From the September/October 2026 issue of Car and Driver.
0–150–0 mph: 37.2 seconds
Base: $58,880 | As-Tested: $72,095 Power and Weight: 550 hp • 4907 lb • 8.9 lb/hp Tires: Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3, 305/35ZR-20 (107Y) Brakes, F/R: 15.0-in vented, grooved disc/14.2-in vented, grooved disc
We expected better from the Scat Pack. If there’s one thing Dodge has done well in recent years, it’s been straight-line missiles. The Scat Pack is no Demon, though. It’s heavy, at just over 4900 pounds, and even with 550 horses and 531 pound-feet of torque from its twin-turbo 3.0-liter inline-six, this bulked-up muscle machine doesn’t have the oomph to overcome its heft. It took a rather disappointing 12.6 seconds to clear the quarter-mile and over half a minute to reach the 150-mph goal. The Charger does get some credit for the slowdown, beating the even-heavier Bentley when it came to braking, with a 656-foot stop.
The Launch Control menu is easily accessed via a console button. Dial the rpm all the way up, then activate the launch sequence with the common two-pedal press. If Hellcats had the problem of impossible-to-find traction, the all-wheel-drive Charger just sorta bogged and took off.
There was almost an asterisk by the tires listed in the Charger’s specs. The car showed up on Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3 rubber, and Beard, our eagle-eyed human spec-sheet archive, pointed out that there’s no option for anything but all-seasons on the 2026 order sheet. However, Dodge added a $695 summer-tire option for 2027, so we allowed it.
Back to 0–150–0 Speed Test 2026
Like a sleeper agent activated late in the game, Elana Scherr didn’t know her calling at a young age. Like many girls, she planned to be a vet-astronaut-artist, and came closest to that last one by attending UCLA art school. She painted images of cars, but did not own one. Elana reluctantly got a driver’s license at age 21 and discovered that she not only loved cars and wanted to drive them, but that other people loved cars and wanted to read about them, which meant somebody had to write about them. Since receiving activation codes, Elana has written for numerous car magazines and websites, covering classics, car culture, technology, motorsports, and new-car reviews. In 2020, she received a Best Feature award from the Motor Press Guild for the C/D story "A Drive through Classic Americana in a Polestar 2." In 2023, her Car and Driver feature story "In Washington, D.C.'s Secret Carpool Cabal, It's a Daily Slug Fest" was awarded 1st place in the 16th Annual National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards by the Los Angeles Press Club.