2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon Review: Very first Drive News
2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon Review: Very first Drive
CARS.COM – I’d be lounging if I said I wasn’t intimidated by the chance to drive the 840-horsepower two thousand eighteen Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, a car claimed capable of a 9-second quarter-mile. My drag-racing practice includes joy runs in an 11-second private car and a few Hellcats, but nothing as radical as the Demon, which can go from zero-to-140 mph in 1,320 feet.
Dodge brought a collection of Demons – set on “kill” – to Lucas Oil Raceway haul unwrap in Indianapolis for us to drive. Each car ran 100-octane fuel to uncork the total eight hundred forty hp, and some had the entire package with pizza-cutter front tires and deleted seats.
I got the utter quarter-mile practice in the Demon, and what astonished me (that shouldn’t have) is that even with a stickier tire and big tweaks to improve traction, there’s nothing tame, nice or effortless about driving this 840-hp Challenger down a haul disrobe. There’s an intricate process to get the most from the Demon that isn’t as plain as flooring the accelerator off the line and gleefully popping wheelies – which it does.
Very first, it starts with a smoky burnout to fever the Nitto haul radial tires. They aren’t off-the-shelf Nitto NT05R haul radials but have been spec’d to the Demon, with unique compound and construction for enhanced traction plus a speed rating increase from one hundred forty nine mph to one hundred sixty eight mph to give a little extra breathing room after trapping one hundred forty mph at the top end of the track. Activated in the main touchscreen’s SRT menu pages, the Demon’s line-lock feature applies brake pressure to the front brakes only, permitting the rears to spin loosely, so romping on the accelerator revs through the very first few gears while smoke billows out of the rear fenders and shards of burnt tire rubber fling all over the side of the car.
With the goopy tires heated, it’s time to get to the line and activate the TransBrake, a launch assist feature that Dodge says is the fastest way to drive the Demon. It makes for hard, hard launches when everything is done right; following an afternoon of instruction from the Demon’s engineers, I hadn’t mastered the feature so much as used it well enough to not look like a idiot at the embarking line. Functionally, TransBrake locks the transmission’s output shaft to hold the car at the beginning line while letting engine speed rise from around 1,000 to Two,300 rpm, at the same time building up to eight pounds per square inch of supercharger boost in prep to launch the car at total blast – a feature called Torque Reserve.
While I don’t want to bore you with a “how-to” (each Demon comes with an proprietor’s manual for that, and there are also step-by-step instructions in the instrument cluster screen), I’ll share how involved the sequence is because it’s unlike anything I’ve experienced using various launch controls or race embark assists. The sequence starts with the Demon in Haul mode as you pull back both steering wheel paddles to begin the sequence and engage the TransBrake. While holding the pedals, you thrust the brake pedal with your left foot while at the same time raising engine speed above 1,500 rpm but below Two,350 rpm; by this point, the engine’s Torque Reserve has switched the harass’s tone into a funky slobbering sound while building boost. With the paddles pulled back and brake and accelerator applied, you can then release brake pressure slightly to creep into the staging slats – being careful not to let the revs drop too much or climb too high lest the feature disengage. Once staged, it’s time to release one spanking paddle to fully engage the TransBrake and then release the brake pedal while maintaining engine speed. You’re then holding back eight hundred forty hp with a single spanking paddle (and no foot on the brake pedal) while waiting for the green light to drop.
Releasing that spanking paddle feels like a punch to the chest when the launch is good. Best launch practice called for stabbing the accelerator with about thirty percent throttle right off the TransBrake to plant the rear tires without spinning, and then continuing to feed on power – otherwise, it was effortless to spin the tires. My best launches happened around 1,700 rpm.
With the nose pointed high and the car screaming down the track, there eventually comes a time to stop, and slowing the Demon is a unique practice, as well. With the skinny front tires and smaller brakes than a regular Hellcat, the Demon took a lot of brake pedal to slow the car in time for the very first turnaround on the track.
For such a brute, the Demon takes a fragile foot to drive. But it isn’t as unwieldy as I thought it would be for an 840-hp Challenger with skinny front tires. Dodge didn’t provide timeslips at this event, but the practice even without the times demonstrated us how extreme the Demon is and the lengths to which Dodge went to make this wild Challenger work at the haul unclothe.