2021 Dodge Charger Redeye review: When in doubt, power out

At this stage, Dodge could market the present Charger for an additional decade and I never consider any one would intellect. The business honed a easy but helpful method of incrementally increasing its hella-outdated entire-dimension sedan with interesting styling updates and the one particular matter everyone enjoys: more energy. Like, a lot more energy.

You have already read the headlines: The 2021 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye hits the street with a frankly foolish 797 horsepower and 707 pound-feet of torque. It really is absurd. It really is brilliant. And with its common launch regulate, it is critically brief. The Charger Redeye can speed up to 60 mph in suitable close to 3 seconds and it’ll top rated out at a supercar-beating 203 mph. It really is so dumb and I adore it.

Dodge’s six.two-liter supercharged Hellcat V8 is the star of the display, nestled less than a redesigned hood that has a more substantial chilly air scoop and two heat extractor vents. The Redeye up grade arrives with Dodge’s Ability Reserve characteristic, which pre-pressurizes the intake manifold for greater throttle reaction, as very well as the Ability Chiller, which uses air conditioning refrigerant to aid interesting the intake air. It really is a huge engine in a huge auto earning huge energy, and it is an absolute beast in action. You will hardly ever, at any time, at any time want for ahead thrust in the Charger Redeye. The liable adult in me feels it is essential to stage out that it is borderline dangerous to offer a 797-hp nearly anything to the typical community, but the laughing-his-ass-off fanatic in me just states screw it, let’s go.

The Hellcat V8 functions in conjunction with an outstanding 8-velocity automatic transmission that’s completely adept at holding the engine buzzing in the coronary heart of its powerband (which, given the output, is in essence just about everywhere). There are chintzy very little 50 {36a394957233d72e39ae9c6059652940c987f134ee85c6741bc5f1e7246491e6}-paddles connected to the steering wheel really should you come to feel like shifting for you, but these metallic protrusions are barely satisfying to use. Just go away the transmission alone.

You can customize a whole mess of effectiveness options to your liking, from the steering fat to suspension stiffness to transmission mapping and more. You can even notify the V8 to settle the hell down and prohibit its output to 500 hp, not like that genuinely makes substantially of a variance in the grand plan of issues. My most well-liked tune is to go away everything in Avenue but put the steering in Sport, and naturally, go away the engine on entire blast. This provides the wheel a bit more fat without having feeling overly cumbersome, and retains the adaptive dampers gentle sufficient to make the Charger a genuine peach on extensive drives.

Truthfully, as substantially as the Charger Redeye is typecast as a master of straight-line shenanigans, it is shockingly able when you toss it close to on a winding street. The Redeye will get the Widebody remedy, which provides 3.5 inches of added keep track of width and 50 added interesting details around a usual Charger. Much more importantly, this allows Dodge to suit meaty 305/35ZR20 tires at all 4 corners, though, weirdly, they are all-time tires, not stickier summers.

The fundamental feeling of “if I give it much too substantially fuel coming out of a corner I am heading to spin and crash in a ball of flames” hardly ever genuinely leaves you while hustling this 797-hp monster with two-decade-outdated underpinnings. But with excellent energy arrives excellent responsibility, and the adaptive dampers and large tires do a great work of holding issues copacetic in corners. You will find a ton of feedback via the steering wheel, much too, so you might be often informed of how substantially grip is readily available at all situations. I would not simply call the Redeye agile by any signifies, but it is way a lot less of a raucous, bite-you-in-the-ass hellion than you may consider. Furthermore, it is bought two-piece, 15.7-inch entrance brakes from the fantastic folks at Brembo, which is pretty good peace of intellect.

I guess I really should point out fuel economic system, even though it is irrelevant in any Hellcat-driven auto. Particularly no one particular is acquiring this matter with performance in intellect, and that’s a great matter, because even the EPA rankings of 12 miles for every gallon town, 21 mpg highway and 15 mpg put together are a very little optimistic. Get employed to looking at numbers in the small teens on the frequent. You should not forget about the $two,a hundred fuel guzzler tax, both.

The whole Redeye up grade is technically just a $eight,600 selection bundle on the common Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody. You get all the go-quick stuff as very well as a 220-mph speedometer and some one of a kind badges, but everything else carries around unchanged from other Charger types. Vibrant brake calipers and matte black roof and decklid treatment options are readily available as incorporate-ons, but the only way to genuinely notify a Redeye from lesser Hellcats is to location the crimson eye inside the Hellcat logo on the entrance fender. (Get it?!)

That signifies the Redeye’s inside is no various than the base Hellcat, which alone is not substantially more unique than the entry-stage, V6-driven Chargers. Absolutely sure, you can incorporate issues like a carbon/suede inside bundle ($1,595), but you can find no hiding the truth that this cabin is outdated. Truly outdated. You are going to mostly notice affordable plastics on the door cards, and the buttons on the heart stack glimpse and come to feel like the 20-yr-outdated components they are. At least individuals supportive entrance seats are endlessly cozy, and they occur common with heating and air flow. The rear seats are heated, much too, though you may be shocked how very little legroom there is for a auto this big.

Each and every Charger Hellcat will get the Uconnect infotainment suite, housed on an eight.four-inch monitor in the dash, with common Apple CarPlay and Android Vehicle. This is Fiat-Chrysler’s more mature multimedia application, though, not the new-and-enhanced Uconnect 5. Nonetheless, this previous-gen method has a ton of functionality and the touchscreen quickly responds to inputs. It really is outdated tech, but at least it is great tech.

Driver-aid technologies are couple of and considerably involving. Blind-location monitoring and cross-traffic detection are common, but that’s about it, and modern conveniences like adaptive cruise regulate are not readily available. (You are going to notice the 3 lifeless buttons on the suitable facet of the steering wheel where by individuals functions really should be.) Then once again, you obtain the Charger Redeye because it makes 797 goddamn horsepower, not because it’ll do the large lifting for you.

The 2021 Charger Redeye prices $eighty two,190 — that’s $69,995 for the Hellcat Widebody, $eight,600 for the Redeye up grade, $two,a hundred for the fuel guzzler tax and $1,495 for vacation spot. Throw on a couple of extras and you can get one particular of these up around $90,000, but go simple on the solutions and you can finish up with a pretty nice auto like my tester (that shade is referred to as Hellraisin, FYI) for $87,165.

Sure, that’s a ton of income for a Dodge Charger, but great luck finding this substantially energy for this very little income from any other automaker. Aside from, if Dodge has confirmed nearly anything around the previous couple of yrs, it is that individuals adore these issues, and the base line genuinely would not issue. That “shut up and just make it a lot quicker” mind-set is a unusual matter in the auto environment these days, and one thing we really should embrace as extensive as we can. Flawed as it may be, I would not have the Charger Redeye any other way.