Ford vs. Chevy vs. Mopar, that’s the age-old question that can start an argument anywhere you go where car enthusiasts gather. All three brands ruled the streets in the 60s and late 70s, and they still rule the streets today with new versions of some of the most iconic models.
But who reigns supreme? Is it the track-worthy Camaro ZL1 1LE? The legendary Shelby GT500? Or the heart-pounding Hellcat Redeye Widebody Jailbreak Challenger?
To keep personal opinion out of this and tempers down, we created a grading system for the vehicles based on their individual performance characteristics, not personal opinion. Even in the end, the numbers are close, but there is a champion for the best all-around muscle car today. Can you guess who it is?
So, let’s get your oil pumping and gears turning; as we start with Horsepower!
There is always a lot of excitement when pulling up to a dyno. As you drive over the rollers, and hear the ratchet straps start clicking as the car is being locked down. What’s it going to roll? As the fans are placed in front of the car, the hood popped, and the dyno operator sits down, everyone starts paying attention.
That’s when you hear it; the low rumble of the exhaust as the operator starts rolling through the gears getting ready to make a pull. The supercharger produces a subtle whine letting you know it is there and ready. Then the dyno operator looks at you to indicate he is prepared to make the first pull.
The dyno operator hammers the throttle down, the exhaust bellows through the building, the whine of the superchargers screaming, and that intense feeling of awe-inspiring power being displayed gives you chills.
The kid inside of you chants, “Do it again!” The big kid in you cannot help but smile ear to ear. All three of these cars are impressive.
The Camaro ZL1, with its supercharged 6.2 liter LT4, shakes the building, laying down an impressive 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque.
The smallest engine of the three, the 5.2-liter supercharged Shelby GT500, puts out 760 horsepower and 625 lb.-ft. of torque.
While the ear-piercing Hellcat with its supercharged HEMI 6.2-liter cranks out a monstrous 797 horsepower and 707 lb.-ft. of torque.
We truly live in a wonderful time. Twenty years ago, we would have been talking about how impressive 300 horsepower was and, in the next breath, how unreliable the vehicles are. Today, we are reliably shaking buildings, scaring our girlfriends, and shredding tires for a hundred thousand miles.
So, the big question is how do they use their power?
One of the best road tracks in the US is Willow Springs International Raceway in Rosamond, California. Not only has it been around forever, but it is one of the fastest tracks. This should let our competitors stretch out their legs and see what they can do.
The ZL1 features multimatic dampers around all corners. Thanks to the manual adjustable ride height and camber plates, the front suspension is adjustable. The rear has a manual three-way adjustable stabilizer bar. While this may mean your daily ride suffers a little in favor of some fun at the track, it does result in a very tuneable and fun track day setup. Pair this adjustability with a sticker rubber compound, functional front splitter, and rear wing, and the Camaro threw down the gauntlet with a time of 1:25 seconds.
Taking things one step further, the Shelby features Magnaride suspension, which has on-the-fly adjustability. Depending on the driver’s setting, the Tremec 7-speed automatic changes its shift points accordingly. Speaking of shifting, the electronic control module, paired with the dual clutches, allows the Shelby to shift gears in roughly 80 milliseconds. This gives the driver more control and confidence ripping into a corner. While at the track, the GT500 is capable of course times in the 1:27 range.
Both cars are beasts and demand respect; otherwise, they will take you for a spin in the dirt.
At the other end of things, the Hellcat Redeye suspension includes stiffer springs, stiffer bars, and Bilstein adaptive dampers that aren’t meant for road courses as much as for straight-line acceleration. The Hellcat is very reminiscent of the ’60s and ’70s drag cars in the feel. While the ride quality is much better, the car isn’t designed to head into sharp left-handers at high speed. The Challenger isn’t quite up for the challenge when doing laps at Willow with a 1:33 lap time.
Does this mean the Hellcat will lay the smackdown on the ¼ mile?
We grew up taking stripped-down junkyard cars that were scary as hell to drive around the street to the drag strip Friday and Saturday nights. We always got there early because you never knew what would break. You wanted to give yourself enough time for the car to cool down and be fixed before the night was over. We would sit in line, helmet on, sweating our butts off, waiting our turn. Hoping that the car wouldn’t overheat and we wouldn’t have any issues.
These cars are now at home on the track or the street. It’s just another day in the office. In fact, you have to remember to turn the A/C off before you get to the water box. No sweating your butt off here. Not worrying about overheating. Not worried about losing traction, thanks to the traction control. It is a matter of who can cut the better light instead of who’s the better driver now.
Given Dodge’s old “That thing got a Hemi” advertising campaign and the suspension setup, we anticipated the Hellcat to be the car to beat. Not to mention the 797 horsepower. But, you cannot will a car down the track, and with a 2.62 rear gear, the odds were slim. The Redeye runs the quarter-mile in 10.8. Yeah, a ten-second car out of the box.
What shocked us was the road course loving 1LE, which killed the quarter-mile. The 1LE, the lowest horsepower car of the bunch, scoots down the track in 11.5 seconds. This is very respectable and will still spank most stock vehicles on the road.
As expected, the Shelby GT500 was a consistent beast on the track. Hooking up and running the quarter in 10.9. The Shelby GT500 plants the rear tires, quickly moves through the gears, and leaves most people behind. We will also take this time to acknowledge the GT500 has a 3.73 gear ratio. Which is much higher than the other cars.
But will that taller gear result in the highest top speed?
When it comes to top speed, it really is a matter of simple math. Engine RPM times transmission gear ratio times pinion ratio times distance per revolution. This assumes there is enough horsepower to overcome the drag resistance. Given these muscle cars’ earlier performance, drag ain’t no thing.
As we alluded to earlier, the Shelby features a 3.73 gear ratio and tops out at 180 miles per hour. The 1LE has a 3.37 gear ratio and tops out at 195. This leaves the 2.62 rear-geared Hellcat as the victor topping out at 203.
At this point, the competition has been quite fierce. While the scoring has the Hellcat in the lead with 17 points to the GT500’s 13 and Camaro’s 11, a few more categories are bound to change things.
Do you know who wins?
Next up, “Money.” Now, none of these would be considered an entry-level cars. Gone are the days of dropping $5,000 to buy the premium model. Heck, most banks want to see more than that for a down payment.
All of these have some variability in sticker price and, depending on where you buy it, will depend if the dealer is adding their own $10,000 “thanks for buying it from us” fee, but in general, here is the ranking from most to least.
The Hellcat leads the pack with the highest cost, with a price tag of $89,000. Not far behind is the GT500 at $88,000 and the Camaro at basically $79,000.
Thanks to the total reversal of order, that brings our three cars to within a couple points. Now, let’s turn to the good ole 0-60 times.
This more closely simulates what we see when “briskly” accelerating from light to light. Drag racing is a matter of time per set distance. Top speed is a matter of gearing and horsepower regardless of distance. Zero to sixty showcases a vehicle’s gearing, horsepower, traction, and suspension. Probably one of the best all-around measures of a vehicle’s setup for being driven daily.
When it comes to these three, none of them are a slouch, with all three times being less than 4 seconds. The Hellcat screams to 60 in an impressive 3.6 seconds. The other two competitors ripped out a time of 3.4.
It is no wonder why this has been an ongoing argument between people for decades. These cars are just so close. And now it is that time.
When it comes to crowning a champion of the muscle car wars, we have held this competition strictly by the numbers. It is our great honor to say the Dodge Hellcat Redeye Jailbreak is the car to turn to if you’re looking at tearing up the streets. Of the 6 categories, the Hellcat won three of them.
