By now, many of us motoring enthusiasts have heard the sad news about the Dodge Hellcat and Demon. The SRT department has long cemented its reputation as the creator of some of the most outrageous, awesome, zero f***s given muscle cars and the Demon was the last and most powerful of them all. For around $85,000, you got a 9-second car with over 800 horsepower that can do wheelies. Who does that? All good things must come to an end, however, as stricter emission regulations bring an end to big supercharged V-8 engines. With this in mind, here are some alternatives to the tire-shredding unholy creation. If you’re a Dodge fan, you might want to stick until the end, for this one.
Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
This might be one of the first cars you think about and rightfully so. After a couple of years on the side bench, the GT500 version returned for the S550-generation of the Mustang. Ford was the first one of the big trio to ditch the pushrod engine design in favor of the mode modern DOHC valvetrain. This should mean that the 5.2-liter supercharged V-8 powering the GT500 will live for at least a couple of more years. The “Predator” engine is loosely based on the GT350 “Voodoo” engine, but the flat-plane crankshaft has been replaced with a sturdier cross-plane one. The unit puts out 760 horsepower (567 kW) and 625 pound-feet (847 Nm). Its $72,900 starting price means it’s also cheaper than the Demon while delivering similar performance.
Read our full review on the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
Hennessey Chevrolet Camaro Exorcist
Dodge’s supercharged Hemi V-8 may be coming to an end, but that’s not the case for Chevrolet’s supercharged pushrod, at least not yet. The Exorcist was created by taking a Camaro ZL-1, which is an already capable package, and turning it into a 1,000-horsepower Demon-slayer.
The torque is 883 pound-feet (1,198 Nm), so getting it to hook can be tricky.
Get it right though and you’ll hit 60 mph (97 km/h) in 2.1 seconds. If you can tame the power of the Exorcist, the Quarter-mile happens in 9.57 seconds, which is slightly better than the 9.65-second time of the Demon. It all comes at a price, however, as the base car alone costs $63,000. This, of course, does not include everything that turns it into the 1,000-horsepower Exorcist.
Read our full review on the Hennessey Chevrolet Camaro Exorcist
Mercedes AMG C63-S
This one does not come from the land of the free, but it’s still a two-door performance coupe with a V-8 featuring forced induction. AMG’s creations have long been referred to as the German muscle cars since despite being more sophisticated they still possess some of that presence we know and love Muscle cars for. Although the 6.2-liter normally-aspirated M-156/M-159 V-8 is no more, the new 4.0-liter unit is just as exciting and even more capable. Granted, its 510 horsepower (375 kW) and 516 pound-feet (700 Nm) may be a lot less than the Demon’s 840 horsepower figure, but that’s nothing a quick remap and some bolt-ons can’t fix. There are plenty of AMG cars with this engine, pushing around 800 horsepower with these minor mods. Even in stock form, you get a 3.7-second time to 60 mph and the quarter-mile happens in 11.9 seconds, so it’s a good base.
Read our full review on the Mercedes AMG C63-S
Ford Mustang RTR Stage 3
Here’s another interesting interpretation of what a high-performance Mustang should be. Being one of the best all-around platforms currently on sale, the Mustang is like a blank slate. You can pretty much do anything with it. There’s a reason why there have been so many different builds, throughout the years, based on the Mustang. The guys at RTR have developed three different packages, the latter of which gives the 5.0-liter Gen-3 Coyote V-8 700 horsepower (522 kW) and 610 pound-feet (827 Nm). This is not that far off the Shelby GT500. The base Mustang GT costs around $36,250 and the RTR Stage 3 package - $21,000, for a total of $57,250.
Read our full review on the Ford Mustang RTR Stage 3
Dodge Challenger SRT-8
The Demon might be dead, but you can still build one yourself. The normally-aspirated 6.4-liter V-8 Hemi is still on the market. These will be in production until at least 2024, but we don’t know what will come after that. Out the box, the 6.4-liter Hemi makes up to 485 horsepower (362 kW) and 475 pound-feet (644 Nm). Obviously, these numbers are no match for the Demon, but they still make for a very respectable 0 to 60 mph time of 4.0 seconds. It’s also significantly cheaper than the Demon and you get a blank slate, meaning you can do whatever mods you want on it, to get it to Demon performance levels. The aftermarket is plentiful and the sky is the limit. As you know, a well-built Hemi can push way past the 840-horsepower figure of the Demon. Because of this, the Challenger SRT-8 might be the best alternative to the recently-deceased Demon.
Read our full review on the Dodge Challenger SRT-8->art184440]
