The Dodge Challenger Black Ghost conjures images of a sinister black car taking on all comers at night on a deserted stretch of road. Named after the legendary 1970 Dodge Challenger that cruised Detroit’s Woodward Avenue, it’s part of a series of Last Call special edition cars from Dodge. That makes it an ideal vehicle to go up against the new Kia EV6 GT in a U-Drag matchup between old-school muscle and EV performance.
Edmunds Cars designed the U-Drag as a race to test a car’s overall performance. It starts with a quarter-mile drag race followed by a U-turn and a sprint back to the start. The idea is to test a vehicle’s acceleration, braking, and handling to determine which car has the best overall performance as opposed to just straight-line speed.
Starting with the Dodge Challenger Hellcat as a foundation, the Black Ghost gets a supercharged 6.2-liter V8 with 807 horsepower and 707 pound-feet of torque. An eight-speed automatic transmission sends the power to the rear wheels, propelling the Challenger to 60 miles per hour in 4.6 seconds while covering a quarter-mile in 12.4 seconds at 121.2 mph. Weighing in at 4,476 pounds, it’s big, fast, and ready to rumble.
The Kia EV6 GT is one of the latest high-performance electric vehicles. But it seemingly has its work cut out for it against the Challenger. It produces less power, just 576 horsepower and 545 pound-feet of torque, and weighs more at 4,793 pounds. But the Kia has one advantage – the torque is instantaneous and delivered through a direct drive all-wheel drive system. That means the power is always on, delivered to all four wheels.
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Ultimately the instant torque makes all the difference. The Kia EV6 GT reaches 60 mph in 3.6 seconds and the quarter-mile in 11.8 seconds at 120.5 mph. Even though the Challenger Black Ghost has a faster trap speed and corners at 1.21 G, it can’t close the gap fast enough.
In a longer-distance drag race, the results might be different. The Challenger Black Ghost is lighter and more powerful, building a full head of steam right when it has to slam on the brakes. The Kia scoots away faster at the start, but by the U-turn, the Challenger is reeling it in.
