American muscles

The two-door Challenger and four-door Charger share most of their basic structure and suspension design. And the Charger powertrains parallel those of its two-door brother—to a point. There is a 707-hp Charger Hellcat but no 797-hp Redeye. A 717-hp Charger Hellcat Widebody was announced earlier this year. But that’s still more than enough to qualify it as one of the hottest muscle cars. However, there is also a police-package Charger, so be careful; it may be appearing in a rearview mirror near you soon.

It’s tough to see out of any current Camaro coupe thanks to its gun-slit windows, but it’s easy to see that this sixth generation of the car is easily the most sophisticated and satisfying to drive. The top ZL1 with its 650-hp supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 will rip to 60 mph in only 3.5 seconds. If you don’t want quite that much power, you can have your Camaro motivated by either a 455-hp V-8, a 335-hp V-6, or a 275-hp turbocharged inline-four.5 of 10

The current Challenger has been in production since the 2008 model year and, even at age 12, this muscle car look stunning. It’s offered in a dizzying number of variations. The basic SXT uses the 305-hp V-6, but it’s the legendary Hemi V-8, in 5.7-, 6.4-, and supercharged 6.2-liter displacements, that brings the car its snarl. The supercharged Hellcat model is rated at 707 horsepower, but if that’s not enough there’s the limited-production Redeye version at 797 horsepower. The hottest Challenger, the Demon, is street drivable but developed primarily to roar down drag strips. It can produce up to 840 horsepower on 100-octane racing fuel.

It’s the only modern day muscle car to go as far as moving its engine behind the rear seats for the name for the sake of performance. How many cars on this list can you say you’ve driven in both front- and mid-engine layout? The new Corvette uses a familiar 6.2-liter V-8 engine that produces 490-hp, or 495-hp with the Z51 package. We’ve already settled which Corvette is quicker. We expect an even more powerful 600-hp version soon, which is only a warm-up for the Vette’s ever-growing muscles.

The entire world knows the Ford Mustang. This iconic muscle car has been in production without interruption since 1964. The latest, hottest-ever Mustang is available with a 310-hp 2.3-liter four, but it’s the 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 that brings the real muscle to this pony. With dual overhead cam heads and four valves per cylinder, it screams out a giddy wail as it approaches its 7400-rpm redline. The Coyote in the regular GT is rated at 460-hp, while that bumps up to 480 hp in the limited-production Bullitt, named after the 1968 Steve McQueen movie. The 526-hp 5.2-liter version of the Coyote in the Shelby GT350 spins to 8250 rpm. A 760-hp Shelby GT500 was recently announced, and Ford estimates its zero-to-60 mph time to be as swift as 3.3 seconds.

Description

Muscle car is an American term for high-performance coupes, usually but not limited to rear-wheel drive and fitted with a high-displacement V8 engine. The term originated for 1960s and early 1970s special editions of mass-production cars which were designed for drag racing.