2021 Dodge Charger

NOTE: This video is about the 2020 Dodge Charger, but since the 2021 Dodge Charger is part of the same generation, our earlier analysis still applies.

The Dodge Charger carries on the long and wonderfully American tradition of rear-wheel-drive V8-powered family sedans. In this video, Kurt Niebuhr reviews the 2020 Dodge Charger Scat Pack Widebody and explains why it remains one of the best of its kind.

[MUSIC PLAYING] SPEAKER 1: The American rear drive sedan, a staple of an automotive industry. Well, it was. The V8 sedan used to be the bread and butter of every American manufacturer. It's where the muscle car came from, and it doesn't really get any more American than that. But over time, sweet, sweet SUV and truck sales led manufacturers to simply abandon what they did best. Want some recent examples? Ford Crown Vic, history. Chevy Caprice, history-- actually, history twice, first time in 1996, the second time in 2017 just to spite us. The Dodge Charger? Well, it's still rocking. How? Let's look at the newest iteration, the Dodge Charger Scat Pack Widebody. Man, that's cool. So about that widebody package-- all the fenders are 3 and 1/2 inches wider than on a normal Charger. Now, they do that to help cover up the car's faintly ridiculous 20 by 11-inch-wide wheels. These are 305 section tires. That's crazy. But changes haven't just been made to the bodywork. There are new sway bars, and there's three-mode adaptive damping. Another fun fact, the name of these wheels. These are devil's rims, or at least that's what Dodge calls them. But I had a chance to talk to the designer of these wheels, and internally they were known as coffin wheels. [WOLF HOWLING] See it? That's pretty damn cool. A few other cool features about this car, one of them has to be that mail slot front bumper. That takes fresh air and shoves it right in the radiator's face. Something else-- it's not as cool to me, but if you like the black hood, well, that's part of the satin black paint package. And that includes the hood, the roof, and the trunk lid. And I hope you like it, because it'll set you back $3,500. So let's talk some real numbers now. Under the hood is a 392-cubic-inch, or 6.4 liters in old money, V8 engine. It makes 485 horsepower and 475 foot-pounds of torque. And it's made it up to an eight-speed traditional automatic transmission. It shifts hard and actually shifts pretty quickly too. So hiding or not hiding inside this car's massive 20 by 11-inch wheels are Hellcat brakes essentially, six-piston Brembos that clamp down on 15.4-inch two-piece rotors. And these brakes are bigger than the wheels on my first car, which was a Saab 900S, in case you were interested. Look at this. It's silly, but you know what? This is what Dodge does best. They do silly sedans. Love it. [ENGINE REVVING] So no one's going to accuse the Charger of being too modern on the inside, but I don't think you can criticize it for being too difficult to use either. Some people say that it is past its expiration date, but it still works. And it works better than a lot of other cars that try too hard. They try to be too clever. Let's take the ventilation controls, for example. It's a split setup with analog and digital. Normally I'm not a big fan of that, but they split the right items. All your major controls are here. You have a big fan speed knob, auto button, AC. A simple button push and you get the rest of your climate controls. Another bonus about not trying to be too clever, these are big air vents. They're easy to adjust. They flow a lot of air. And they cool a car as big as the Charger. Something else I like about this screen-- and it's not really the screen itself, but it's the shelf right at the bottom. It makes it easy to stabilize your hand on it, and push buttons, and scroll through the many, many millions of apps that this car seems to have, including the performance apps. Now, all of this is a lot of cool information, but probably stuff you shouldn't always be looking at when you're on the road-- temperatures, and pressures, G-force readings, power output, lap timers for freeway on-ramps. But you've got a drive mode selector. This is pretty cool. Now, you've got four main drive modes essentially-- track, sport, custom, and auto. Auto does a pretty good job on its own, and it's kind of hard to argue with it. But I like the custom setting because it allows you to change things like transmission response, paddle shifters, traction control, suspension-- these have three-mode adaptive shocks-- and steering, which is also a three-mode system. It's just the right amount of adjustability that you can have, and you can really dial the Charger in to suit your personality. But this car also has line lock, which is essentially a burnout button. You can't get that on a Ford Taurus. Actually, I don't even think you can get a Ford Taurus anymore. Shame-- not really. [MUSIC PLAYING] So with our test track still currently closed we don't have test numbers for this exact car, but we can revisit some of the ones from a non-widebody Charger from a couple years ago. Now, I wouldn't expect the Widebody to be significantly quicker to 60. It might pick up a couple of tenths time and speed through the quarter mile. It's probably a push. This car's got wider tires, so more rolling resistance. It's got a wider body, so more aero drag. Where I really think the Widebody is going to come into its own are braking and handling tests. Brakes on the normal Charger were quite good, but the 305 tires on this thing can really get put to good use. And the same goes for handling. So I wouldn't be too surprised to see this thing pull almost a G on the skid pad-- in a Charger, which is a family sedan with 11-inch wide tires. I can't wait to get back on the track. So what does this car compete with? What's America got to offer in terms of competition? [CRICKETS CHIRPING] Oh, how about the Impala? No. I think the main competition for this car comes from the Genesis G70 and the Kia Stinger. Now, both of those cars you might say, well, they're not really in the same price range. Actually, they kind of are. When you option them up with all the performance stuff, all the tech, all the features, they cost just north of $50,000. Now, while this exact Charger kicks the door down at about $60,000, you can save quite a bit of money on a few options like the satin black paint and get a Charger 392 Widebody for just about $50,000. That's great competition. Now, while the Kia Stinger and Genesis G70 both have a lot of features-- and they do have powerful twin turbo V6 engines-- they're both missing something, a couple of cylinders-- [ENGINE REVVING] --and that sound. That sound's worth the money. [ENGINE REVVING] What else is out there? Well, we can list off some European cars. I know that not a lot of people would ever consider cross-shopping a European car with a Charger, but I think they should. Audi offers the S5 and the S4. They're around $60,000 too. And now they have a considerably higher amount of refinement, but they also lack a V8 engine. They're just not as fun. They're a little too serious now, a little too clinical. This car is fun. Fun is important when you buy a car. There's also the Jaguar XF. Now, there's no longer an XFR, but there's also no longer a V8 XF. But there is a hot six-cylinder version, but that one's going to come in at over $70,000 when you fully load it. And it lacks a V8 engine. There's also the BMW 540. Now, I know what you're saying. You could just get the M550 because that comes with a V8, but that car is also $75,000 and up. To keep the price fair, BMW 540i is going to be right around $60,000. That's going to be about the same size that this car is. Also has more refinement, but just not fun, not like this is. I think this car can be cross-shopped against quite a bit more cars than people give it credit for because Dodge delivers power, lots of power, and value, and fun. Have I mentioned fun? Because this car is a lot of fun. Let's talk about handling. You could be excused for thinking that when you walk up to this car that it is a total monster, that it's looking to kill you, throw you into the trees any time you touch the car. Like that. But you know what? This car is friendly. It's easy to drive at the limit. And I got to give full marks to SRTs, chassis and suspension engineers, because this car, I mean really, has no business being this good on a curvy road. It should be frightening, and terrifying, and pants fillingly fast, and scary. But it's not. This car is friendly and easy to use. And that's because they just did such a good job sorting the chassis and the suspension. Now, this car is using three-way adaptive shocks. I currently have it in the sports setting. And I can drive this car about as hard as I want to because the car tells me what's going on. Rather than making the thing really stiff like some German performance sedans, they just kind of let the car be big. So it feels big. And yeah, it does kind of drive like a big car, but because of that you know what the car's up to. The car's being honest with you. It tells you where the weight's going. It takes a set into a corner right here. It's telling you what's going on, and that helps give you confidence. You know what's going on, so you can go faster, really. Almost have no business driving like this in this car. It's great. This is just-- [LAUGHS] Now, now, if you want to tell all your friends that this car is a serious ax murderer just to make yourself look like a great driver, I'm not going to tell anybody. If you looked up "burly" in the dictionary, you would find a picture of this engine. This is the 6.4 liter or the 392, like it says all over the car. V8-- this is 485 horsepower. And it is comfortably situated somewhere between lazy and snappy. It does not mind revving, but it's also comfortable just kind of like ripping around under 3,000 RPM. It's really something extra. Like, this is the quintessential muscle car motor. Lots of low down power, not super rev happy, but it doesn't need to be. It's got 485 horsepower, like, everywhere. It just pulls hard, sounds good. This is a traditional eight-speed automatic, so it's not a dual clutch automatic. But you know what? I don't mind. This has really quick up shifts if you want it. And it feels-- it just kind of matches the feel of the rest of the car. The transmission feels heavy duty. It feels like it can take the power that the engine is throwing at it. And I like the heaviness of the shifts. And it can be kind of abrupt, but you know what? It fits the character of the car. Everything in this car fits the character of the car. It's such a complete package. And because it's not a dual clutch, you don't get that kind of weird low speed chug that you can get out of one of those transmissions. This is just a normal automatic. The only thing I wish is that the throttle wasn't so jumpy. This thing, it's hard to parallel park this car because the throttle is just hair trigger. That first gear's short. It's a little too short. But, you know. I have to complain about something, right? [MUSIC PLAYING] For years, Dodge has continued to tweak and improve both the car's content and the performance. And the SRT guys love this car. They go to the car shows. They talk to the owners. They show them new paint colors and graphics packages. And then they go back to the factory and they deliver the goods. So with this new Charger Widebody, even in the lesser Scat Pack version, consider the goods delivered. [ENGINE REVVING] This thing's wild. I love a manual though. I mean, you guys can just lift it out of the Challenger, right? And can you put some carbon brakes on this thing? [MUSIC PLAYING]