Horsepower Wars - Who Had the Most at the Detroit Auto Show
You can’t go wrong buying a muscle car these days. The Big Three are all boxing with engines that’d make the mountain motors of the 60s blush with relentless horsepower and torque combined with too-good-to-be-true fuel economy and reliability. While the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS, aka, the Detroit Auto Show) was heavy on pick-up trucks this year, with Ford, Chevrolet, and Dodge showing off new full-sizers and compacts, there was no shortage of Motown speed present. Ford stole the press with the Steve McQueen’s Bullitt hero car, but did they steal the horsepower on the floor? We’ll tally up the total horsepower of the Big Three’s rear-drive and all-wheel-drive performance models, including the V6s, and see who won the horsepower wars at the Detroit Auto Show — plus, you’ll have no excuse for not knowing the numbers at the next bench race! We’re also adding bonus points for cut-away engines to keep it interesting, because who doesn’t like staring into those guts?
CHEVROLET
755hp — 2019 Corvette ZR1
650hp — 2018 Camaro ZL1 (w/ 1LE package)
460hp — 2018 Corvette Grand Sport
455hp — 2018 Camaro SS/RS (Hot Wheels Edition)
= 2,320hp
+ 1,205hp Cut-Away Bonus (LT5 and LT1)
3,525hp total
Have we hit peak C7 with the LT5-powered ZR1? Is it a coincidence its designation number is shared with the Saturn V rocket? At 750hp, it’s possible — but we wouldn’t hold it past Chevy to swing for the fences with the rumors and spy photos of the “Zora” mid-engine Vette suggesting GM is close to challenge the classic push-rod-V8-up-front formula of GM’s halo car. The Camaro line-up is stronger than ever with the ZL1-1LE eating just about any track it can with a blown LT4 and just about every aero and suspension trick GM knows. The refreshed 2019 Mustang can tout its 10-speed automatic, the ZL1 had the co-developed automatic first. We could clue-in the Cadillacs as wild cards, but stuck to Chevrolet for this round.
FORD
647hp — 2018 Ford GT (Heritage Edition)
526hp — 2018 Mustang GT350
475hp — 2019 Mustang GT (50th Anniversary Bullitt Edition)
460hp — 2019 Mustang GT
350hp — 2018 Focus RS
325hp — 1698 Mustang GT S-Code (Bullitt 598, the Hero Car)
=2,323hp
+876hp Cut-Away Bonus (Voodoo and RS 2.3L)
3,199hp total
If you’re looking towards the not-so-distant future of performance, get a glance at Ford. While GM and FCA are swinging hard at performance numbers — and don’t worry, GT500 is brewing — Ford has been laying out a ground work for contemporary performance. The Coyote and Voodoo have developed into twin-cam powerhouses, while the rest of the brand has built itself around turbocharged mills. Will a twin-turbo six ever replace the howling Ford small block? Not for now, and Ford earned a respectable 3,199hp — but with the Wild Card, the new Edge ST, carrying a 335hp twin-turbo V6, do we count it with four doors and a hatch? We’ll leave that up to you, but it’d kick them over the Chevrolet hill by a hair with the addition of a high-performance family hauler.
DODGE
840hp — 2018 Challenger SRT Demon
707hp — 2018 Challenger SRT Hellcat (Widebody)
707hp — 2018 Charger SRT Hellcat
485hp — 2018 Challenger SRT 392
475hp — 2018 Durango SRT 392 (Mopar Parts)
475hp — 2018 Durango SRT 392
475hp — 2018 Durango SRT 392
370hp — 2018 Charger R/T
305hp — Challenger GT
4,839hp
+707hp Cut-Away Bonus (Hellcat 6.2)
5,546hp Total
Are we surprised? Not at all — Dodge has been hellbent on Hellcats and the results show in their “performance car for every family” approach to SUVs, coupes, and sedans. Yeah, there was a Demon, but the consumer-driven side of the show prevailed with a strong showing of Durango SRTs and Wild-Card Jeep Trackhawks (technically, not a Dodge). Still, we could cut a .006 light on the Demon simulator, so we’re happy with our accomplishments against the rest of the press that day. Still though, we’re curious where ‘Cuda is, and if we’ll truly see a pony-car-sized fighter from Mopar to compete on the Mustang and Camaro’s footprint — while the Challenger has hit its stride in being the most practical and most powerful muscle car of the three, we want a featherweight contender.
And we’d be remissed if we didn’t comment on the absence of a Viper. While the pendulum is in the all-capable hypercars’ court now, we wouldn’t be surprised to see high-performance buyers come back to raw, fast, and driver-focused cars like the SRT Viper ACR — and it’s not just our rose-and-venum tinted glasses here.
At the end of the day, Dodge won out over Ford and Chevrolet — but what does it matter in this bench racing list? Really, it doesn’t, we’re celebrating a great year for domestic performance moving into 2018. With rumors swirling closer and closer on the mid-engine Vette, Ford GT500, and next-generation Challenger and Charger, the Big Three’s performance cars are as healthy as we could hope for.
When was the last time you saw 12,270hp all in one spot?
SOURCE: HOT ROD
AUTHOR: Phillip Thomas