I traded in a 2014 Shelby GT500 for my Hellcat. Tonight is the first day I actually drove the Cat due to a busy work schedule this week. I live in Wisconsin and the temp was 21 Degrees F tonight. I put about 100 miles on the Hellcat, making a somewhat decent tapering off to halfhearted attempt at staying within the break in parameters.
This car is beyond awesome compared to the Shelby. I like the heavier feel of the doors shutting and the trunk. It reminds me of the old Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles of the 70s. It fits in the garage nicely. Pretty much the same as the Mustang. Just a bit wider. The automatic transmission in the Cat is a jewel. I played with all the modes. I was surprised at the Eco mode. It has wonderful soft shifts and it seems to do the best whine while accelerating do to the mushy shift points. My favorite custom setting was the A8 in track mode. What a neck snapper! The paddle shifters and rev matching downshifts are the cats pajamas. (Pun intended) The supercharger whine is a lot louder in the Hellcat and kicks in with light throttle. Another plus over the Ford with the sound deadening intake.
The new 2017 stereo is nice. Android auto locked up on me once with a podcast app and I had to delete the app to get anything to work again. The IHeart radio app constantly shows an error message. My 2014 Ram with Uconnect had that problem too. Pandora and Google play work well and have a better touch screen interface then the other apps. Google Play displays album art in the background. I noticed the Performance pages take a while to load on the screen. I think I read this has been a concern with the older 8.4 Uconnect too.
Compared to the Shelby which wanted to swap ends in an instant during my entire 3 years of owning it, the Hellcat is light years ahead in inspiring confidence during acceleration. I was worried over the 275 tires vs the 295s on the Ford but the Cat actually feels more stable. Dodge really has the stability/traction control software nailed. At below freezing temps with the Shelby I would have had the thing in the ditch or at least curbed two of the tires. (I never wrecked the Shelby by the way, but puckered a lot) I'm leaning toward driving the Hellcat in the winter on the days when the snow isn't too deep.
All in all my only regret is not getting a Hellcat when they first announced it. I had just taken delivery of the Shelby that July a couple months before. I really liked the Shelby and it was my first Supercharged, Big HP car, but I think the Hellcat trumps it easily. One last bonus is I would never trust anyone with driving the Ford, but I think my wife could get used to the Hellcat pretty fast and share driving in events like the Hot Rod Power Tour. - Al
This car is beyond awesome compared to the Shelby. I like the heavier feel of the doors shutting and the trunk. It reminds me of the old Cadillacs and Oldsmobiles of the 70s. It fits in the garage nicely. Pretty much the same as the Mustang. Just a bit wider. The automatic transmission in the Cat is a jewel. I played with all the modes. I was surprised at the Eco mode. It has wonderful soft shifts and it seems to do the best whine while accelerating do to the mushy shift points. My favorite custom setting was the A8 in track mode. What a neck snapper! The paddle shifters and rev matching downshifts are the cats pajamas. (Pun intended) The supercharger whine is a lot louder in the Hellcat and kicks in with light throttle. Another plus over the Ford with the sound deadening intake.
The new 2017 stereo is nice. Android auto locked up on me once with a podcast app and I had to delete the app to get anything to work again. The IHeart radio app constantly shows an error message. My 2014 Ram with Uconnect had that problem too. Pandora and Google play work well and have a better touch screen interface then the other apps. Google Play displays album art in the background. I noticed the Performance pages take a while to load on the screen. I think I read this has been a concern with the older 8.4 Uconnect too.
Compared to the Shelby which wanted to swap ends in an instant during my entire 3 years of owning it, the Hellcat is light years ahead in inspiring confidence during acceleration. I was worried over the 275 tires vs the 295s on the Ford but the Cat actually feels more stable. Dodge really has the stability/traction control software nailed. At below freezing temps with the Shelby I would have had the thing in the ditch or at least curbed two of the tires. (I never wrecked the Shelby by the way, but puckered a lot) I'm leaning toward driving the Hellcat in the winter on the days when the snow isn't too deep.
All in all my only regret is not getting a Hellcat when they first announced it. I had just taken delivery of the Shelby that July a couple months before. I really liked the Shelby and it was my first Supercharged, Big HP car, but I think the Hellcat trumps it easily. One last bonus is I would never trust anyone with driving the Ford, but I think my wife could get used to the Hellcat pretty fast and share driving in events like the Hot Rod Power Tour. - Al
