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.
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.
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