Jay Leno gets his denim mitts on Dodge's new Challenger Hellcat

Mon, 04 Aug 2014

The 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat is definitely the performance car of the moment. The fact that in the near future normal people could buy a 707-horsepower muscle machine straight from the factory for the relatively reasonable price of $59,995 just seems absurd. We drove it and found the Hellcat to be just as much of a beast as its numbers would suggest. Now, it's Jay Leno's turn behind the wheel in the latest episode of Jay Leno's Garage.

This week's guest is Dodge President and CEO Tim Kuniskis, and he's there to drop all sorts of interesting factoids about the Hellcat. For example, its Pirelli P Zero tires retail at around $300 each, he says. That makes its smoky burnouts a rather expensive proposition. Kuniskis also talks about the genesis of the 2015 SRT project with a goal to get over some of the standard Challenger's weight and size disadvantages. The fix is a supercharged V8, massive brakes and other goodies to smooth over the stock versions more glaring shortcomings.

Jay appears to get a big kick out of the Hellcat. However, he can't seem to stop bringing up his desire to drive one with a six-speed manual. They obviously exist, but Kuniskis has an eight-speed automatic for Leno to try out. Of course, with any Hellcat video, there has to be at least one burnout. Despite the expensive tires, it seems like a law at this point, and Jay wouldn't want to break any rules.

By Chris Bruce