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2019 Dodge Challenger First Drive: When Hellcat Met Demon ...

We’ve wished that the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon’s fiery engine would be available in many vehicles, and for 2019, it’s found a new home in the Challenger SRT Hellcat Redeye. Think of it as a mashup of the best Hellcat bits and the best Demon parts, bolted together in a car meant to tackle a road course instead of a drag strip.

Related: More Power Never Hurts: 2019 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye First Drive

For this Challenger, Dodge took the heart and lungs out of the Demon and bolted them right into the top Challenger SRT muscle car model with as little modification as possible, stuffing in that supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V-8 engine and all of the wonderful bits that made the Demon so remarkable, like the charge cooler that operates off of the air-conditioning system.

Shop the 2019 Dodge Challenger near you

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2019 Dodge Challenger SXT
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2019 Dodge Challenger R/T Plus
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Where the Demon was a one-trick muscle car pony meant for quarter-mile drag-strip duty only, the Hellcat Redeye is a far better, more usable, balanced everyday vehicle. Power is down a bit, however, while weight is up. How does that affect the Redeye’s driving dynamics?

Watch the video of the Hellcat for more.

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Detroit Bureau Chief Aaron Bragman has had over 25 years of experience in the auto industry as a journalist, analyst, purchasing agent and program manager. Bragman grew up around his father’s classic Triumph sports cars (which were all sold and gone when he turned 16, much to his frustration) and comes from a Detroit family where cars put food on tables as much as smiles on faces. Today, he’s a member of the Automotive Press Association and the Midwest Automotive Media Association. His pronouns are he/him, but his adjectives are fat/sassy. Email Aaron Bragman

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