Previously known as the Charger Police Package, the Charger Pursuit is Dodge's idea of a cop sedan. The Fast Lane recently purchased a 2019 model at auction, paying $8,100 for a 5.7-liter HEMI tower of power and – get this – all-wheel drive. This combination is exclusive to the Charger Pursuit, whereas the retail Charger is available with all-wheel drive as long as you're fine with the 3.6-liter Pentastar.
Given its provenance, it's not surprising in the least to see 148,155 miles (238,432 kilometers) on the clock. Of the 5,066 engine hours racked up thus far, 2,075 hours were spent idling. Also worthy of note, said Charger Pursuit features Goodyear winter tires at every corner.
There's another difference between this police-spec vehicle and its civilian equivalent. More specifically, the naturally-aspirated V8 lump is connected to a five-speed automatic transmission. Dodge calls it AutoStick, but in truth, it's the W5A 580 version of the 5G-Tronic from Mercedes-Benz, a transmission that went out of production back in 2020. Newer models come with the 8HP transmission in V6 AWD and V8 RWD flavors.
Typical of TFL, the boyos immediately raced their Charger Pursuit against a high-performance vehicle. Not just any high-performance vehicle, though, but the most powerful combustion-engined F-150 available today. The F-150 Raptor R is the culprit in question, which packs a Mustang Shelby GT500-derived V8.
5.7L naturally-aspirated V8 versus 5.2L supercharged V8 is a bit unfair, though. Even more so if you remember that Chrysler's HEMI is a cam-in-block design as opposed to the DOHC-equipped Predator.
Be that as it may, don't forget the Charger is a unibody. A much lighter vehicle, that is, compared to the body-on-frame pickup with ginormous off-road tires. The Charger Pursuit V8 AWD weighs 4,522 pounds (2,051 kilograms) for MY19, whereas the Raptor R tips the scales at 5,950 pounds (2,699 kilograms).
Before going any further, let's remind ourselves of the output numbers: 370 horsepower at 5,250 rpm and 395 pound-feet (536 Nm) at 4,200 rpm for the Charger's HEMI compared to 700 ponies at 6,650 rpm and 640 pound-feet (868 Nm) at 4,250 rpm for the Predator. The Shelby GT500 levels up to 760 horsepower, but it's not as torquey as the Raptor R's engine (625 pound-feet or 847 Nm).
Nathan Adler in the Charger had Roman Mica in the F-150 Raptor R at the start, but only just. Ford's off-road supertruck needs 13.23 seconds to conquer the quarter mile at 109 miles per hour (175 kilometers per hour). The Charger Pursuit clocked 16.23 seconds at 86 miles per hour (138 kilometers per hour). Otherwise said, the baddies would have gotten away from the police. But in the real world, police chases rarely end after a quarter mile. A unibody sedan has a higher top speed than a pickup, and that would be that.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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