Retro Looking 2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

V8TV’s Muscle Car Of The Week pulls a 2016 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat from The Brothers Collection, shot with only 35 miles on the odometer. Viewers can’t stop talking about the supercharged whine, with one owner admitting he still smiles every time he starts his up months later. The comments turn into a running debate over Hellcat versus Camaro, versus a 392 Scat Pack Shaker manual, and even a look ahead to the Demon that hadn’t arrived yet. Watch to hear what 707 horsepower actually sounds like from the outside.

There’s a specific sound clip in this video that shows up in nearly every comment about it: the supercharger whine. Viewers call it magical, describe it as something that never gets old, and one owner says he still breaks into a huge smile every time he starts his own Hellcat, months after buying it. So what is it about 707 horsepower delivered through a screaming Roots-type blower that turns grown car enthusiasts into repeat commenters years after this episode aired?

The Supercharger Whine Everyone Keeps Talking About

This is episode 218 of V8TV’s Muscle Car Of The Week series, produced by Kevin Oeste and shot at the V8 Speed & Resto Shop, featuring a car pulled from The Brothers Collection. Unlike most of the series’ usual subjects from the 1960s and 70s, this episode focuses on a thoroughly modern machine, which the description frames directly: the challenge was building a new version of a legendary muscle car without overdoing it into something ridiculous, and according to the episode, Dodge pulled it off.

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A Modern Car in a Series Built on Classics

The car shown carries only 35 miles on the odometer, a detail sharp-eyed commenters caught immediately. One pointed out that Hellcats come with a strict factory break-in period, and seeing a car this fresh already being driven for a walkaround video runs against that recommendation. It’s a small detail, but it says something about how eager owners and enthusiasts alike are to get a Hellcat on camera the moment it arrives.

Only 35 Miles on the Odometer

Under the hood is the supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V8 that made the Hellcat name famous, rated at 707 horsepower from the factory, a number that redefined what a mainstream American muscle car could produce without stepping into exotic territory. One owner in the comments backs up the real-world experience: unbelievable power and acceleration, he says, but still reasonably good on gas mileage as long as you stay out of the throttle, a trade-off that surprised him even after months of ownership.

707 Horsepower and Surprisingly Good Gas Mileage

Interior comfort gets its own mention too, with the same owner calling out heated and ventilated Laguna leather seats as extremely comfortable, a detail easy to overlook next to a supercharged V8 but part of why Dodge marketed the Hellcat as a genuine daily driver rather than a stripped-down track special. That combination, brutal power paired with real creature comforts, is a big part of what separates this generation of Hellcat from older muscle cars built with far fewer compromises toward comfort.

Heated Leather Seats Next to a Supercharged Hemi

The comments also turn this into an informal cross-generation debate. One viewer lines the Hellcat up against a 2003-2004 Mustang Cobra Terminator and a Shelby Mustang Super Snake, treating all three as favorites within the modern muscle car conversation rather than ranking one above the others. Another simply asks whether they should buy a Camaro instead, a question that gets at the three-way rivalry between Dodge, Chevrolet, and Ford that has defined this segment for decades.

Hellcat vs. Cobra Terminator vs. Super Snake

At least one commenter is already looking past the Hellcat toward what came next, mentioning anticipation for a video on the Challenger Demon, the even more extreme drag-focused variant Dodge would eventually release. That kind of forward-looking comment, posted underneath a Hellcat episode, shows how quickly the goalposts moved once Dodge proved a factory car could hit these numbers at all.

Already Asking About the Demon

Color choice comes up too, with one commenter specifically praising this car’s light blue paint for giving it a more retro look, tying a thoroughly modern supercharged Hemi back visually to Dodge’s late-60s and early-70s High Impact color palette. It’s a deliberate design choice on Dodge’s part, offering period-inspired colors on a car with nothing period-correct happening mechanically underneath the sheet metal.

A Retro Color on a Thoroughly Modern Car

By the time this episode wraps, the real debate isn’t whether the Hellcat succeeded at being a modern muscle car; the comments settle that question almost immediately. The harder question, the one several viewers are still working through years later, is whether to choose the Hellcat’s brute-force approach or the more track-focused 392 Scat Pack Shaker with a manual transmission, a choice one commenter frames as picking between raw power and a more classic, engaging driving experience.

Hellcat or Scat Pack Shaker: The Real Debate

The Brothers Collection itself is worth noting as a source. V8TV pulls consistently from this same private collection across dozens of Muscle Car Of The Week episodes, ranging from 1960s icons to modern machines like this Hellcat, suggesting a collection built around breadth rather than a narrow specialty in one era or one brand. Seeing a 2016 Hellcat sit in the same rotation as a numbers-matching 1969 Road Runner says something about how the collection’s owners think about what counts as a genuine muscle car, extending the definition well past the classic era most collectors stop at.

A Collection That Spans Six Decades of Muscle Cars

The production side matters here too. Kevin Oeste’s work behind the camera, paired with the resources of a full working restoration shop as a backdrop, gives V8TV’s episodes a consistency that’s rare among car walkaround channels, where lighting, audio, and pacing often vary wildly from video to video. That consistency is likely part of why viewers keep returning to the series episode after episode, treating it less like a one-off video and more like a show with a format they already know and trust.

Why the Series Format Keeps Viewers Coming Back

One thing the comments never really settle is a straight quarter-mile answer, despite at least one viewer asking directly for the car’s ET. That gap fits the format: V8TV’s Muscle Car Of The Week has always leaned toward storytelling and detail shots over drag strip numbers, leaving the raw performance stats to the many other channels built specifically around timeslips and dyno pulls.

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