2021 Dodge Challenger (2024)

REVIEW

2021 Dodge Challenger: All About Old School

Let’s settle the rivalry. The Ford Mustang has a world-class interior designed around the driver and rendered in stunning materials with craftsmanship approaching competitors at double the price. The Chevrolet Camaro, with its Nurburgring-tuned chassis and myriad track-ready variants, earns the most road-race credibility in this competitive set. Dodge Challenger buyers don’t care about any of that.

Dodge introduced this generation of Challenger shortly before Christmas of 2007 and aside from modernized infotainment systems, a handful of active safety additions and monstrous engine options, it hasn’t changed much since. While most designs from 2007 have long since shuffled off to the glue factory, the Challenger’s best years have been recent ones, sales-wise. Looking good while making power is the Challenger’s formula and consumers like the recipe.

This is not to say that the Challenger’s looks and engines are its only merits. Heated, ventilated, perforated leather seats with memory settings can be optioned. Backseat passengers will appreciate four extra inches of legroom compared to the Mustang, and four inches more headroom than the Camaro. The Challenger’s 16.2 cubic foot trunk holds more than twice as much as a Camaro and three cubes more than a Mustang. These are real advantages, but comfort and convenience are not the point of this car.

Like Iggy Pop, what Challenger buyers are looking for is raw power. Or at least the symbols thereof, and a new for-2021 variation offers exactly that.

Retuned and recalibrated, the 6.2-liter supercharged V8 in the new 807-horsepower SRT Super Stock trim outmuscles every production Camaro and Mustang in statistics and speed. Dodge calls it the quickest, fastest and most powerful muscle car because it beats all production versions of the Camaro and Mustang light-to-light and on the strip.

The Super Stock serves as the halo for the brand, but even the base model Challenger is meant for muscle.

The Camaro and Mustang can be had with high-tech turbo four-cylinder engines, but Dodge doesn’t have a suitable turbo four to match. Instead, it relies on an old standby, the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6, delivering 303 horsepower and 268 pound-feet of torque.

This is a smooth and reliable engine, and a generation ago those were big numbers. It’s still a quick car, though it sucks down more fuel than its four-cylinder rivals. The lack of a base stick is also lamentable, especially since the engine has been paired with a manual in the past.

Move up a class and the R/T’s 375-horsepower 5.7-liter V8 can certainly move the car but loses out to the Mustang GT in the sprint to 60 mph (about 4.5 seconds to the Challenger 5.7’s 5.0). This pushrod engine is old tech: it turns out there is indeed a replacement for displacement, and the Mustang’s twin-independent variable camshaft timing is it. GT to R/T, the Mustang wins in refinement, power, fuel efficiency and tests of speed.

Enter the 6.4-liter R/T Scat Pack, which edges out the Mustang GT with 485 horsepower, but ties the zero-to-60 run. Both the 5.7 and 6.4 can be optioned with a six-speed manual transmission; only the Scat Pack and above get SRT Performance Pages telemetry with selectable drive modes to fine-tune transmission, suspension and steering response.

At the top end of the range lie three distinct versions of a 6.2-liter supercharged engine: the 717-horsepower SRT Hellcat, the 797-horsepower SRT Hellcat Redeye, and the aforementioned 807-horsepower Super Stock. The base Hellcat sells for about $2,000 less than the 650-horsepower Camaro ZL1 and ties its 3.9-second run to 60. In the quarter-mile and on a racing circuit, the ZL1 edges out the Hellcat thanks to its smaller size and lighter weight.

Dodge does have an even faster version, however. For an extra $12,000, the Hellcat Redeye recalibration stomps the ZL1, reaching 60 in 3.4 seconds and running the quarter in an NHRA-verified 10.6 seconds in stock trim. A $6,000 Widebody package, available on either Hellcat or Redeye, fills factory fender flares with wider wheels and tires for better traction, adaptive damping suspension to fine-tune every launch and Brembo brakes to stop the madness.

The Mustang GT500 sells for about the same price as a Redeye, routing 760 horsepower through a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. The setup is good for a 3.3-second sprint to 60 and 10.6-second quarter. Dollar-for-dollar, the GT500 edges out the Redeye by virtue of its relative creature comforts and appetite for curves. Both are far cheaper, and much more visceral than a Tesla S Plaid.

The Mustang again pulls ahead with a full suite of active safety tech that the Challenger can’t match. Lane departure warning and lane keep assist systems aren’t available at all. Blind spot monitoring with rear cross-path detection requires optioning an automatic transmission model with the $1,295 Driver Convenience Group, which also adds manual folding mirrors and HID headlamps.

Active cruise control with forward collision monitoring isn’t available on manual transmission or Redeye models, and requires optioning a separate $1,295 Technology Group package. The package also adds automatic high-beam headlamps and rain-sensing wipers. The package includes automatic emergency braking, a critical safety technology unavailable on the Camaro.

The Challenger shows its age by not including these vital technologies standard, but the 7.0 or optional 8.4-inch infotainment screens are intuitive enough to keep drivers and passengers easily entertained.

Style is subjective, but the intangibles are what make a car like this worth owning: Gold Rush, Go Mango, Frostbite, Hellraisin and Sinamon Stick represent a wider range of eye-catching paint colors than either the Camaro or Mustang.

Extensive aftermarket support makes it easy to personalize or modify a Challenger, and a legion of well-organized fans celebrate the nameplate through dozens of local clubs that hold events across the country. For all its following, the Challenger doesn’t suffer from the ubiquity of the Mustang, which is a good-looking car but seemingly found on every block.

Does the Challenger’s straight-line performance justify the cost? That depends on the intended use. V6 shoppers will find a more modern and better-integrated car in the Mustang, with its industry-leading interior appointments and a range of fuel-efficient powertrain options. Spirited drivers who stick to curvy backroads will find the Camaro to be a better fit, lighter on its feet with updated tech and a nicer interior. For power-hungry hot rodders who seek the rumble and the style from a bygone time, there isn’t a choice: it’s the Challenger.

Basic:
3 Years/36,000 Miles

Drivetrain:
5 Years/60,000 Miles

Corrosion:
5 Years/Unlimited Miles

Roadside Assistance:
5 Years/60,000 Miles

Vehicle Type Coupes

Engine Type Regular Unleaded V-6

Seats 5 Person

Horsepower 303p

Torque (lb-ft) 268

Efficiency (MPG) 19 City / 30 Hwy

Transmission Automatic w/OD

NHTSA RATING OVERALL

NHTSA RATING FRONT DRIVER

NHTSA RATING FRONT PASSENGER

NHTSA RATING FRONT SIDE

NHTSA RATING REAR SIDE

NHTSA RATING ROLLOVER

Third Generation

2008 to Present

Second Generation

1978 to 1983

First Generation

1970 to 1974