Hellcat vs Scat Pack: Would You Pay $112 Per Horsepower?
Just like the song says, you’ve “worked hard for the money,” and it’s time to reward yourself with the coolest and meanest looking retro muscle car in the business. But there’s a problem: there are ten different trims for the Dodge Challenger. Where do you even start?
I’ve recently had the pleasure to spend ample time behind the wheel of two of Dodge’s best selling Challenger models, but also two of their best selling cars, period: the 2016 Dodge Challenger Hellcat and the 2016 Dodge Challenger Scat Pack Shaker. And to make things even more interesting, they were both Billet Silver, and both featured identical looking red leather and Alcantara high-performance seats, red door panels, and the same exact interior equipment. In a nutshell, the only differences between these two were wheel design and color, trim badges, and of course, 222 horsepower. (Oh, and a sunroof…)
Before we get into the ungodly amount of money that it takes to bridge the gap between these two, I have to disclose my personal love affair for the Hellcat, which won’t get in the way of my findings, because my favorite Hellcat happens to be the Charger. So moving on…
The total price of my Scat Pack press car was $45,985 after a $995 destination fee, while the price of my Hellcat press car was $70,970 bucks, also including that same pesky fee. Now, I suck at math, but according to my calculator that’s a difference of $24,985 dollars. If you divide that by the 222 horsepower difference, you’ll arrive to the conclusion that buying a Hellcat over a Scat Pack will set you back a whopping $112.54 per horsepower.
Here are the performance stats side-by-side:
Challenger Scat Pack
- Engine: 6.4 liter V8 SRT HEMI
- Tranny: 8-Speed TorqueFlite Automatic
- Suspension: Bilstein non-adjustable
- Brakes: Brembo 4-Piston Calipers
- 0-60 mph: 4 seconds
- Top Speed: 185 mph
Challenger Hellcat
- Engine: 6.2 liter V8 Supercharged SRT HEMI
- Tranny: 8-Speed TorqueFlite Automatic
- Suspension: 3 Mode adjustable dampers
- Brakes: Brembo 6-Piston Calipers
- 0-60 mph: 3.5 seconds
- Top Speed: 202 mph
Yes, bigger displacement and more horsepower is indeed a blast. But at some point you have to wonder, where in the world can you fully exploit 707 horsepower and a 202 mph top speed? Or as I like to think of it, how many track/drag days, vacations, and other cool stuff can I buy with nearly $25k?
In the end, both models of the Challenger (and Charger) are incredible, and both will put a Titanic-sized smile on your face. It’s just that one will do it for a ton less money…