2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon finally revealed

Dodge has finally taken the covers of the new Challenger SRT Demon after their excruciatingly long marketing campaign to reveal the car. Most of us thought the SRT Hellcat was bonkers, but Dodge ended up outdoing themselves with this one.

Looking under the hood, the same 6.2-litre supercharged V8 has been further upgraded. The Demon gets dual fuel pumps inside of a single one, a 2.7-litre supercharger displacement instead of 2.4, boost increased from 11.6 to 14.5 psi, and the redline raised from 6,200 to 6,500 rpm. All this adds up to 840 hp and 1044 Nm of torque, enough to propel it from 0-96 kph in 2.3 seconds, and completing the quarter-mile (0.4 km) in just 9.65 seconds. Yep, its a fully street legal 10-second car.

The SRT Demon also went through a diet to reach those number, being 105 kg lighter than the Hellcat. Most of the weight is lost by ditching all except the driver’s seat. However, Dodge has kept the option for consumers to include the seats. Other tweaks include removal of sound deadening materials and various interior trim , smaller brakes, new wheels with open lug nuts, and inclusion of only two speakers.

The wheels are wrapped around with 315/40R18 Nitto NTO5R drag radials, making the SRT Demon the first time a production car has been sold with drag radials from the factory. The tyres are mounted with 0.5-degrees less negative camber than on the Hellcat to improve straight-line traction.

The Challenger SRT Demon comes with an 8-speed automatic transmission. There is no manual transmission option. Dodge claims it has 35-percent more “launch force” than the Hellcat, thanks to a shorter final-drive ratio of 3.09:1 instead of 2.62:1 and also changes to the torque converter which provides more torque off the line. There is a “Drag Mode” option in the car which optimizes all the settings of the car, including suspension, traction control and stability control. Also the transmission has a transbrake built into it, which allows the driver to just hold the steering wheel paddle shifter and press the accelerator to build up engine revs. There is no need to keep the brake pedal pressed. Once ready, just release the paddle shifter and the car launches forward.

Like the Ford Mustang, Dodge also now features a line-lock option. However, Dodge has a put a limit of “400 rear wheel revolutions” at a time.

It is unclear if the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon will be officially sold here but a few are likely to show up anyway in the streets of UAE, Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries.