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Dodge Challenger SRT Demon: Full details finally revealed

The endlessly teased Dodge Challenger SRT Demon has been fully revealed and detailed ahead of its debut at the 2017 New York motor show.


With its fat tyres, vast Air-Grabber bonnet scoop, wheel arch flares, and 89mm wider body, the new Challenger SRT Demon makes the Hellcat seem positively tame.

Under the bonnet, the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon packs a heavily revised of the Hellcat's supercharged 6.2-litre Hemi V8. In this iteration, the motor cranks out 626kW of power and 1044Nm of torque. This, Dodge says, makes the Demon the most powerful production V8 car ever.

Compared to the Hellcat's engine, the Demon uses a 2.7-litre supercharger rather than 2.4-litre one, has a higher rev limit of 6500rpm, has two dual-stage fuel pumps instead of one, has increased boost pressure (up from 11.6psi to 14.5psi), and is capable of running on both 91- and 100-octane fuel.

The Demon's engine also has a larger induction air box sucking in air from the Air-Grabber bonnet scoop, the Air-Catcher headlight on the driver's side, and an unnamed inlet near the wheel liner.

There's also the Power Chiller, which diverts air-conditioning refrigerant to a chiller unit for coolant heading to the supercharger's heat exchangers. The After-Run Chiller keeps the coolant pump and engine cooling fan running even after the car has been turned off, and can inform the driver of when the supercharger is back to its optimum temperature.

Drive is delivered to the rear wheels via an upgraded eight-speed automatic transmission. The new TransBrake system aims to aid the driver with standing starts by locking the transmission shaft, allowing the engine to hit 2350rpm without overwhelming the brakes.

The Demon rides on Bilstein Adaptive Damping shocks and 18-inch wheels with 315/40 Nitto NT05R street-legal drag racing tyres. The suspension setup include softer springs, and lighter, hollow sway bays.

Dodge has stripped over 90kg from the Hellcat to create the Demon. Items junked include the front passenger's seat, rear seats, audio system, boot trim, parking sensors, and electronic steering adjustment.

Buyers can opt to reinstate the front passenger's seat, rear seats, and boot carpets for a dollar each. Other options include a 900W 19-speaker Harmon Kardon sound system, sunroof, heated and ventilated leather front seats, and a satin black bonnet, roof and boot lid.

All of these upgrades are good enough to send the coupe from 0-60mph (0-97km/h) in 2.3 seconds, which Dodge claims makes it the world's fastest production by that metric.

The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) has certified the Demon's quarter mile (400m) time of 9.65 seconds, at which point the two-door is travelling at 225km/h. It's apparently so quick it has been deemed "too fast for the drag strip", and banned by NHRA.

Among its other accolades, the Demon is the first production car to lift its wheels at launch, and has been certified by Guinness World Records as the holder of the longest wheelie from a standing start by a production car at 89cm.

The publication also certified that the Demon generates the highest g-force (1.8g) during launch for a production vehicle.

Demon owners have three driving modes — Street, Drag and Custom — to select from, and these settings can alter the amount of power and torque available, transmission calibration, suspension tune, paddle shifter usage, stability control setup, and the availability of certain features, including the Power Chiller and TransBrake.

The Uconnect infotainment system can also be setup to display pages of performance and vehicle information, including power and torque graphs, instantaneous and peak g-force figures, various temperature and pressure gauges, current boost pressure, and 0-60mph, 0-100mph, quarter mile and vehicle timings.

The Demon will be produced only for the 2018 model year, with output limited to 3000 cars for the USA, and 300 for Canada. Deliveries of the Challenger SRT Demon begin in the third quarter of 2017.

All buyers will receive a full-day session at the Bob Bondurant School of High-performance Driving.


Podcast

Listen to the CarAdvice team discuss the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon below, and catch more like this at caradvice.com/podcast.

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