To buy a Hellcat or not to... that is the question ?

Just kicking around a question and taking a poll.

A: Buy a Hellcat and be fast out of the box (at $60,000+) and just be another production model at the car show and around town ?

OR

B: Buy a slightly used Challenger/Charger and throw $20,000 into it and make it faster (than 707HP) and more custom (plus you would be saving about $10,000)?

What would you do ?

$20k isn't enough money to have more than 707hp safely plus other mods. Turbo/SC $10k, tranny/TC $4500 puts u at about $15k if your installing yourself. At best your at 600hp and on a 100% stock block. Realistically I think your closer to $30k to have more than 707hp

Still 30 ish isn't to bad to put into a car, if the cars about 23,000.
What platform is better to build of, the 5.7 or the 6.1?
I've been told the 5.7 is better, but personally i would say bigger is better.
Any input on that?

The Hellcat was designed from the start to be 707 HP. There is a ton of thought and engineering that went into it. Plus you will be getting a warranty. First thing that goes wrong with your slightly used car and you are out a lot of money. And I seriously doubt that a Hellcat is ever gonna be considered just another production model. It will be recognized by anyone who knows even a little about cars whereas a custom car will take some explaining. Also you could always customize a Hellcat to some degree too.

in my opinion just buy the Hellcat and drive. you can still do cosmetic mods if you want to make it personal.

if you build a car you have lots of down time when it's not on the road. you have to love the aspect of building it to enjoy that. if you want to build a car for the ups and downs of doing that, then build one. if you are choosing between Hellcat or not because of the cost vs. hp/speed factor then just get the Hellcat and be done with it.

ask Tom how much he spent to get into the 10's and how many parts he broke or bought twice.

jontoad wrote:

in my opinion just buy the Hellcat and drive. you can still do cosmetic mods if you want to make it personal.

if you build a car you have lots of down time when it's not on the road. you have to love the aspect of building it to enjoy that. if you want to build a car for the ups and downs of doing that, then build one. if you are choosing between Hellcat or not because of the cost vs. hp/speed factor then just get the Hellcat and be done with it.

ask Tom how much he spent to get into the 10's and how many parts he broke or bought twice.

Couldn't have said it better. Get the Hellcat, you have 700hp that u can beat the fuck out of and have a warranty which is the best part

Shawn1112 wrote:

jontoad wrote:

in my opinion just buy the Hellcat and drive. you can still do cosmetic mods if you want to make it personal.

if you build a car you have lots of down time when it's not on the road. you have to love the aspect of building it to enjoy that. if you want to build a car for the ups and downs of doing that, then build one. if you are choosing between Hellcat or not because of the cost vs. hp/speed factor then just get the Hellcat and be done with it.

ask Tom how much he spent to get into the 10's and how many parts he broke or bought twice.

Couldn't have said it better. Get the Hellcat, you have 700hp that u can beat the fuck out of and have a warranty which is the best part

ding, ding, ding for the win

I suspect Hellcats are going to retain value and if it were me, I'd only put Mopar accessories on it. Most people that build up their stock cars for high horsepower end up taking a bath on it when they don't want it anymore.

Remember that 707 is to the crank. Assuming 15% drive train loss, it's 600 to the wheels.

Warranty is a great perk for buying an HC for sure.

Illinois Chaos wrote:

Remember that 707 is to the crank. Assuming 15% drive train loss, it's 600 to the wheels.

yea, but most being dyno'd are showing that number to be a little under rated. hell, supposedly one just ran 10.4 just on a tire in mineshaft air.

Tire and VP109 ran 10.4. Ridiculous

jontoad wrote:

Illinois Chaos wrote:

Remember that 707 is to the crank. Assuming 15% drive train loss, it's 600 to the wheels.

yea, but most being dyno'd are showing that number to be a little under rated. hell, supposedly one just ran 10.4 just on a tire in mineshaft air.

Oh, I'm not saying it isn't a street beast. Just a little skeptical as to dyno and performance claims at this point. You can't tune it, as of now.

Get the hellcat and save some mod money for new drive shafts.

I take it that the drive shaft is a weak point on the hellcat ?

VAGABON wrote:

I take it that the drive shaft is a weak point on the hellcat ?

There have been a couple of instances where people that got them and were racing them ended up with drive shafts that twisted like a pretzel and broke.  Too early to say though if it's a chronic issue with them.

that would so suck to have it break down like that. lol
I did hear this happens when you get wider tire in the rear, even more so.

If you want to play hard, you need to support your level of enthusiasm.