Motortrend Hellcat vs ZL1

[himmy33]

Good article. I may not like the results but it seemed to be fairly honest.

[Vroom]

Not sure the attention a new car gets matters. The ZL1 has got all the attention for several years, I think people looked at the hellcat in the article out of morbid curiosity. It still looks like a challenger which isn't anywhere near as eye catching as a Camaro, never mind as mean looking as the ZL1 or Z28. And I've also had several cops check out my car including one that pulled me over for "speeding" and then asked loads of questions about the car before letting me go and reminding me to merge back on the freeway as "quickly as possible". So not impressed over here.

Now the 707 Charger on the other hand, that might be something that's worth respecting from the dodge camp.

[cam99]

[QUOTE=96MrBass;7906614]

Originally Posted by cam99

Wow, more people looked at a lime green new model car that has just hit the streets vs. a silver Camaro that has looked the same for three years now. That's shocking!!! The Hellcat is a cool car, but is what it is. A one trick pony throwback to the late 60's Detroit muscle, not an actual performance vehicle made to do every style of motorsports as well as possible. Not that there's anything wrong with that, LOL. Fun to have one of them in the garage along side the zl1[/QUOTE


Just wondering I see your 1/4 mile pass almost 11 flat. What kind of HP are you putting down with a ZL1 to run hellcat like times?

It put down 540rwhp on a dynojet.

[WHAMMO]

Great article IMO. they clearly say the ZL1 road track ready and the Challenger is not like that at all. Its 1/4 mile ready LOL! Those pictures are unbelievable!

[hotlap]

Notice how high it sits relative to the ZL1? This is what I notice about Challengers when I pass them. They seem tall.

[Emvici]

ZL1 is just as expensive as the hellcat unless you are counting change. Also Zl1 wouldn't destroy the Hellcat on a course, it didn't destroy a live axel cobra, it beat it, but destroy? no. So unless you are interested in counting change and worrying about tenths of seconds for all intensive purposes the hellcat can hold its own. So From there its just a question of styling.

[Sven59]

[QUOTE=cam99;7906757]

Originally Posted by 96MrBass

It put down 540rwhp on a dynojet.

Almost 100rwhp difference and you still match their time, just proves it's a better platform!

[Emvici]

Obviously the Zl1 has a better handling design to it, but you a lot get a lot more car and comfort space with the hellcat. For the minor difference I think I am going to give the Hellcat a try, not to mention, whats wrong with a little variety anyways?. Even if the ZL1 was a way better car, I think I would enjoy driving something else now and again.

[2NASSTY]

Nice article, but I don't give many Car Mags much credit for these comparisons when the flavor of the month comes out. At the end of the are in the business of selling magazines and whoring themselves out when its in their best interest. I think the piece that is interesting is this constant reference to 11.7 and 125 quarter mile times. Then they go on to say both cars were neck in neck when they ran them in the 1/8th mile track.

That doesn't add up unless they never ran the Hellcat in the quarter. This Mopar will be traction limited with that small tire patch trying to put down that torque number which is no joke. This thing will need a tire on the track and street.

I also want to know how much head room they have left in this thing. Time to mod Boys!!

[jessrayo]

Originally Posted by Gizmo

The "easy to add horsepower" argument doesn't really hold water. Yeah, it's easy to get more power out of the ZL1. It will also be easy (once they crack the tune) to get more power out of the hellcat and you're ready starting with more.

This argument doesn't hold water.....lol...There are two major factors in adding power, one is parts availability, supply and demand. Pull up any class of performance parts you want in jegs or summit racing and compare what is available for a GM 6.2 vs a Dodge 6.2. Have you ever heard of Lingenfelter performance engineering? They have an entire catalog of parts readily available to make your ZL1 as stupid fast as you would like.... and there many others sponsoring this board that have a ton of custom GM parts, of course for Dodge you have.....ah...lets see....nobody even close to comparable because oh yeah, they lock the computer on the car and resist any aftermarket modifications.

The other factor is capacity, if you have one 6.2 liter engine that makes say 580 hp and another 6.2 liter engine that makes say 707 hp. Ultimately the two engines are going to have roughly the same overall power capacity, whatever it is you can get out of a 6.2. If you are starting at say 92 horsepower per liter it is generally easier to add power than it is if you are making say about 114 horses per liter. That is why so many cars on this ZL1 board can dyno 600+ whp..... but dynoing 700whp is not as common and 800whp is just plain rare. The more power you try to squeeze out of every liter of displacement the more it is going to cost per horse. Trust me I know about this......

Originally Posted by Emvici

ZL1 is just as expensive as the hellcat unless you are counting change. Also Zl1 wouldn't destroy the Hellcat on a course, it didn't destroy a live axel cobra, it beat it, but destroy? no. So unless you are interested in counting change and worrying about tenths of seconds for all intensive purposes the hellcat can hold its own. So From there its just a question of styling.

$5025 was the difference in "price as tested"
I still say give me $5025 for mods and I'll embarrass that hellcat anywhere it wants to race because the ZL1 is a better platform.

Originally Posted by 2NASSTY

Nice article, but I don't give many Car Mags much credit for these comparisons when the flavor of the month comes out. At the end of the are in the business of selling magazines and whoring themselves out when its in their best interest. I think the piece that is interesting is this constant reference to 11.7 and 125 quarter mile times. Then they go on to say both cars were neck in neck when they ran them in the 1/8th mile track.

That doesn't add up unless they never ran the Hellcat in the quarter. This Mopar will be traction limited with that small tire patch trying to put down that torque number which is no joke. This thing will need a tire on the track and street.

I also want to know how much head room they have left in this thing. Time to mod Boys!!

You make some good points. I will point out a few other little details about this comparison.... The ZL1 was a manual, the hellcat was an auto, I wonder what would have happened in a drag race if the hellcat had a manual and the ZL1 had an auto..... the more power you have the bigger advantage that auto trans gives you in the 1/4.....

Dodge should be commended for building something fast enough to beat a stock ZL1 in the quarter mile.

Mine got it's first power upgrade mods 3 days after I bought it...you can do that with a Chevy.

[ihada69L78]

The Hellcat definitely wins in the most unappealing front end appearance category.
I bet heat soak is going to be a problem also.

[jshaf]

lets race em on a road course and see what happens.......take the ZL1 any day!

[2cnd chance]

Bottom-line the Camaro is more beautiful, more shapely, and built to handle.

The 2 items that standout as a negative for the Camaro is the engine bay and fuel filler door. Why can't GM make a good looking engine? And why the cheap everyday car fuel filler door?

[Gizmo]

Originally Posted by jessrayo

This argument doesn't hold water.....lol...There are two major factors in adding power, one is parts availability, supply and demand. Pull up any class of performance parts you want in jegs or summit racing and compare what is available for a GM 6.2 vs a Dodge 6.2. Have you ever heard of Lingenfelter performance engineering? They have an entire catalog of parts readily available to make your ZL1 as stupid fast as you would like.... and there many others sponsoring this board that have a ton of custom GM parts, of course for Dodge you have.....ah...lets see....nobody even close to comparable because oh yeah, they lock the computer on the car and resist any aftermarket modifications.

No, I sure haven't... I'll give them a Google.

You're talking about custom part this and aftermarket part that. That's all fine and dandy, but you act like there are going to be no go fast parts available for the Hellcat. Yeah, the tuning is hard to crack, but it's not like it hasn't been done up to this point. I had a '14 SRT Jeep Grand Cherokee that was tuned even though the factory tune was "locked". The simple fact is that, right now, a ZL1 must have aftermarket parts to be as fast at the strip as a Hellcat, all things being equal. In other news, water is wet. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Yes, the ZL1 is probably faster than the Hellcat on a racetrack. It all depends on which bragging rights are most important to the potential buyer. Some (most) people care about a little thing called a warranty, and the fact that you can take a Hellcat to the track and run high 10s/low 11s and maintain your warranty is pretty damn impressive to me.

It's funny how defensive people get when this car is mentioned. I have a ZL1 and love it, but I can admit that the Hellcat is a beast without getting my panties in a bunch.