Dodge sold the Challenger for 15 years and never gave it a full redesign. Depsite that, it sold well for a coupe and eventually proved even more popular than the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro. Over the years, Dodge made a long series of improvements and offered the Challenger with more special editions than many people knew what to do with. And yet, the Challenger was never quite perfect until one YouTuber finally fixed it. Meet the world’s first Challenger Hellcat 4×4.
As everyone knows, Dodge eventually added all-wheel drive as an option, but you couldn’t get an all-wheel-drive Hellcat. In fact, unless I missed one, Dodge never offered all-wheel drive on any Challenger with a V8. And while it was fun to drive in the snow, the lack of ground clearance and a true 4WD system meant you couldn’t get very far any time you tried to take it off-road.
Now, the Stellantis Explainers will tell you that’s because you could always buy the Ram 1500 TRX if you want an off-road Hellcat, but that’s Ram, which is a completely separate company, and the 1500 is a truck. Anyone who needed a Hellcat-powered off-road coupe was simply out of luck. Meanwhile, both Porsche and Lamborghini introduced off-road-focused versions of their own coupes. Clearly, the demand was there, Dodge.
Could it probably use a sway bar? Sure, if you’re into that whole “safe and predictable to drive on public roads” thing, but that’s easy to add. Now that the Hellcat 4×4 has passed its initial shakedown test, I want to see this thing set loose in the desert. Set the off-road Hellcat free, Western Champlin! Let’s see this thing fly off some sweet jumps!