GT350 vs Hellcat: different class or competitors?

[Snakedriver]

How is that even a logical statement?... Doesn't even make sense.

The Hellcat is a one-circus pony show. How many times have you seen the Hellcat compared to Porsches, Z06s, Ferraris, M2/3/4s? This whole comparison makes no sense.

It doesn't destroy the 350... It merely does one thing "faster" - a straight line. It does nothing better than a Focus ST otherwise. It didn't even get the PCOTY in 2014 or 2015... Wasn't even a candidate in 2015. No one accolades the Hellcat as a gamechanger, just a straight line brute, which is what it is and will always be till it goes to Jenny Craig and finds a better chassis.

And by the way, it has to do all of this being forced. Smh...

Have you driven the Hellcat?? I own one and I've spent enough time in the GT350 to tell what the cars are capable of. I stand by what I said.

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[Hack]

Not quite sure where you got your info but the testing done for the press at the Chrysler proving grounds had the Hellcat Challenger doing 0-60 in 2.95 seconds and the Hellcat Charger slightly faster at 2.90, this was on street tires.

The fast 1/4 mile guys are knocking on the 9's with drag radials and running mid 10's on street tires.

Granted the Challenger is a large car and is not the best choice if your purpose is road course work but it certainly is not a pig.

Dave

The regular Challengers are certainly better at corners than the Hellcat is.

Here's a sample video. [ame]

Not sure what "street tires" you are talking about. Drag radials are street tires. The test above is using factory tires. I'm sure if you start replacing equipment you can get the car to be faster. If I would have been building a vehicle with that much power I would put the widest tires possible on it and I would have tried to get something with a good sidewall that might flex a little bit to help the car hook. Not sure why Dodge chose to put such small tires on it. Kind of makes the car into a bit of a cartoon - just good at making smoke.

 

[MikeD1]

I have a GT350 because the Hellcat deal fell through. Can't say I like the GT350 better because I never drove a Hellcat. I will say the GT350 is a great driving car but my last car was a 600+whp Supra. I still miss that rush from power and that still makes me curious. My local dealer just got a plum crazy Hellcat and if it wasn't for the $5k ADM, I'd somewhat consider ditching my GT350 for it.

I fiddled around for almost 8 months trying to get one (even looking out of state) and the ADM/dealer games were nuts. Some FL dealers wanted $20 - $30K ADM's & the cars sat for 6+ months on the lots. Finally decided it just shouldn't be that hard to buy a car & decided to order a GT, slap on a s/c and be just as fast for far fewer $$.

 

[Todd15Fastback]

 

[icormba]

That's me in the silver Challenger SRT and my wife in the Red Charger SRT. Very fun day at Laguna Seca.

I'm a bit of a Mopar fan. I had a '12 SRT 392. It was fun for a while but I noticed a few things that weren't all that great. It's a huge coupe built on a sedan chassis, the same chassis as the Charger and the 300. The sheet metal was incredibly thin where there were dents in the roof from manufacturing, fenders and doors were very thin etc. Skinny tires for such a big car too. I really liked the interior however. Comfortable enough for a coast to coast trip no doubt. I still like them but they are very big cars.

Having said that I went to an SRT track event that's included with the purchase of SRT vehicles. At the end of the day the pros take attendees around for a hot lap in the SRT car of your choice (no Vipers) and I took mine in a Challenger. They are very capable cars and the pro who took me around no doubt had a higher lap time than many here could get out of a GT350.


Always wanted Dodge to make a Mustang sized 'Cuda. They missed the boat to compete with the S550....

 

[Rags]

Nothing but respect for the hellcat beast. Friend has one and it is a blast! We'll have fun hanging once my car shows up. Rolled off the line last week. Wait game is about over.

Just two different animals.

 

[MastrHU]

I fiddled around for almost 8 months trying to get one (even looking out of state) and the ADM/dealer games were nuts. Some FL dealers wanted $20 - $30K ADM's & the cars sat for 6+ months on the lots. Finally decided it just shouldn't be that hard to buy a car & decided to order a GT, slap on a s/c and be just as fast for far fewer $$.

I did look at the Roush and M4, but decided to get the GT350. I am concerned about the warranty part of things, so slapping a SC on a new car would wasn't an option. I didn't have ADM problems, so a big selling point was the price of the GT350. If I own the GT350 for another two years, I will add a SC.

 

[needspeed]

No offence to anybody but just love the folks who speak without actually owning either one the other or both. I understand that not all folks are able to do this but I am grateful and blessed enough to own both an HC and a gt350 so maybe I might have some experience here.

The cars are completely different yet each one is remarkable for what it is and neither exists at the expense of the other.

If you truly love cars then each is worthy of love and desire. The numbers mean nothing it is how you feel behind the wheel. Again both cars are fun as hell so stop talking poop unless you can speak from experience. And even then this is my opinion which ain't worth much.....Steve

 

[DrumReaper]

Hmmm... So I need to drive a HC or own one to be able to speak from common sense?... Illogical.

Would owning a HC give me better street cred?... Yeah, no doubt. I've never flown the space shuttle but I have heard it can attain near-earth orbit. Smh...

If we all had to "own" a car to make our minds up about what was a more accomplished auto then we'd have a helluva garage. I'd test drive a HC, but.......

As I said already, the HC does a helluva job at being a straight line brute... And from what I've heard from owners, the cars are great cruisers. I'd personally rather have a HC in the Cherokee (soon available), but as far as Challengers go, the Scat Pak IMHO is the best of both worlds in that platform.

Again, all HC guys can do is point to a straight line to say they can best a 350... And that don't make a hill of turd.

Besides, a HC Challenger just sold at BArrett Jackson for $62K, IIRC, while a GT350 went for $115K at Mecum... I think the public just shouted.

 

[Blk2015GT]

Go read a REPUTABLE car magazine review, not the same shady outlets regurgitating the 2.9 number likely all from the same bad source.

STOCK Hellcat C&D got 3.6 auto 3.9 manual 0-60; 11.7/11.9 auto/manual quarter. Motortrend 3.7 0-60; 11.7 quarter.

The tires are simply too skinny/small to handle 700hp. Now yes, you can swap tires but then you have to have the competitor car on equal tires. Not our fault Ford equipped the GT350 with proper width/compound tires and Dodge did not.

Also about that 2.9 time

I had a chance to speak with a representative of the Chrysler Group who had some unfortunate news on the video shown below. First off, the Performance Pages graphic shown on above does not correlate to the video showing the Hellcat Charger launching. The intent was to show the Charger launching during their intensive performance testing and the Performance Pages screen was added alongside the video to show what a resulting screen from a quarter mile pass might look like. They wanted to show the Performance Pages screen with some impressive numbers for those who haven’t dealt with the SRT Apps.

Also, the Charger shown launching was fitted with full race slicks and not drag radials – but that doesn’t change the fact that the Performance Pages screen showing a 2.9 second 0-60 and the 10.7 quarter mile does not pertain to this Charger drag strip pass.

Was a FARCE aka not true and based on the Nav screen tools photo, not a strip time, and the whatever the car really ran was on slicks. Too much bad info to give that time any credit. One bad news story regurgitated by many small outlets.


The GT350 was never ever meant or built to compete with a supercharged Hellcat straight line. That's a given. And a Hellcat isn't the best track worthy Dodge either simply because it has "moar horses" That's a rudimentary understanding of racing.

 

[Caballus]

Hmmm...seems like "it depends." The big dependent variable appears to be driving conditions.

The original post shows his Hellcat doing 192mph on open highway, not on a 1/4 or 1/2 mile drag strip--picture = 1k words. Granted, there are no track-like hairpin curves on the Autobahn, but that particular stretch is almost totally unrestricted for the next 80 miles before it dumps you into Switzerland, where the national speed limit is only 73mph (120kph) and there's a speed camera at every blink. So, if my GT350 (when it arrives) and his Hellcat make a run to Switzerland, who is likely to win, assuming either of us can do it on a single tank? The answer is I would, because I would insist on the Black Forrest route vice the Autobahn!:first:

The original post also mentioned that the same Hellcat held its own on the Nürburgring, registering 1.2g on the skidpad...more than once and better than what's officially advertised (stock tires). Also, there's an officially recorded Hellcat NB ring time of 7:51 (not his). The GT350 wins there by a country mile with 7:32. That seems like a huge difference, but when we look at the list of times below the Hellcat (link 2) we see it's difficult to judge without being able to account for individual driver skill. The fourth and especially the fifth link reinforce that further. It's important to remember that the Nürburgring is not a 2-3 mile track; it's 13 miles of "green hell". Again, the Hellcat is not a GT350 in this category, but it holds its own on the track, alongside the "M5 Taxis."

As Sabine shows, size doesn't matter; the driver matters. Seems to me like two fun cars...

Hellcat ring: https://thenewswheel.com/dodge-challenger-srt-hellcat-rumored-to-post-751-nurburgring-track-time/

Hellcat ring 2: https://thenewswheel.com/dodge-challenger-srt-hellcat-rumored-to-post-751-nurburgring-track-time/

GT350 ring: http://********************/report-2016-shelby-gt350r-clocks-732-19-nurburgring-lap/

GT350 ring 2: http://blog.americanmuscle.com/2016-mustang-gt350r-crashes-at-nurburgring/

Sabine: [ame]

 

[needspeed]

As my post was not directed at anyone personally, I find it interesting you feel compelled to defend your comments.

Peace to you and joy to all as in the end they are just cars, but I have found that direct experience trumps speculation.

Maybe I am not so wise after owning over 70 performance cars from almost every mark.......Steve

 

[DrumReaper]

Lol...

Smh, you argue what the preceding post proved. The HC is fast in a straight line, slower with turns. No one claimed either car not to be a hoot... They both are, and I speculate that as speed is fun unless it is ill-aimed.

You hack me for defending my true statements yet you speak your own mind making no points. Who cares that you owned 70 "performance" cars? I'm sure Justin Bieber has owned higher performance cars than either you or I (again speculation)... Does that make him a more reliable, more legit person to rely on for info about HiPo cars? No...

 

[dgc333]

Sorry But you are wrong..NO way in any mag has the Hell cat done 0-60 in 2.9 sec. A buddy of mine as one and he could never get under 5 sec ..tires just spin. My M5 Sport stays neck and neck with him...

The Hell cat is fun no doubt, but totally a different car than the GT350

Here you go.

http://jalopnik.com/dodge-charger-hellcat-also-stupid-fast-does-0-60-in-2-1641256969

Dave

 

[Caballus]

Yeah, go HellCobra...CobraCat...Catstang...?

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