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Would You Rather, The Ballistic Family Hauler Edition: Take Your Pick Between A Hellcat Challenger/Magnum Hybrid Or The Upcoming Grand Cherokee TrackHawk!


Would You Rather, The Ballistic Family Hauler Edition: Take Your Pick Between A Hellcat Challenger/Magnum Hybrid Or The Upcoming Grand Cherokee TrackHawk!

The fight between the car you want to own and the car you probably need to own doesn’t need to happen. We want performance: enough power that driving is fun when nobody is in the car with you, handling that is top-notch, enough room for the whole family and some extra cargo, and looks that sell themselves. Such creations are exceedingly rare and up to individual taste as to whether or not they fit the bill, and certainly are not going to be huge hits with the generic car-buying public, but that is part of the attractiveness. For this round of Would You Rather, we’re diving into the late-model Mopar world, the land of the Hellcat Hemi, and adding cargo capacity that the Hellcat Charger could only dream of. One of these is a wishful thought, the other is a long-rumored concept that was teased out to dealers a couple of months back. It is up to you to select which one of these ground-pounders is your cup of tea.

1. Dodge Challenger/Magnum Hellcat Hybrid

hellcat wagon

When Dodge discontinued the Magnum wagon in 2008, a lot of fans cried foul. The LX-based wagon didn’t sell in the numbers that DaimlerChrysler had hoped for, and that’s a shame because that meant we lost a rear-drive and all-wheel-drive station wagon with the ability to hold a V8 and the potential, via being related to the Dodge Challenger, to pack a manual transmission. Oh, what could have been. However, someone in the land of the Internet, decided to do something about the missing link and Photoshopped together a hybrid between the Dodge Magnum and the Dodge Challenger Hellcat. Most of the Magnum’s shape remains, but instead of the unique front clip we get the Challenger’s…which, to us at least, reminds us of an early 1970s Satellite’s nose in this application. If the Hellcat swap is done properly, there would be barely, if any difference felt between the Magnum and Charger platforms.

2. Jeep Grand Cherokee TrackHawk

2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT

The Hellcat-powered, all wheel drive Jeep Grand Cherokee TrackHawk has been a strong rumor for months now, and if the dealers’ conference earlier this year was any indication, FCA is planning on actually producing it. There may be questionable elements within Fiat-Chrysler, but best believe that somewhere in those buildings there are still gearheads with no leashes cooking up ballistic missiles for public consumption! Rumor is that the Hellcat Hemi will be detuned to the 600-ish horsepower range to keep the all-wheel-drive system from turning into a fine powder when the long pedal on the right is stomped on, and that the suspension will be beefed up to handle the additional speed. Trail rated? Not even close, but it lines up with a lot of Jeep lineage: it can handle people and cargo, it has an undeniable presence, and through sheer determination will conquer all. Think of it as General Patton’s personal freeway rocket.


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8 thoughts on “Would You Rather, The Ballistic Family Hauler Edition: Take Your Pick Between A Hellcat Challenger/Magnum Hybrid Or The Upcoming Grand Cherokee TrackHawk!

  1. mooseface

    The hot wagon brings the sexiness to the party for sure, that would be my poison of choice.
    Not disputing the fact that the Cherokee is a solid machine or that its powerplant is appealing, but it’s just no XJ.

  2. man

    i think the challenger wagon looks a lot like a 71-73 coronet wagon, and that’s not a bad thing, however, i think the charger nose fills the bill much better, and would be better an attaining crazy 11 sec / 200 mph numbers, specially if you make it AWD… on the other hand, there’s just something about a 600hp+ JEEP kicking just about any other SUV’s arse!

  3. ColinV

    I rely like that Magenger? wagon a lot! The Trackhawk is cool for what it is and I would rock no problem but with a detuned to ONLY 600 hp I would love to lower a mid late 70 Ramcharger and mash the AWD and Hellcat in there.

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