2023 Dodge Challenger

JONATHAN ELFALAN: Do it for Detroit. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Hi, I'm Alistair, that's Jonathan. This is a Kia EV6 GT. And that is the new Dodge Challenger SRT, Black Ghost. And this is Edmunds U-Drags. NARRATOR: Oh, hello, darkness, my old friend. We have one of only 300 Black Ghosts packing 807 horse ponies and 707 torques. It's a hefty 4,500 pounds and is rear wheel drive. We also raced it against our Shelby. Go check it out, go, go, go, go. But will this Ghost scare the pants off this electric EV6 GT, with its all-wheel drive, 576 ponies, and 545 instant torques? It's also over 300 pounds heavier. Just listen to this puppy purr. [CRICKETS] The sound of silence. These two are going head to head in our Edmunds U-Drags track, which starts with a quarter mile drag, then it's hard on the brakes and into a 180-degree turnaround. Then they power back to start/finish. At the end of the first run, to keep it Even-Stevens, we'll swap drivers and lanes and do it again. You know that part in YouTube videos you like, where the nice person is like, hey, smash like, subscribe, share with your friends? Well, we're no different. And for everything else, head over to edmunds.com/u-drags. Now, enough about me. Let's talk about you. ALISTAIR WEAVER: So setting this up for the run, I've gone into drive mode, and then turned everything to sport-plus-- that's the motor, the steering, the suspension, the electronic limited slip differential. Then I've turned the stability control off completely. To activate all of that, I hit the GT button on here. That, then, will ask me to confirm that I'm happy to drive with all the systems turned off. And we go into GT My Drive mode. Then it's simply a case of planting the right foot. Typically, this thing launches really well, which is going to be an interesting contrast to Jonathan in the Challenger. He's been busy warming up his tires, and creating a whole bunch of pollution. While I've been quietly sitting here, listening to music. I am in the limited edition Dodge Challenger SRT Black Ghost. This thing is bonkers. I'm going to go ahead and press the SRT button. That's going to bring up a drive menu. We can select track, which just turns everything to the sportiest setting. Here, it's a little bumpy. So I actually want to create a custom mode here, where I'm going to put the suspension just a tick softer in Sport, which will allow me to manage the traction a little better. And then from there, you go to your race options, launch control, make sure it's in drive, then I'm going to activate launch control. And then, all I do is press the brake with my left foot, and then floor the accelerator. You can go into the tools, and you can customize the RPM at which you're going to launch at. It's anywhere from 1,000, to, I think, 3,200 RPM. We are struggling for grip. I have it set to 1,000 RPM, which is the absolute lower limit. One of the cool little race options here is a chiller. And what it does is it uses the air conditioning to add to the inner cooling of the intake charge, so hopefully give you more power. Who doesn't want more power? Hopefully, that's enough to keep up with that EV6. COMPUTER VOICE: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. ALISTAIR WEAVER: And we're off and we're away. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Come on, hook up, hook up. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Little bit of wheelspin from both of us. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh, that EV6 is fast. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Pick your breaking point, pick your breaking point. Let's not tick too deep on it. That's better, that's better. Let's hit that cone. And now, feel the power. A little bit squirrely. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Come on, Black Ghost! ALISTAIR WEAVER: I think it's in the bag, I think it's in the bag. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Do it for Detroit! ALISTAIR WEAVER: Oh, my God, 110 miles an hour, 120 miles an hour, 130 miles an hour. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh, man. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Victory to the silent assassin. Jonathan, you just got burnt by the future. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I really thought the horsepower would come through here. But that EV6 is just shockingly fast. Like not just quick, but like fast. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Yeah, it's kind of funny that we both got a little bit of like wheelspin, and a little bit of a burnout off the line, not just you. I got the braking right, I got the-- it still gets a little bit of oversteer, which is kind of fun. I had a look across, and you were toast by the time I even got back onto the straightaway. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I was full throttle, like from here on the way out. I think if we had another quarter mile to go, I'd probably catch up to you. But man, that's a long ways to go to catch up. ALISTAIR WEAVER: OK, then, I think we're going to have to swap over and you're going to have to let me go old school. It's so cool that, it just looks amazing, that Challenger. It really does. JONATHAN ELFALAN: All right, my turn for EV6 GT. This thing, surprisingly fast-- like I thought for sure I was going to walk on it in that Black Ghost. Again, to get our fast launch, I'm going to put it into GT mode. And then, go ahead and turn traction and stability control completely off. That's it, I'm going to sit here in drive mode, and just press the accelerator when I hear a go. ALISTAIR WEAVER: So here we go in the Black Ghost-- I'm pretty much running the same setup as Jonathan. The only slight revision-- I put the steering into Track rather than Sport, which is just a personal preference thing. I like a bit more weight. It's a big heavy car, nice to have some hefty steering to go with it. One little thing that I did notice, it's about 150 degrees out here, so I tried to put the air conditioning on for a minute. And it won't let me, because it's chilling the intercooler. So I'm going to sweat. It's going to make me sweat for my art. It's kind of cool. COMPUTER VOICE: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. ALISTAIR WEAVER: He's got loads of wheelspin. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Here we go, EV6. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, see ya buddy. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Just puts the power down so much better. It still feels a bit loose, let's call for the braking. Here we go. OK, ease off the braking. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Little understeer there. Got it. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Got to turn, come on. I'm going to take a tighter line. I'm going to feed that part little bit of oversteer. He's gone. He's long gone. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Oh, my God, I'm sorry. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Man, it's so much easier in that Kia. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I am sorry, Mr. Challenger. ALISTAIR WEAVER: Well, I had more fun, but you were a clear, clear win. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I mean, it was fun being in front, too. But yeah, quite frankly, that Challenger is not much of a challenge, is it? ALISTAIR WEAVER: No, and I don't feel like I got a bad run. I got in maybe a fraction later on the breaks. But then, I was pretty patient. I got a little bit of oversteer as I started to put the power down hard. And I could see you were already ahead, so I was kind of having a bit of fun, as well. But yeah, I mean, you were gone off the line. You were gone. I was still wheel spinning, and trying to manage all that, and you were just gone. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I don't know what to say. I'm shocked. Shocked. I mean, it's cool looking. ALISTAIR WEAVER: It's really cool. JONATHAN ELFALAN: I would be losing my shit as like a teenager over this. Like this would be-- ALISTAIR WEAVER: It's like just perfect Americana, isn't it? JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah. NARRATOR: I'm starting to think you only like me for my peak performance numbers. After spinning all four wheels, the quickest zero to 60 goes to the EV6 GT's 3.6. A full second ahead of the Black Ghost best. At the quarter mile, it was the EV6 GT running its best time of 11.8 at 120.5 miles an hour. And the Challenger laid down 12.3 at 121.2. In the corner, the winner goes to the Ghost Pirelli, P0 gripping hardest, at 1.21 gigawatts-- great Scott. At the finish, the heavier, less powerful EV6 GT buzzed through with a 33.8 at 130.9. And the Ghost's best was 35.1 at 136.9. But it sounds so much cooler. And now, it's time for our Edmunds U-Drags leaderboard. Remember, each car's quickest run goes on the leaderboard, regardless of race pairing. The Challenger Black Ghost time improves slightly versus its earlier race against the GT500, notching a 35.1 at 136.9. Good job, little buddy. But this doesn't change where it sits on our leaderboard. The Kia's 33.8 at 130.9 puts it just ahead of the Black Ghost, and right below our Corvette Stingray. Not bad for a big-boned SUV. Oh, what's that? Did someone say they want a cool POV shot with some nerdy data? Here you go. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Come on, hook up, hook up, oh, my God. Oh, that EV6 is fast. Oh my, God. Come on, Black Ghost! Do it for Detroit! Oh, my God, that-- maybe if I had another mile. Oh, man. ALISTAIR WEAVER: And we're off and we're away. A little bit of wheelspin from both of us. He's now floundering. Pick your braking point, pick your braking point. It's not tick too deep on it. That's better, that's better. Let's hit that cone, and feel the power. Little bit squirrely. Where's he gone? I think it's in the bag, I think it's in the bag. 110 miles an hour, 120 miles an hour, 130 miles an hour. Victoire. So the Challenger wins our hearts, but not the race. In the race, the Kia was a clear winner. Wasn't really a contest. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah, I mean, the Kia just has everything, it puts everything together. All-wheel drive, so you got the traction, yet it has enough power to really drive through. And I was actually shocked at how little of a gap the power is. I mean, this thing has like over 250 more horses than that. And yet, like I wasn't pulling at all, you weren't really pulling on me at the race, and yeah, I mean, the Kia just gets it done. ALISTAIR WEAVER: But this thing, so emotive. And an absolute bargain. It might be $40,000 more than the Kia, but if you can buy one at MRSP-- and that's a big but-- you can keep it forever, and it will never, ever lose money. JONATHAN ELFALAN: Yeah, like I said, I can't imagine passing that down to anybody. It's probably going to be outdated in 10 years. Whereas, 10 years, that thing is probably going to cost 50%, 100% more than it does today. A bit of a challenge to drive, but I think with that comes the charm. And the thing that people are going to remember about this car, and why it's going to be a keepsake. ALISTAIR WEAVER: We're both going to go and quietly cry in the corner over the death of the Challenger. But that's the end of this U-Drags. If you want to see more, read all about it, check out the leaderboard, it's edmunds.com/u-drags, with an S. 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