The Hellcat Powered Jeep
This insane SUV is powered by the same engine as the Hellcat Charger and Challenger. This is the track focused SUV called the TrackHawk, and it’s based on a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
When Chrysler went to a meeting one day, they wanted to make something really cool. The people at Jeep thought it was a really good idea, then one of the Dodge executives had an even better idea. “Why don’t we put a Hellcat engine in one of Jeeps Cherokees?” Jeep loved the idea, and that’s how we got this insane SUV.
When SRT (Street & Racing Technology) was tuning the engine for the new super SUV they had one goal, to make the TrackHawk the most powerful SUV. So, they tuned it to make over 700 horsepower. SRT was so enthusiastic about making a track SUV that SRT did not test its off-road capability, instead they tested it at the Nurburgring. It posted a 7:51 seconds which is insanely quick for an SUV.
One of the reasons people love this car so much is because it does not look like it has 707HP under the hood. It looks like a car that a parent would drop their kids to school in. It does not stand out in a crowd, but if you see one at a race track, it would turn some heads as it is fast. I know I said that the BMW M5 was the best sleeper car, but now I’ve changed my mind, I think this is.
It has one big engine too, a supercharged 6.2 Liter V8 making 707 horsepower and 645 pound-feet of torque. It shoots to 60 in 3.5 seconds and has a top speed of 175 miles per hour. As you might expect, it is quite heavy, tipping the scales at 5,363 pounds. Unlike its Hellcat brothers, it has four-wheel drive, which helps get the power to the ground a lot quicker.
It just amazes me that this car has an engine from a purpose built muscle car. This is the very definition of “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”. This just might be my new favorite SUV. There have been so many people who walk past these and think that are just Grand Cherokee, but it’s not, it’s a track built SUV. And I love that.
