With the adoption of the Hellcat engine, the Dodge Charger has gained more than the 707 ponies shared with the Challenger. The first has welcomed a version that has silenced plenty of the voices who were still going on about the wrong number of doors on the car. However, even with Dodge offering us the sedan-vs-coupe approach, choosing between the two is not as easy as it might seem.
We’re not here to tell you which one is better. You’ll have to sort that one our on your own, since it’s one, big subjective matter. Nevertheless, the straight line performance difference between the blown Charger and Challenger is much easier to quantify.
The numbers
Both pack the same 6.2-liter supercharged V8 packaging 707 hp and 650 lb-ft (881 Nm) of torque, but while the Charger only comes in 8-speed auto guise, you can also have the Charger with a six-speed manual.
Despite the Challenger being 136 lbs (62 kg) lighter, some of the key performance numbers actually favor the sedan, which does have a slightly better drag coefficient. It’s the four-door model that gets the best NHRA-certified quarter mile time - 11 seconds flat compared to the Challenger’s 11.2s on street tires. As for the top speed, the Charger can hit 204 mph, while the coupe stops at 199 mph.
Still, if we’re talking official standing start sprint figures, the Charger hits 60 mph 0.2 seconds later compared to the Challenger’s 3.5s time.
But enough with the numbers. The footage below offers us both standing- and rolling-start opportunities to see what happens when this pair of titans clash. Too bad it happens on the street.
In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist. Full profile
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