Quick Spin: 2020 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody

2020 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody

Miles Driven: 223

Fuel Used: 14.2 gallons

Real-world fuel economy: 15.7 mpg

Driving mix: 70% city, 30% highway

CG Report Card

Room and Comfort	B-
Power and Performance	A-
Fit and Finish	B
Fuel Economy	C
Value	B

Report-card grades are derived from a consensus of test-driver evaluations. All grades are versus other vehicles in the same class. Value grade is for specific trim level evaluated, and may not reflect Consumer Guide's impressions of the entire model lineup.

Big & Tall Comfort

Big Guy	B
Tall Guy	B

Big & Tall comfort ratings are for front seats only. "Big" rating based on male tester weighing approximately 350 pounds, "Tall" rating based on 6'6"-tall male tester.

Drivetrain
Engine Specs	485-hp 6.4L
Engine Type	V8
Transmission	8-speed automatic
Drive Wheels	Rear-wheel drive

EPA-estimated fuel economy: 15/24/18 (city/highway/combined)

Fuel type: Premium gasoline

Base price: $38,995 (not including $1495 destination charge)

Options on test car: R/T Scat Pack Widebody 24N package ($6000), Plus Package ($2095), Carbon and Suede Interior Package ($1595), Driver Convenience Group ($1295), Alpine Audio Group ($995), Torqueflite 8-speed automatic transmission ($1595), SRT performance spoiler ($995), Uconnect 4C navigation with 8.4-inch display ($795), red brake calipers ($595)

Price as tested: $56,450

Quick Hits

The great: Nostalgic muscle-car styling; brawny performance

The good: Spacious cabin and trunk for a sporty coupe; broad range of personalization options; competent handling for the size and heft

The not so good: Aged basic design; copious thirst for premium gas; rear-seat entry/exit

More Challenger price and availability information

CG Says:

If you lived next door to the Dodge Challenger, you’d secretly get together with a couple other neighbors to rent a big lawn decoration that spelled out “Happy Birthday,” and when Challenger got up one morning he’d find his yard filled with this, a caricature of Father Time, and mylar balloons giving him the business about turning 50.

The nameplate, if not the car necessarily, marks a half century in 2020—though the current iteration already occupies 26 percent of that span and counting. (As for the original that inspired today’s Challenger, it lasted just five years.) As far as Dodge is concerned, it’s a great chance to pop some corks and celebrate a milestone. There are two kinds of specially equipped and trimmed fiftieth-anniversary Challengers—one a limited-edition series—and a new model that really takes the (birthday) cake, the SRT Super Stock with 807 horsepower and street-legal Nitto drag-radial rubber that’s said to be capable of running the quarter mile in 10.5 seconds.

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For the rest of the 2020 Challenger family, which is pretty large for a car with a single body style and a singular purpose, what’s new comes down to cosmetics. There are five new paint colors with clever names (this is Dodge, don’t forget), some altered interior details tied to options, a smattering of new wheel designs, and different exterior badging.

Consumer Guide’s turn in the ’20 Challenger came in a car almost exactly like the one it sampled in 2019: an R/T Scat Pack with the Widebody and Plus option groups. It was sprayed in a reddish purple “High-Impact Paint” dubbed Hellraisin, and the interior was set off by Alcantara microsuede seat inserts (part of the Plus Package) in Caramel, both of which are new colors.

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The Scat Pack is the half step between the Challenger R/T with a 375-horsepower 5.7-liter Hemi V8 and the SRT Hellcat with 6.2 liters of supercharged Hemi at 717 ponies. It sports a naturally aspirated 6.4-liter mill pegged at 485 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque. A 6-speed manual transmission is standard for the starting price of $41,490 (a rise of $150 from 2019) that includes delivery and $1000 in Gas Guzzler tax. However, the 8-speed TorqueFlite automatic that was ordered for the test car, a $1595 option, fends off the tax. With all extras, including the $6000 Widebody package, CG’s tester settled in at $56,450.

Of course, Scat Pack Challengers are unabashedly fast. They are always ready to challenge the limits of rear-tire adhesion at a determined press of the accelerator from a stop, and they leap at the chance to open up on the highway, abetted by prompt kickdown from the automatic trans. A deep rumble from the active exhaust system provides the orchestral accompaniment to this performance, but mixed with road noise at highway speeds the overall effect might get tiresome on long drives.

The car is steeped in parts and systems designed to enable maximum performance, and the Widebody option brings more. There’s a three-mode adaptive competition suspension with an extremely firm ride in “Sport” driving mode and larger Brembo front brake discs with 6-piston calipers that stop this rapid but heavy car quite well. Tires are 305/35ZR20 all-season performance skins on 11-inch-wide “Devil’s Rim” forged-aluminum wheels. The 3.5-inch-wide body-color fender flares that give the Widebody its name provide cover for this broad wheel/tire package. A leather-wrapped flat-bottom steering wheel rounds out the package in 2020, in place of a higher-downforce decklid spoiler that was part of the group in ’19—though the latest test car had this as a stand-alone option.

Standard Scat Pack performance-related technologies include Launch Control to restrain tire slip off the line, Launch Assist to resist wheel hop, and Line Lock for braking the front wheels while the rears do a tire-prepping “burnout” prior to a drag strip run. Performance Pages readouts on the Uconnect 4C infotainment-system touchscreen record times and other information.

First Spin: 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and Charger Scat Pack Widebody

Our 2020 test car averaged 15.7 mpg, which was a good full mile per gallon of premium fuel more than we logged the year before—and the ’20 car had a slightly higher percentage of city miles on it. That’s very much in line with the EPA projection of 15 mpg in city driving. The feds estimate 24 mpg on the highway and 18 mpg combined.

The Challenger still provides a decent level of comforts and conveniences (especially at the R/T level), better-than-average sporty car rear-seat room, and excellent trunk space for the class—even if liftover is high. For people who like a speedy car with attitude, the Scat Pack Widebody is quite the anniversary present.