2016 Dodge Challenger R/T Scat Pack review – Roadshow

The Good The car has just enough power to make you feel like a badass. The nostalgia value is high with this one.

The Bad No Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

The Bottom Line Starting at $37,995, the 2016 Challenger R/T Scat Pack provides an excellent value for muscle-car enthusiasts.

I’ve always said the Dodge Challenger is the only big car that would make me cheat on my own little Miata, but that claim has been based on emotion. I’d never actually driven one, just admired them from afar.

That, my friends, has finally changed.

Emme Hall/Roadshow

I slipped behind the wheel of the 2016 Challenger Scat Pack at an old airstrip. Too impatient to worry about launch control, I slammed my foot on the skinny pedal on the right and held on to the wheel for dear life. The 6.4-liter V8 engine produced a glorious noise as the eight-speed automatic transmission blipped through the gears, and suddenly I was approaching the end of the runway at 140 mph.

Yowza.

It’s been great to see the muscle car wars of the 1970s heat up in the new millennium. Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet have been pulling out all the stops, trying to turn their high-horsepower drag strip kings into machines that can also conquer the twisties.

Emme Hall/Roadshow

At 485 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque, the Challenger Scat Pack lies below the crazy-pants 707-horsepower Challenger Hellcat. But the Hellcat starts at $64,195, and good luck finding one at that price as dealer markups have been a bit out of control. The Challenger R/T Scat Pack starts at a much more reasonable $37,995 and gets a cool drag-racing bumblebee badge.

Frankly, I was surprised at the relative nimbleness of the Challenger. At 4,200 pounds, it’s a relatively heavy beast, but it handles better than I expected. My test model arrived with the optional 20-inch forged-aluminum wheels, wrapped in 245/45Z all-season performance tires. It would be interesting to see how the Challenger would perform with some good Michelin Pilot Super Sport or Pirelli P Zero summer tires.

On rougher roads, the Challenger’s ride quality suffers from its stiff Bilstein suspension. It’s fine for daily driving, but I found myself avoiding broken pavement when I could.

Power goes to the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission, a $1,400 option over the standard six-speed manual. Although I always prefer the manual option, this ZF automatic shifts quickly on its own or lets you blip the paddle shifters in manual mode. In the Challenger, it enables cylinder deactivation, giving the car EPA fuel economy of 15 mpg city and 25 mpg highway, up to 2 mpg better than the manual.