Dodge is bidding farewell to the Challenger in grand style. Hampered by ridiculous dealer markups, the Demon 170 is the most powerful and quickest series-production muscle car in the world. Jay Leno is one of the first peeps outside of Stellantis to drive it, and obviously enough, the guy can't help but like it a lot.
This video stars the actual car that Dodge used for the world premiere in Las Vegas, where it was flown by helicopter to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The stunt nearly didn't happen due to an overweight condition, which Tim Kuniskis' team solved by trimming the steel plate on which the new Demon 170 was transported.
The big kahuna made an erroneous claim at the beginning of this episode of Jay Leno's Garage, saying that everything other than the sheet metal is brand new. Oh really? That's why the most powerful and quickest series-production muscle car in the world features the shoddy interior with awful plastics of every other Challenger post-2015 facelift? Clearly not brand new, the Demon 170 does boast a few substantial changes.
From the outset, Dodge intended to upgrade the Demon into something more exciting. It ended up reworking the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 from the inside out, and in the process, Dodge blew a whopping eight powerplants to get everything right. Modified to run on everything from E10 to E85, the Demon 170 truly comes alive when the percentage of ethanol reaches 85 percent of the fuel.
1,025 horsepower used to be hypercar territory not that long ago. As a brief refresher, the Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 entered production in 2005 with 987 horsepower on tap from an 8.0-liter W16 augmented by four turbochargers, hence the 16.4 suffix in its name. Although not as torquey as the French hypercar from nearly two decades ago (pardon the "not that long ago" from earlier), the Demon 170 still is torquier than plenty of diesel-engined trucks of the heavy-duty variety.
Kuniskis told Leno that such power and torque wouldn't have meant anything without a proper tire-wheel combo. Dodge collaborated with Mickey Thompson for the street-legal drag radials of the Demon 170, whereas the 18- by 8-inch and 17- by 11-inch wheels come in two guises. Forged aluminum is standard, whereas the carbon-fiber option comes from Lacks Enterprises.
Building on the 2018 model year Demon with many go-faster additions, including a larger supercharger and a larger throttle body, the Demon 170 is called this way after the corn-based fuel's alcohol proof. Leno didn't speak out his mind in regard to the cabin – or maybe left out that footage from the final cut – but does wax lyrical about the way it drives and how it makes him feel.
Leno is especially impressed by how light the Demon 170 feels on its feet, partly due to the sticky tires and partly due to how the driving assistance nannies are calibrated. Although it's not as surgical as a Porsche 911 GT3 in the corners, it appears to be more than fine for a vehicle that weighs 4,275 pounds (1,939 kilograms).
"The Tesla Plaid can probably pretty much match it, but not with the sense of speed that you get from this," said Jay. "It's really a lot of fun." And – personal opinion here – it's also a proper sendoff for the LX-based Challenger. In its place, Dodge prepares to launch a full-electric Charger coupe on Stellantis' STLA Large platform.
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
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