The Dodge Challenger and Charger V8 muscle cars will reach the end of the road in the US next year. Here’s how we’d specify some of the last examples to roll off the production line.
Customisation is in vogue at the moment, but choice can be seriously confusing. In our configurator challenge, we let the Drive team loose on a manufacturer’s website to create their ideal combination for a certain model.
With the news this week that production of the Dodge Challenger and Charger duo is ending, we thought this week’s challenge should look at how we’d specify the V8 muscle cars’ last bows.
Let us know what your ideal 2023 Dodge Challenger and Charger would look like in the comments below (configure yours here), and the cars you’d like us to configure next.MORE: Confirmed: Dodge Challenger and Charger V8 muscle cars dead next year
James Ward, Director of Content
I have to admit, the volume of choices available on the Mopar muscle car menu is pretty overwhelming. It’s a good problem, and one I wish we had to manage here in Australia!
For my last hurrah, I’ve chosen the Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody, with its SRT 392 V8 (6.4-litre naturally aspirated) motor and a manual transmission. Sure, there are more shenanigans to be had from a Hellcat motor, but this will do me fine. Plus, when it crosses the auction block at Barrett-Jackson in 2062, it can be noted as a one-of-one special.
I’ve chosen Hellraisin (purple) paint with the black bonnet and Trans-Am decal kit. Most other things are standard, from the 20-inch wheels to the Houndstooth interior, because they kind of work with the Challenger’s dated (circa 2008) packaging.
The best bit – at $US66,490 ($AU95,250), or $US848 ($AU1215) a month on a lease, the cost of owning the car would almost be less than the cost of running the car!
Kez Casey, Production Editor
My plan for this one, as always, was to keep it simple. I have a real soft spot for Stormtrooper-spec white and black Chargers, so it stands to reason I’d build one of those, right?
Pfft, nah. The new Jailbreak option basically takes the good taste filters off the Dodge options catalog and lets you pair the worst of the worst together if you want to. Good thing I’m not that guy.
Instead I wanted to imagine what a brawny American muscle sedan might look like if a Euro brand got its hands on it.
My Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Jailbreak maintains the best bit – a 602kW supercharged 6.2-litre V8, and cloaks it in a widened four-door body, F8 Green paint, and offset with Brass Monkey wheels and badgework. All subtle, but there all the same.
Some less shouty details include black brake calipers, and black exhaust tips. Things you probably wouldn’t notice, which is really the point.
Inside I’ve gone for Sepia leather seats, matching floor mat edging, and ‘real carbon’ interior accents. A suede headliner keeps the Euro flair alive, but an Alcantara wheel with illuminated SRT logo feels very Americana.
At $US91,669 ($AU131,670), the final price feels expensive, but with untouchable performance for the price and the obvious transformation from US drag strip hero to Euro grand tourer, how could I not?
Ben Zachariah, Journalist
If you’re lucky enough to find yourself in Burgerland, faced with the amazing vehicle choices Americans have, you might as well buy something that is virtually non-existent in Australia. When in Rome, et cetera.
I’ve always thought the Chargers looked cool – particularly as subdued state police cars – but I just can’t go past the value of a Challenger R/T. The badge was used on the Australian Valiant Charger, so there’s a bit of a nod to the local muscle car era in my choice.
But the main reason is, in my modest specification, the car costs a bit over $US42,000 – less than $AU62,000. Or roughly the same price of a Lexus ES300h Down Under. Or, to put it another way, less than $US120 a week on a 36-month lease. Peanuts.
For some reason the configurators wouldn’t let me option black wheels with the shaker ‘hood’, but I dig the grey and black theme. I can always change the wheels later. Cloth seats are fine.
What’s really important is there’s a 5.7-litre Hemi V8 under the bonnet, sending 275kW and 536Nm to the rear wheels through a six-speed manual transmission. Plenty to play with while enjoying the endangered V8 soundtrack, but without too much power to rocket myself into oblivion.
Perhaps most importantly though, the Challenger gives me the opportunity to drive around quoting The Fast and The Furious.
Jordan Mulach, Journalist
As much as I enjoy scaring the living daylights out of my mates in a four-door sedan, there’s something appealing about having a one-on-one experience in a coupe.
Although the Charger still looks decent, no other modern Dodge is as cool as the Challenger. 1970s styling with a 6.2-litre supercharged ‘Hemi’ V8 under the bonnet?
Sign me up.
This particular spec is the Challenger Hellcat Redeye Widebody – featuring pumped-out guards on the still-mildly-obese Challenger body, so it can fit those 11-inch-wide wheels without scrubbing.
And who doesn’t want their 594kW/959Nm muscle car to deliver power to the ground through 305-section “all-season” tyres? This car will find the nearest light post quicker than any other.
Painted in a $US395 purple finish which Dodge calls ‘Hellraisin’, option boxes ticked include Alcantara/nappa leather seats (no-cost option), satellite navigation ($US995), Harman Kardon sound system with subwoofer ($US1995), and a power sunroof ($US1295).
Dodge’s US configurator says my Challenger would set me back $US93,890 ($AU136,185) drive-away. Yikes.
Alex Misoyannis, Journalist
The Dodge Challenger and Charger are cars that, since the day they were unveiled, you knew were on borrowed time. And the time has finally come for the keys to be handed to the automotive gods.
Given the Challenger’s electric replacement looks far less exciting (and a consumer of infinitely less fuel) it’d be remiss not to buy a last-of-the-line Challenger in all-out Hellcat version, powered by the endangered 6.2-litre supercharged V8.
Of the six Hellcat-powered model grades available, the sweet spot for me is the ‘standard’ 717-horsepower (535kW) Hellcat Widebody.
It features the wider tyres (useful with that much power) and improved look of the wide-body cars, a manageable price, street-friendly tyres (not the Super Stock’s drag radials), and frankly, the Redeye and Jailbreak’s additional 80hp to 90hp isn’t going to fire you into a tree that much faster.
My car is finished in $US395-extra Go Mango – up there with Holden’s Light My Fire for the best marketing name for orange paint – with the standard red brake calipers, and Alcantara and nappa leather upholstery for an extra $US2095.
I’m a fan of the standard 20-inch black wheels, but Pirelli P Zero summer performance tyres ($US695 extra) have been optioned to replace the standard all-season rubber – a must given the power on tap.
The option-box ticking didn’t stop there, with Demonic Red seatbelts ($US395), built-in satellite navigation ($US995), a Harman Kardon premium sound system ($US1995), the Driver Convenience Group pack (including blind-spot monitoring, for $US1295), and the $US1295 Technology Group, which adds autonomous emergency braking, auto high beam, adaptive cruise control, and rain-sensing wipers.
The base price is $US76,320 ($AU110,500), but my build comes out to a cool $US85,680 ($AU124,000) – a lot of money for an American muscle car on a 15-year-old chassis, but once production ends, it’ll be priceless (…right?).
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