar, Mercedes-AMG, BMW – and insisting on four-wheel drive for the sake of usability, traction and so on. Then in the US, Dodge is making the most powerful saloon in the whole world, and has done so since before all of the above cars were introduced, with just rear-wheel drive. More than 700hp, four seats, four doors, and rear-wheel drive – it’s easy to see why the Dodge Charger Hellcat has won so many fans.
Expect it to accrue a few more now, too, with the introduction of the Widebody Charger. Following the template set out by its Challenger sibling – a car we drove as a Widebody Scat Pack recently – this Hellcat adds 3.5-inches to the width of the standard car, allowing the fitment of 11-inch wide forged wheels and 305/35 ZR20 Pirelli tyres. The chassis has been revised to take full advantage, front spring rates up 32 per cent over the standard Hellcat (that this car now replaces), with larger anti-roll bars as well – 34mm up front and 22mm at the back, up from 32mm and 19mm respectively. Dodge has reworked the Bilstein adaptive dampers to function in conjunction with stiffer springs, and bigger Brembo brakes will make it stop better.
Slightly less encouraging is the introduction for the Widebody of selectable EPAS steering modes, “to better manage increased grip, improving handling performance” thereby “delivering better steering feel and ease of turning efforts at parking lot speeds.” There will be Street, Sport and Track settings as part of the wider SRT drive modes,too.
Despite an identical 707hp and 650lb ft, the Widebody Hellcat makes good use of its chassis changes: Dodge claims it’s 2.1 seconds faster than the old narrowbody car around a lap of just 2.1 miles. In addition, this new model for 2020 comes with Launch Control and Launch Assist to convert that 707hp into some forward motion, as well as Line Lock to get things warmed up beforehand and Race Cooldown for when your drag is done.
Furthermore, for those for whom 700hp is a bit much, the Widebody Package is also being offered for the 485hp Charger Scat Pack (but with the standard Scat still also available). On the same test track, the new car claims a 1.3-second lap time advantage. But you want the supercharged one, don’t you? Dealer orders will open this autumn, with first deliveries to US customers early in 2020. Finally, for those who are keen, don’t forget that one or two UK companies already import Chargers- don’t be surprised to see one or two Widebody SRTs in their stocklists this time next year…
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