Dodge Demon
Any car that rolls out of the factory with over 500 horses is a contender on our list. A car that comes with over 800 horsepower automatically gets a trophy, and that’s certainly the case with the 2018 Dodge Demon. Barely contained in a “street-able” production car, the Demon is the spawn of a relatively simple setup: A supercharged 6.2L V8, an 8-speed automatic transmission built to take the abuse, a stripped-down interior, a beefed up the rear, and some sticky street tires with drag slicks provided.
That all sounds cool, but it doesn’t do the Demon justice. To make this much power in a street-able car that doesn’t give you “on” or “off”, Dodge’s engineers had to get creative. For starters, the Demon runs on two different fuels, regular ole’ pump gas, and 100+ octane race fuel. On pump gas, the motor puts out around 808 horsepower and things are relatively toned down.
Once you fill up with race fuel, you can reconfigure the car’s PCM – the brains of the operation – to function entirely differently. The computer modifies timing and spark, firms upshift points, and turns the pedal from something tame into an “on/off” button – standing still, or shredding tires. With this Hellish mode activated, the Demon actually puts out closer to 900 horses, all ready and waiting with the press of the pedal.
Even cooler is the included “Demon Crate” the car comes with. Inside this mystery box, new owners will find a trove of track goodies: a hydraulic floor jack, a cordless impact wrench and torque wrench, a full tool bag, that magical PCM, a replacement air filter, and front-runner drag wheels. It’s basically everything you need to leave your house, hit the strip, swap tires, do some runs, and head home.
The best part about the Dodge Demon? Every single option costs just $1. That’s right, there are no $1,200 racing seats or an $800 stereo upgrade. Every single option the Demon comes available with costs one dollar. Dodge admitted the Demon’s high price and limited numbers were enough barriers of entry, so they made the options more symbolic of an experience than anything monetary. Very cool, indeed.
