2023 Dodge Challenger Model Review with Prices, Photos, & Specs

The Dodge Challenger picked up the muscle car banner for a new era, and showed just how successful retro can be if it’s done right. With styling that’s instantly recognizable as influenced by the original Challenger, and available engines that provide power well into supercar territory, the Challenger is unquestionably one of the everyday performance greats of our time. Like the original Challenger, today’s version offers a standard six-cylinder engine and a selection of ever more powerful V8s. You get a lot more power today though, with the supercharged V8 in the SRT® Super Stock producing 807 horsepower, the most of any muscle you can buy today. To handle that power, the Challenger offers a choice of an 8-speed automatic or a 6-speed manual, one of the last still available. You can even get all-wheel drive, a unique feature for a muscle car, especially one with such old-school appeal. All part of the blend of retro and advanced technology that make the Challenger so incredibly popular.

There’s more to the Challenger than just tire-shredding horsepower, although it’s always the first thing you notice. Few vehicles offer so many engine options these days, and the available six-speed manual is an equally rare piece of equipment. The standard V6 comes with 303 horsepower, and moving up to the R/T trim gets you a 5.7-liter V8 that produces 375 horsepower. Opt for the R/T Scat Pack and you get a bigger 6.4-liter V8 that produces 485 horsepower. For those keeping track, that means the R/T Scat Pack produces more power than the legendary 426 Hemi racing engine that was found in only a handful of original Challengers. But Dodge wasn’t satisfied to just outdo the original Challenger, the SRT®-badged variants come with 6.2-liter supercharged V8s. For the Hellcat, this means 717 horsepower, 797 horsepower for the Hellcat Redeye, and the SRT® Super Stock packs 807 horsepower.

As impressive as the R/T Scat Pack Challenger is, the SRT® variants take things to a whole other level. While some of the performance features of these variants can be found on non-SRT® Challengers, things like Brembo® 6-piston front brakes or adaptive damping suspension, there are other features that are unique to these specific trims. SRT® models have a unique hood, for one thing, which helps the engine get more air. This is important because the supercharged 6.2-liter V8 under that hood needs a lot of air in order to produce the 717 horsepower and 656 lb-ft of torque that you get from this version of the mill. The Hellcat Redeye takes things even further, with 797 horsepower and 707 lb-ft of torque. At the top of the performance pyramid is the Super Stock, which stands in for the Demon, which is no longer in production. It bumps the horsepower up to 807, and like the Demon, it is built to be able to drive straight from the dealership right to the drag strip.