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Highway To Hellcat: Dallas to Vegas with 2,000 HP

Fort Davis, TX. Early November. Late Sunday afternoon. The 1,200 residents of this small town are using their day of rest to quietly enjoy the breeze rolling off the hills. There's an older couple walking down the street, holding hands. A young lady working at a general store, where milkshakes and antacids are purchased at the same counter. It's a peaceful, quaint scene, right down to the tumbleweed rolling across the street and the rickety wooden porches outside the old storefronts. I hit the throttle of the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat while turning left onto the road leading toward the town square, sending the sedan's rear end swinging to the right with a few puffs of rubbery smoke. I coast down to the 25-mile-per-hour speed limit and spot the line of Challengers, Chargers, and Vipers in my rear-view mirror, the drivers all mimicking my quick jolt of enthusiasm before pulling up the reigns on their V8s and V10s and idling into Fort Davis. Our posse would roll some 5,000 horsepower of pure American muscle into that small Texas town that day. It was only the first stop on an epic journey that would take us from Dallas to Las Vegas, on a winding route down toward El Paso, up through New Mexico, Arizona, and finally north into Nevada, ending at the ritzy Palazzo casino and hotel on the Vegas strip. It was an opportunity to see parts of America I never knew existed, and a chance to bond with some American cars that until recently, I sort of failed to understand. And most importantly it was an opportunity to drive really, really hard. Charging Through Texas Unless you've driven across it, it's hard to understand the massive space that is Texas. In places, scanning 360 degrees of horizon reveals absolutely nothing. Nothing. On its own, driving from Dallas to El Paso covers some 630 miles. Veer south to Fort Davis and you'll add another 70 onto that, not including the 75-mile Davis Mountain Scenic Loop where I found bliss behind the wheel of this insanely powerful sedan. I always expected to like the Charger Hellcat – comfortable seating for four (five in a pinch), equipped with the latest tech, wrapped in a stylish yet muscular body, like a quarterback in a tux. And it moves. The supercharged 6.2-liter Hellcat V8 pumps out 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque, which makes for one quick sedan, especially considering its heft.

Cars.com runs 11-second quarter with Dodge Charger Hellcat

The Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and its Challenger sibling are two of the heroes of the modern performance world. With a headline-grabbing 707 horsepower from a supercharged 6.2-liter V8, their output even shames many supercars. But how quick can one really cover a quarter mile? Cars.com recently decided to find out by taking a Charger Hellcat to the drag strip to see if the sedan lived up to Dodge's 11-second claims. The results were quite impressive. After 13 quarter-mile runs of adjusting variables like the tire pressures and the car's various electronic aids, the Charger Hellcat managed a pass in 11.03 seconds at 126.61 mph – the pinnacle result of the day. This car was mechanically stock and wore the optional Pirelli P Zero tires. According to Cars.com, other quick sprints reached 11.09 seconds and 11.1 seconds, which even beat the site's 11.41-second best from a Challenger Hellcat last year. Getting the Hellcat's prodigious power down without losing traction was a challenge, even on the summer tires. Cars.com thought it had a run that could have dropped below 11 seconds, but then the wheels spun. Using the factory-recommended pressures, the Charger Hellcat was no still slouch with an 11.27-second time recorded, but taking things down to 25 psi proved the quickest at the strip. We already knew that the Charger Hellcat was a wonderful vehicle for eating up huge gulps of asphalt at high speeds and could verify its 204-mile-per-hour top speed (quite a bit faster, incidentally, than the Ferrari California T's 196 mph top-speed). Apparently, the 11-second quarter-mile claim is just as accurate. Also, for any curious owners, the Cars.com story divulges many of the tweaks required to reach this seriously quick time. Related Video:

FCA recalls 1.1 million vehicles worldwide due to confusing shifter

Fiat Chrysler is recalling 1.1 million vehicles worldwide to address the problematic shifter used on cars with eight-speed automatic transmissions. The issue is that the console-mounted shifter acts like a rocker switch and always returns to the middle position after moved. This has been deemed confusing to drivers – confusing enough to cause some to exit their vehicles without first selecting Park and leading to the car rolling away. FCA says 41 injuries are related to the shifter problem, and no evidence of equipment failure has been found. The company will enhance warning chimes and alter the shift strategy, meaning alert messages will be displayed in case the driver door is opened while the engine is running. With the door open, the transmission will prevent the car from moving even if Park is not selected. The affected vehicles are certain model-year 2012–2014 Dodge Charger and Chrysler 300 sedans, as well as model-year 2014–2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee SUVs, an estimated 811,586 US vehicles in total. The recall also affects 52,144 vehicles in Canada, 16,805 in Mexico, and 248,667 vehicles elsewhere. The shifter is used with ZF-designed and ZF-built eight-speed automatic; Audi uses a similar shifter setup in some of its vehicles, including the current-generation, which predated Chrysler's use of it. Chrysler uses a different, a rotating-dial-type shifter on eight-speed-equipped Rams. The company moved away from the problem shifter design in 2015 for the Charger and 300, and the Grand Cherokee's shift lever was modified for 2016. Owners of affected vehicles will be notified of the recall when service is available. Fiat Chrysler urges customers to follow the instructions in the vehicle's owner's manual in the meantime. Related Video: News Source: FCAImage Credit: AOL Recalls Chrysler Dodge Jeep RAM Ownership Safety SUV Sedan