2015 Dodge Charger : Track Day
The new 2015 Dodge Charger is the world’s only four-door muscle car, and is the quickest, fastest and most powerful sedan in the world. Just make sure you get one with more horsepower than the model they’re selling to the Police, so you’ll be able to out run them.
Recently we were invited to Washington, DC and Summit Point Raceway in West Virginia to experience the awesome power of the new Charger first hand. Just like the Challenger, they did indeed produce a 707-hp model of the four-door Charger, and that is it pictured above in red, the SRT Hellcat…
If that isn’t enough to jump-start your heart, you may legally be declared dead. The Hellcat isn’t the only Charger variant available though, and Dodge had the full lineup on display for us in a hangar at Reagan National Airport upon our arrival. From there we jumped behind the wheel and sped up the road to West Virginia. What follows are our thoughts from our time with the 2015 Dodge Charger on the road and at the track.
Exterior
Dodge designers re-sculpted and refined nearly every body panel on the new Charger to give it an updated look for 2015. While we dig the new form, overall we prefer the shape and style of the Challenger. However if you’re in the market for a four-door sedan, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything close to matching the bad-ass muscle offered by the Dodge Charger. We also appreciate the attention to the exterior details that accompany an upgrade to the Scat Pack or SRT models. Not only does the engine get more ferocious, but the exterior reaches peak awesomeness as you move up the scale of trim levels.
We’re particularly fond of the new lighting package, especially on the rear with the new Dodge signature LED racetrack tail lamps. If you’re into rims, Dodge has 14 different wheel options to choose from, including 10 different 20-inch styles available. That is almost as many shoes as your wife has in her closet. The color choices are generally tame and seem more at home on a four-door family sedan than they do on a 707-hp muscle car. Our favorite is definitely the heritage B5 Blue, but you can’t go wrong with the high-impact TorRed either.
Interior
Continuing the theme of “new for 2015” the Charger gets extensive new interior design elements, including thick-rim three-spoke steering wheels, customizable 7-inch full-color driver information display (DID) cluster, premium materials and a choice of 19 trim and color combinations. There is also a new instrument panel center stack with next-generation radio and a 5.0-inch touchscreen or 8.4-inch touchscreen display with available 3-D navigation and downloadable apps. That screen also houses the Dodge and SRT Performance Pages, which provides the visuals and data that we crave to remind us how beast the Charger really is.
The interior overhaul is quite successful, and really fits in well with the total Charger package. The cabin feels spacious and comfortable and the console upscale and strong. Sitting in the Charger is a very masculine experience, exactly how we like it in a muscle car. No one will ever call this sedan “cute.”
Performance
Let us start by saying that driving the new Charger on the track was so much fun, we had to wait in line to get in cars like we were at an amusement park. Unfortunately our day was plagued with rain, making us two for two with wet track conditions when given the chance to get behind the wheel of a Hellcat. Add an intimidating safety briefing to the slick track, and you’ll get a test drive that was a bit more timid than we would have liked, but still a rocking good time. We particularly enjoyed getting squirelly in the Charger Pursuit police package, while we attempted to chase down fellow media ahead of us, with lights flashing.
The Charger SRT Hellcat model is getting all the headlines with its supercharged 6.2-liter HEMI® Hellcat engine producing 707 horsepower and 650 lb.-ft. of torque and a top speed of 204 miles per hour. But Dodge is offering several other trims that are likely to produce more power than you’ve ever driven before, and will leave you with enough money to still buy gas.
Notably the Charger SRT 392 and R/T Scat Pack models feature a 6.4-liter naturally aspirated HEMI V-8 engine that delivers 485 horsepower and 475 lb.-ft. of torque. Honestly, that doesn’t suck, not one bit. In addition a segment-exclusive TorqueFlite eight-speed automatic transmission is now standard on all 2015 Dodge Charger models.
Packing the Charger with all that power is great, but most of us don’t work at a drag strip, so we’re going to have to be able to stop and steer too. To make that easier, they have equipped the high-end models accordingly with Brembo brakes and three-mode Bilstein adaptive damping suspension. All models also come with electric power steering which provides three driver-selectable steering modes. All of this comes together to provide world-class performance and spirited driving that is fun no matter which trim you choose.
Overview
The 2015 Dodge Charger definitely lives up to its billing as the most powerful production sedan in the world. While we’d prefer to spend our money on a Challenger, we do understand some folks have children and would find use for the four-doors. Those folks may be pleased to know that there is even a matching Hellcat baby seat available, so you can strap them in and unleash the fury of the 707-hp. Overall we’re delighted with the direction that Dodge has headed, making no excuses muscle cars that make us excited about driving again. We appreciate Charger’s combination of aggressive and youthful image, full-size functionality and world-class engineering and quality.
If you dig the unapologetic manliness of the 2015 Dodge Charger like we do, than you have many models to choose from : SE, SE AWD, SXT, SXT AWD, R/T, R/T Road & Track, R/T Scat Pack, SRT 392 and SRT Hellcat. With that range of flavors, you’d expect an equally wide range of prices. You can get into a Charger SE starting at $28k while the Hellcat model will set you back a minimum of $65k. That’s much cheaper than buying and feeding 707 horses, and it produces way less manure.
