autoevolution
 

Dodge Magnum Hellcat is Parenting Done Right

Remember when longroofs were still popular in the U. S. of A.? Well, there aren’t lots of them currently available to buy new because station wagon customers took a liking to crossovers and truck-based SUVs. One of the most missed wagons comes in the form of the Dodge Magnum, a model that kicked the bucket back in 2008. If it were still in production, what would the Magnum look like these days?
Dodge Magnum Hellcat rendering based on Challenger Hellcat 1 photo
Photo: Cars.com photo illustration by Paul Dolan; Cars.com photo by Evan Sears
The safest answer would be an XXL-size Charger, offered with the typical Pentastar V6, 5.7 and 6.4-liter HEMI. But what if the SRT skunkworks were to massage some muscle from a Hellcat-branded weapon of mass distraction? Now that’s more like! Better still, what if the 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat would get a Magnum-style longroof variation?

Cue the Dodge Magnum Hellcat. Unfortunately no, the pic above is a rendering courtesy of Cars.com. Boo and hiss it to oblivion, I know, but you know how that Blondie hit song goes - dreaming is free. As the previously mentioned auto publication suggests, it’s a darn shame Dodge isn’t making the ultimate Hellcat imaginable, based on the bodybuilder constitution of the hell-bent for leather Dodge Challenger.

The Chrysler Group once produced a totally rad longroof in the guise of the Cadillac CTS-V Wagon, a 556 horsepower V8-powered bare-knuckle bruiser that was listed by the EPA as the least fuel efficient small station wagon on sale in the US due to its combined fuel economy rating of 14 mpg (17 l/100 km).

Enthusiastic drivers that also happen to be parents miss it a lot, so does their kids. What, the Mercedes E63 AMG 4Matic Wagon is an alternative? Not at $100k-plus it is. To boot, it doesn’t have the same sense of madness as the V-ified Cadillac.

It pains us to acknowledge that the Magnum Hellcat will never see the light of day, but there’s a last resort in the pipeline though. As Mopar fans are well aware of, SRT is R&D-ing a Jeep Grand Cherokee with the 707 HP tower-of-power from the Hellcat siblings. While we wait for SRT to finish the most ludicrous family-oriented SUV yet, we’ll admire this bite-the-back-of-your-hand badass Magnum Hellcat for a bit longer.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories