There have been few writers on the web who have been as tough on Stellantis as I’ve been. It’s not because I don’t like the brands, rather, it’s because I do like the brands and haven’t loved the direction the company has taken. So I wanted to write something positive about the company and recommend a car you can buy right now from a Stellantis brand. That car is the V8 Dodge Charger.
If you don’t know what car you want to buy and you’re reading this website, the answer might just be a Dodge Charger with a big ol’ V8 engine. They’re cheap. They’re awesome. And there are thousands of them for sale at Dodge dealers across the country.
The Charger has been around for so long it’s outlived DaimlerChrysler, Cerberus-owned Chrysler, and Fiat Chrysler. Normally I’d say you’d want to get the nicest, newest platform for your money and that’s probably your best bet for a family crossover. But a solid, RWD sedan with a V8 engine? You’re only getting that from a Dodge dealer because almost no one else makes an equivalent, and certainly not at this price point.
Right now you can pick up a brand new Dodge Charger in R/T trim with a 5.7-liter Hemi V8 for under $35,000. That’s Camry money for something that could reasonably star in a Fast & Furious film.
Reason #1: They Are Cheap And Plentiful
The plant that made the LX-platformed vehicles like the Charger and Challenger stopped production of that platform in December of last year. Knowing there would be a delay in its inline-six/electric replacement, Stellantis built up a massive supply of the vehicles.
As of February of this year, there was a 477-day supply of Dodge Chargers. I went to Cars.com to see what was still around eight months later and found there are still over 1,500 Chargers for sale with a V8 and RWD. The cheapest one I found was a 2023 model-year police-spec version in Lansing, Michigan listed at $32,062, but the price seems to be artificially lowered by an employee discount and a partially-featured cop spec model seems unwise if your name isn’t Elwood.
The one I’m interested in is this $32,488 blue-on-black Dodge Charger R/T that still has the fender guards attached. An image suggests this is a courtesy car and it does have 563 miles on the odo. That’s not much, and for lower-trim Corolla Cross Hybrid money you’re getting probably the last American non-luxury V8 sedan.
You can bop around all day and find unsold 2023 R/T and Police-spec Chargers for under $35,000. Is there more fun to be had in a car that also has enough room in the trunk for six golf bags and two of your drunker golfing buddies? I think not. The fun-to-bucks ratio is off the charts. Dodge is also hinting at raising its incentives, so you might be able to do even better than the $8,000-$14,000 price drops that are being advertised.
Reason #2: Did I Mention It Has A V8?
There are multiple engine options for the Charger, including a V6 AWD option if that’s your flavor, but the V8 is the one to have. The least powerful version was the RT’s 5.7-liter Hemi V8, which still produced 370 horsepower and 395 lb-ft of tire-shredding torque. This means the slowest V8 could still boogie to 60 mph in almost five seconds flat, and sound amazing doing it.
If you wanted more power the SRT8’s got the 6.4-liter V8, good for up to 485 horsepower. Obviously, various flavors of Hellcat and more pushed that number to above 700 horsepower. Those aren’t going to be as cheap, though, and where can you drive 204 mph on the regular?
Nowhere. But you can do burnouts all day in the parking lot with this thing. If you can’t do a burnout in a Dodge Charger you’re either a dummy or you don’t know how to disable traction control, which makes you a dummy.
Reason #3: We’re All Going To Die One Day
In a rational universe, you would probably get a Camry HEV if you just wanted a sensible sedan. It’s around the same price, it gets more than double the Charger’s combined 19 MPG fuel economy. It’s nicer, it’s newer, it’s quieter, and it’s probably safer.
But this isn’t a rational universe. Did you know that Tony Hawk is now a grandpa? If you’re reading this and that means anything to you it means you’re old. Deal with it. And if you really want your hair blown off your head, should you have any left, the grandkid is also Kurt Cobain’s grandkid! And Courtney Love’s grandkid.
Life might be in a simulation and, as good as the Camry is, do not drive a Camry in a simulation. Drive the wildest thing you can find, which might be a Dodge Charger Hellcat Widebody Jailbreak in purple.
See, there, I said something nice about Stellantis and recommended a Dodge product.
And hey – you guys busted out the picture of the original 2003 Ram 5.7L Hemi engine. I haven’t seen one of those in a while (and it looks different from the Charger version).
I never “got” it with these vehicles. Too heavy everything too big, performance lame for such scale.
My 2.0 Evo was 3 tenths quicker to 60 stock and even that horrid mpg was 6mpg better than 19avg.
These just seemed to be massive wastes of fuel to me and were not any faster either in a straight like or around a track.
I go back and forth on these. At MSRP they’re an absolutely terrible buy…but once they’re discounted into the 30s they’re tempting. I also have been saying for years now that the RT versions of the Charger/Challenger are actually the sweet spot. 370 horsepower is nothing to sneeze at, the 5.7 is very reliable, and most of all you can have fun with them without going to jail.
You can rip a car that hits 60 in the low 5s around no problem…but can you really enjoy all that the 392 or Hellcat variants without overdoing it? Commentariat…I know myself and can say with confidence that I would do something very stupid with them. But the regular RTs are basically as fast as my Kona N and I’ve managed to have a grand old time in it without getting pulled over.
You can also coax okay-ish gas mileage out of the 345 Hemi if you try. It won’t be GOOD, but as far as V8s go it’ll be decent. If what I’ve heard is true the bigger V8s tend to get even worse gas mileage than they’re rated for. I’ve heard of people with Scat Packs averaging single digits driving pretty normally.
THAT BEING SAID…boy is there a stigma surrounding these, and for good reason. I’d guess that probably half of enthusiasts absolutely hate them, normies hate them (somehow my wife who doesn’t care about cars associates Chargers with antisocial driving), they draw a lot of unwanted attention, etc. They’re staples at takeovers (ew), they get banned at cars and coffee events, you’d probably get laughed at if you showed up to a HPDE day in one…and I do wonder if there’s some truth to the “392 credit score” jokes that abound.
They’re also expensive to insure since so many people do dumbass things with them. If you want a good laugh look up used Chargers sometime and rule out ones that have been in accidents. Like 2/3rds of them disappear. It’s hilarious. But if you don’t give a shit about all that, don’t care how people perceive you, don’t mind drawing attention to yourself, etc. then I say go for it.
I get why people like them. There really is nothing quite like an American V8 at wide open throttle and I’ve said for a long time that I think it’s something everyone should experience. I’ll never forget ripping a Camaro SS for the first time. That being said…you can get both the 5.7 and 6.4 in the Chrysler 300, you’ll draw less attention to yourself, and all the SRT performance bits bolt right on.
If I were to buy an LX platform car I think that’s what I’d do personally. Get a 300S, put the Brembo brakes and suspension hardware from a Scat Pack or Hellcat on it, maybe do a nice but not excessive exhaust, get good tires, and enjoy grandpa sleeper status. But if you’re into these then more power to you (pun intended).
It’s very tempting, but I think I’d rather buy a C5 for ~$20K, with a manual transmission and targa top. Glad that there’s a few new V8s floating around dealerships, though. Now that Chrysler doesn’t offer the 300, these things are circling the drain.