There are cars that transport you, cars that entertain you, cars that coddle you, cars that entice you, and cars that seem determined to engage your every sensibility. The gas-powered Dodge Charger belongs firmly in the final category. With a focus on cutting-edge technology, unrelenting performance, and striking modern design, it’s been built to push every sensory button.
When you first approach it, the Charger immediately exhibits the core visual aggression of a muscle car, with its low and wide stance with long hood and short deck proportions. But, even at first glance, it immediately offers a distinctly modern interpretation of the category. You’ll notice that the Charger is available as either a two-door or a four-door—though neither choice is accompanied by the compromises you might typically associate with these body styles.
The car’s performance, handsome menace, flair, and all-around usability remain, regardless of how many handles you see on the exterior. You just need to decide if you desire the additional drama offered by the coupe, or the extra practicality of the sedan. The Charger’s cleverest piece of packaging may also be its least obvious.
Regardless of which body style you choose, at the rear, you won’t find a traditional trunk, but a hidden hatch. Engineered to blend invisibly into the Charger’s profile, when closed, it maintains the car’s sleek visual continuity. But when it’s opened, it swings wide and high, creating easy access to the huge cargo area, one that expands to near SUV proportions when you flip down the rear seats.
At the other end, under the hood, Dodge has installed a formidable 3.0-liter inline-six engine, the SIXPACK. This sophisticated, twin-turbocharged, 24-valve, double-overhead-cam engine distinguishes the Charger from simply being an exercise in thumping V8 nostalgia. It’s more like a thrilling, innovative experiment in controlled excess.
Next to the Super Bee at the top of the gas-powered range, the Charger Scat Pack is motivated by the SIXPACK HO, producing a muscular 550 horsepower and a thrusty 531 lb-ft of torque—well more than Dodge’s 392-cu-in V8. The Charger R/T is powered by the entry level SIXPACK SO engine, but it’s no slouch, churning out a rowdy 420 horsepower and 468 lb-ft of torque. Those numbers translate into the kind of acceleration that innately stimulates your limbic system, forcing out a giggle, or a gurgle, every time you put your foot into it.
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