Back in the 1960s, your muscle car wasn’t hot if you were running an automatic. You needed a four-on-the-floor to blaze between the lights, or else drivetrain loss would just result in you eating dust. While we’ve come a long way from Powerglides, there’s still an undeniable appeal in shifting your own gears, and Dodge knows that. Just as the muscle car as we know it is about to die, its maker has confired that the manual Challenger Hellcat is finally, once again, available to order.
First, some backstory: Dodge quietly dropped the manual gearbox from the Challenger Hellcat option sheet for 2022, making a ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic the only way to turn the supercharged V8’s power into propulsion. In December, Dodge announced that the manual was coming back as a last hurrah for the soon-to-be-discontinued supercharged muscle car, and that orders would open during the 2023 model year. Well, we’ve waited and waited, but the light finally appears to be at the end of the tunnel.
Koons Tysons Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram in Virginia claims that order books for the manual Hellcat are now open, both for the standard-body and widebody car. However, Dodge’s configurator hasn’t been updated yet, so we followed up with the manufacturer and received the following response:
The Dodge Challenger Hellcat with manual transmission is now available, in low production volumes. Customers can use the Dodge Horsepower Locator tool at DodgeGarage.com to find a dealer with a remaining Challenger Hellcat allocation, and then connect with the dealer to place an order for a Challenger Hellcat with a manual transmission.
Sweet! Of course, the Tremec TR-6060 six-speed manual gearbox can only be combined with the 717-horsepower standard Hellcat engine, but that’s the way it’s always been thanks to the transmission’s rated torque capacity. However, as a consolation prize, every 2023 Challenger Hellcat is a Jailbreak model, meaning that the gates are up on color combinations. Want an F8 Green car with bronze wheels, cloth seats, and copper-woven carbon fiber trim? Go nuts. Although the Last Call models bring a little something extra to the party, these last manual Hellcats will be so special if they’re ordered in unique specs.
Eight model years into its production run, it’s safe to say that the Dodge Challenger Hellcat is a cultural icon. I mean, how couldn’t it be? We’re talking about a 700-horsepower car with a warranty that anyone with half-decent credit could walk into a Dodge dealership and finance. When it launched for 2015, there was no McLaren 720S, no 760-horsepower Mustang GT500, nothing with a plaid emblem. This was a muscle car with more horsepower than an Enzo that normal people could buy. Unsurprisingly, it quickly wormed its way onto laptop wallpapers and into songs like any supercar would. From 21 Savage to Chief Keef to Lil Uzi Vert, the Hellcat namechecks kept coming, cementing the supercharged Dodge’s supernatural legacy.
These days, there are more powerful Challengers out there, from the insane Demon 170 to the 797-horsepower Hellcat Redeye, but the involvement of a manual is so special in this day and age. From finessing the bite point of the 258 mm twin-disc clutch to slamming third hard enough to lay down elevens, the Tremec TR-6060 promises to always keep you engaged. Sure, it’s a bit more work in traffic than the automatic, but we’re on the eve of electrification, so new manual performance cars like this are quite literally a dying breed. Plus, the manual Challenger Hellcat offers a unique superlative: Due to the foot-operated parking brake, it’s the most powerful new car you can buy with four pedals.
(Photo credits: Dodge)
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I was on the Merritt Parkway yesterday in CT and followed a Charger Super Bee for a little bit. The guy would brake and slow down to like 40mph for the really great corners near the NY border and then gun it on the straights. It was insane. Didn’t take long for me in my VW Alltrack and the guy behind me in a BMW X5 to zoom past him in a corner.
I was behind a Ram T-Rex last week that did the same thing. Gunned it on straights and braked hard for the slightest bend in the road. Unfortunately, I was on two lane roads and there was no place to pass.
Time for another lawsuit from the guys who bought their final year Hellcats thinking they were automatic only.
Actually there were famous muscle cars with automatics. Remember the Ramchargers super stock racers?
Owners have ruined these cars for me. I love the idea, and would like to have an RT with a manual, but I would hate to be lumped in with the type you see driving these. If there is a d-bag weaving in and out of traffic, trying to maintain 30 over the speed limit on the highway, 9 times out of 10 they are driving a Charger or Challenger. The power gets to people’s heads. I’m not sure I could resist, myself. I still like that they exist (for now), but count me out..
FREEDOM ISN”T FREE! FJB! THE CHINA VIRUS IS TAKING AWAY OUR FREEDOM! THIN BLUE LINE BUT ALSO DON”T TREAD ON ME! WE”RE BOYCOTTING THIS BRAND THIS WEEK BUT OTHER PEOPLE ARE SNOWFLAKES AND NEED SAFE SPACES EVEN THOUGH IM CONSTANTLY OFFENDED
Chef’s kiss on the use of quotation marks vs. the apostrophe. Shift key is for Real Men(tm).
Idk, there are plenty of powerful cars that aren’t driven by douchebags. Chargers and Challengers seem to attract a certain type.
Kind of too bad Dodge didn’t just bite the bullet and fit a GT56 in the super rare Black Ghost versions. https://www.gforcetransmissions.com/tran_gt-56.asp
Right underneath the first pic is an ad. “My husband has an iron boner” is the tagline. I guess he was looking at the manual Hellcat.
You know these are focused ads, right? The internet is not pleased with your flaccidity.
I saw an ad from Charles Schwab. Apparently I lead a dull life of a city stockbroker.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2odo3r
I want to echo the sentiment of ADDvanced here…I think claiming that the only worthwhile muscle cars were manual is a bit of enthusiast revisionist history. Lots of iconic muscle cars were auto only (the Grand National comes to mind), not to mention when it comes to drag racing they’ve often been preferred. My uncle dragged a Dodge Dart when I was a kid and would take me to the strip with him every now and then. It’s been a while but pretty much everyone there was running autos of some sort.
Don’t get me wrong-I get why people like driving stick and why it would be desirable in something like this…but I’ve never really considered it to be an essential part of the muscle car experience. It’s not like autos were pigeonholed into the cars in the modern era as technology improved…muscle cars have always offered an auto, often because they were hot rodded versions of regular cars.
Anyway, I go back and forth on whether or not I’d want a manual Hellcat. On one hand I think it could be a benefit…because with how ridiculously fast these cars are adding another layer that demands driver focus probably makes them safer. These have way, way, way more power than the average person can handle…and if you have to shift it’s no longer a “stomp and go” proposition. You can lose these cars very fast.
On the other hand they rev so damn fast that I know I’d miss shifts in them…not to mention this particular Tremec unit isn’t very well regarded. The consensus with Challengers across the board has usually been that the ZF8 is a much better pairing. But I don’t know, I’ve legit never driven anything on this platform. I’m personally fond of Challengers for the same reason lots of people are but I think my wife would have an attorney on speed dial if I came home in the most muscle car-ey muscle car on the road.
Anyway, Hellcats in general are getting alarmingly affordable. I see clapped out to high mileage but presentable ones in the 45-55 range in my area all day. I think they made way too many for them to maintain their collector status forever. I’ll occasionally entertain the thought of going to look at a Charger Hellcat but I know damn well it’s more power than I can responsibly handle…and I’m high-ish functioning dude in his 30s with a fair amount of powerful car experience.
The thought of a bunch of average Joes and Janes getting their hands on these is um…less than comforting. They’re not for the faint of heart and one poorly timed send can do a lot of damage. But anyway…I’ve thought that the wide body Scat Pack is the best way to have a Challenger for a while now and I stand by it. I think that’s the true sweet spot. Or hell…even just doing an RT. It’s still a nearly 400 horsepower V8 and you can actually have some fun wringing it out without winding up in jail.
I can tell you from experience that the 5.7 Hemi is plenty.
I actually think a highly equipped RT that’s either been discounted heavily new or is lightly used is a great buy. You can get nice ones in the mid to high 30s all day with the nicer interior appointments, upgraded audio, etc. Would make for a damn fine cruiser and 370 or however many horses it is is more than enough to have some fun without winding up in jail.
Ok, say what you will about Chrysler, but damned if that thing doesn’t look badass as all get out.
Lots of people are going to say these are going to be worth a lot of money, I don’t think so. They’ve made so many “Special edition” hellcats just like corvettes that are just appearance packages of normal hellcats that they end up making too many of and end up being worth essentially nothing over a regular one when you go out and sell it. And with how lots of hellcat owners drive their cars and how many of these were produced I think the hellcat market will end up how Doug DeMuro predicted it. The market is going to be flooded with over the top 7 mile every option cats that were bought as investment cars that can’t sell because garage queens are a dime a dozen. And run down 5 accident cars will run rampant at every high school in the country making it impossible to find a nice 50k-80k mile example that wasn’t abused or neglected it’s entire life for a decent price just like 90s Japanese cars.
All good points, but I think it’ll be a little different seeing as this is the last hurrah for gas cars in general. Over the course of the switch to alternative fuel cars, I bet a lot of neat stuff will be crushed, leaving only the cars people went out of their way to preserve. We saw it on a much smaller scale with Cash fir Clunkers a few years back. I don’t doubt they’ll offer something similar in the future..
Right. The way things are trending today, at some point gasoline will be too expensive for normal folks to regularly use it. Certainly for the high school kid to buy a used Challenger R/T and do dumb stuff in it.
So eventually you’ll be left with the ones trapped in a warehouse as an “investment” and a few that get used every once and a while by enthusiasts with a few extra bucks for gas.
Maybe this will out me but am I the only one here who wants a manual in something that doesn’t have a ton of horsepower?
I love shifting, and in my experience having a ton of gears and a manual transmission makes the most out of low horsepower powerplants.
The only high power manual I drove was a GT500 and the clutch was so heavy I hated it. I imagine that a clutch for 700 hp would be worse.
I have a manual CTS-V and it has 650 hp on the stock clutch and its just fine. Not at all heavy either. My Subaru sti clutch was heavier honestly.
You’re not alone. I feel like I have more fun wringing out a Miata than trying not to kill myself in one of these monsters.
I agree, the best time I ever had driving was back in the mid-Eighties when I ran ported Mazda rotaries on the street and at the track. Winding those tiny motors up to 8500-9000 RPM and banging off shifts was/is automotive nirvana for me. Now I have one of the last Accord coupes made with a V6/6-speed, and it’s still pretty fun, but those old Wankels were a blast.
You are absolutely not the only one. Hence the whole “slow car fast” thing. 0-60 in some absurdly low number is fun once or twice, then it’s boring. Having a car that’s actually enjoyable to wring out is far more fun.
While I love a good manual as much as the next guy, I don’t know if I’d spec one on a car whose sole purpose is straight line acceleration.
Never Stellantis, except this one. This rocks. Thank you Dodge.
Credit has to be given to Chrysler for functionally turning the Charger and Challenger into a 911-esque product line.
In that you could get a base 911 for X, or a GT2 RS or a Speedster for triple that (or more), and there’s a trim at seemingly every conceivable price point for every type of buyer in between.
Chrysler not only attempted it, but they actually succeeded. Not easy to do. All manufacturers would kill to be able to do that for a product line.
“Back in the 1960s, your muscle car wasn’t hot if you were running an automatic.”
eh…. I mean if you were really into drag racing, a lot of the pros preferred automatics for greater consistency.
Yeah. Plenty of muscle cars out there in automatic and if you talk to the guys who were there they’ll all rattle off the names of the autos… 727 Torqueflight, TH350/400, etc
True, but you’re talking about modifying a Powerglide with higher stall speed and then gearing the diff so that you only needed that one shift to get to 1320. Great on the strip, but a bloody mess driving mom to the grocery store.
Too bad it’s not available on the Charger Hellcat 😛
I wish I had the disposable income to buy on and stick it in a climate controlled garage as these will sell for truckloads of money at auctions in the future.
Sir, I don’t think this is the car website for you.
This seems to be the car that 30 years from now will have climate controlled zero mile examples, a bunch of salvage titled wrecks, and nothing in between.
Nothing!
Yeah, I’m already seeing hooned to oblivion Hellcats as low as the 40s in my area….and nice enough to consider examples with moderate mileage in the high 50s/low to mid 60s. Hell there’s a really nice example for sale not that far from me in the low 70s right now.
As I said in my original comment, I’m not sure how collectible these will wind up being. I’m sure there will always be a couple showroom condition special edition ones that will fetch a pretty penny at auctions, but ones that have been driven are already falling a ton.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they keep dipping for a little while, especially with gas guzzlers falling out of favor pretty hard in most circles….although I don’t think any of us want to see them get TOO affordable because these are cars that need to be respected. I think I can count the amount of people I’d trust with a Hellcat without even needing a full hand.
…do I still want to give one a rip at some point? You bet! But I don’t know that I’d ever own one. I think the best case scenario would be losing my license to be honest….and I wouldn’t appreciate people trying to race me constantly which I’m sure happens when you’re in one of these. My ideal Challenger is probably a wide body scat pack or one of the limited RT runs.
I think it is the Demon, and not the Hellcat, that will be worth a lot of money in the future.
In my hood, lots of people with 300 credit scores roll around in these, with no tags or plates. If the cops try to pull them over, it’s “drop a gear and disappear.”
I know myself well enough that if I had a Hellcat, I’d hoon that thing to death. It would be so much glorious fun!
I really love the philosophy behind this car, but if I had my way, that engine would be in something much smaller, lighter, and with much lower drag. Its potential is hampered by just how much load is induced. The earlier iterations of Hellcat couldn’t even crack 200 mph.
I see them as future Vipers but without quite the sex appeal and with much greater numbers
I had a blue/white GTS on my wall growing up and now have a red SRT in the garage. It’s way too much power in way too small a package but damn if it doesn’t put a smile on my face by just firing it up.
I completely disagree. There have been waaaaaay too many special edition hellcats and they made plenty of these challengers with a manual.
These won’t be that collectible IMO.
That’s a really nice green.
The world could use more green cars (color). It could also use more green cars (environmentally friendly). But I won’t fault Dodge sending the Challenger/HEMI engines out in a blaze of glory.
I hope to own a fun, green green car someday, though.
I own a boring green car. My project car will be painted a very light green too.