Sadly, the 2023 model year will be the last for the current generation of the Dodge Charger and it seems as though the supercharged Hellcat Hemi is likely to come to an end after 2023 as well. With that in mind, it looks as though 2023 will be the final model year for the monster-power Dodge muscle cars, so going forward, there won’t be new Hemi-powered super-sedans – leaving the Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Jailbreak shown here as the ultimate American performance sedan.

Sure, Dodge is likely to introduce an electric Charger that is quicker in the quarter mile. In fact, the brand has already gone so far as to say that the top-of-the-line Charger Banshee will beat the current Hellcat cars in every performance metric. While the new Charger is a two-door, it is logical to assume that any electric drivetrain in a two-door Dodge will eventually be offered in a four-door sedan, but that doesn’t matter here. I am not saying that the Charger Redeye Jailbreak will always be the quickest of the American performance sedans – but based on its overall characteristics, it will always be the best proper American performance sedan ever.

The heart of the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Jailbreak is the 6.2-liter Hemi V8 topped by a 2.7-liter IHI supercharger. This package delivers 807 horsepower and 707 lb-ft of torque, making it the most powerful gasoline-powered sedan in the world by a comfortable margin. All of that power is sent to the rear wheels by means of a lightning-quick-shifting 8-speed automatic that chirps the tires hard on the second and third gear shifts. 

With the stock tires, the Charger Redeye Jailbreak will run easy 10-second quarter mile times, making it the quickest gasoline-powered sedan in the world, trailing only the Tesla Model S Plaid. The top speed of 203 miles per hour makes it the fastest stock four-door in the world, making short work of the Tesla with its governed top speed of 162.

Due to the all-wheel-drive electric drivetrain, the Tesla Model S Plaid has a clear advantage in acceleration over the Charger Redeye Jailbreak, but that pricey appliance simply doesn’t provide the proper muscle car experience that most American drivers want from their performance car. Of course, the Tesla lacks the sweet roar of the Hemi with the accompaniment of the supercharger whine, but muscle car feel isn’t all about the sound.

The combination of 807 horsepower, 707 lb-ft of torque and rear wheel drive leads to a big sedan that feels like a proper muscle car – although some insist that the extra door exclude it from the title. When you hammer the throttle from a dig or from a roll, it transfers the weight hard to the rear wheels, feeling like it would want to lift the front wheels with a little more power and a much better traction. 

When going through a turn, a quick pop of the throttle will allow the back end to step out, and while it is perfectly controllable, the rear-drive Jailbreak is easy to “drift”. Of course, that is just like a moving burnout, and burnouts are something that this car does very well. From a stop, you don’t really have to even hold the brake pedal – you just stomp the throttle with the traction control disabled and the supercharged sedan will put on a smoke show like few other stock vehicles in the world. 

In fact, you don’t even have to be stopped, as at low speed in second gear, you can initiate a monstrous rolling burnout with a quick pump of the brake and a punch of the throttle. The ability to roast the tires when cruising Woodward or being able to kick the back end out on cue adds to the driving excitement with every high powered muscle car and right now, those are aspects that the quicker EVs simply cannot match.

When combined with the whine of the supercharged and the thunderous roar of the exhaust from the 6.2-liter Hemi, the ability to do burnouts and kick the ass end out from time to time all come together to create the proper muscle car feel. The Charger Redeye Jailbreak might not be the absolute quickest four-door sedan in the world, but when you combine its performance metrics with the sound and rear-drive dynamics, there is no question that this is the best American performance sedan that will ever exist.

That being said, the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Jailbreak isn’t just a rowdy burnout machine. For a rear-drive car with so much power – easily hitting over 600 horsepower during a fairly soft pull through third gear on the street – it is very easy to handle. While it will happily roast the tires, smart driving and careful throttle control allows you to use all of that power on the street, whether you are launching from a stop or pushing the car hard through the twisties. 

Switch over the stability and traction control systems to the Track setting, you can get pretty wild and still have the safety tech engage from time to time, preventing this beast from getting too unruly. The Bilstein adaptive dampers do a great job of providing a smooth ride, even in Track Mode, but more importantly, they keep this big sedan from rolling too much in corners. As a result, the Charger Redeye is unquestionably one of the best-handling big sedans that has ever graced American roads. Should you get into a turn a bit too hot, or if a small animal runs out in front of you, the huge Brembo brakes get this 4,500+ pound sedan stopped in incredible fashion.

Really, the biggest limiting factor for the Charger Redeye Jailbreak – and all Hellcat-powered Dodge cars – is the factory tire choice. The stock Pirelli P Zero tires are fine for daily driving and with enough practice, there are people who have run 10s in the quarter mile with the factory tires. However, had Dodge chosen a higher performance (and higher priced) tire for the stock performance tire option, this car would be even more incredible on the street and on the track. 

That is why you will rarely see any Dodge Hellcat car with the factory tires in place, as the vast majority of people who want to improve the performance capacities quickly switch to different rubber. That is my only criticism of this car. Hell, that is the only criticism of the Hellcat cars from most reviewers, showing just how great this supercharged sedan performs in every way.

While the Jailbreak package for the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye adds 10 extra horsepower, the real attraction to this package is the fact that you can assemble pretty much any combination of interior and exterior trim options that you want. In past years, you couldn’t get certain colors of wheels or certain interior colors with certain body colors, but the Jailbreak package lets buyers pick from a long list of wheel styles and colors, badge colors, stripe colors, interior patterns and seat belt colors.

My 2022 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Jailbreak was obviously designed and ordered by someone within the company, and they did a great job of creating a relatively unique look. As you can see, the car is painted Indigo Blue with dual silver stripes, red badges, blue Brembo brake calipers, black exhaust tips and the Warp Speed Satin Carbon wheels which were originally offered on the Daytona 50^th Anniversary Edition models. Inside, it was fitted with the Black and Hammerhead Gray Laguna leather and the standard black seat belts. This isn’t a particularly extreme Jailbreak build, but it has enough unique features that someone who knows can easily recognize it next to a “standard” Redye. In fact, while driving this car, I had several people ask if it was a Jailbreak due to the red badges and silver wheels.

The Jailbreak package (for 2022) costs about a thousand dollars more than the standard Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye and many of the differently colored items also add to the bottom line, but for the ability to configure a car exactly how you want it – I think that this package is worth every cent. Jailbreak will be offered for the non-Redeye Hellcat cars in 2023 and I expect that it will be very popular.

As for the 2022 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Jailbreak, I truly believe that this is the pinnacle of modern American performance sedans. With Dodge getting away from the big-power Hemi engines in the future, there is really no competition, as Ford and Chevy haven’t offered a high performance sedan in ages and the electric appliance from Tesla might be fast, but it lacks the driving dynamics of a proper rear-drive, gasoline-fed performance car.

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