The Challenger: First 3,000 miles (A Review)

So I am now nearing my first oil check with the new vehicle. If the photo wasn’t enough, it is a 2022 Dodge Challenger, a widebody R/T Scatpack.

This is my review of it so far.

It was purchased to replace the ’65 Mustang as the ‘impractical’ purchase my mom requested I make upon her death. WIth the dearth of mechanics able to work on cars without computers, it meant the Mustang required more maintenance done my me…and I wanted to spend more time driving.

The choices considered were the Mazda, the Mustang, the Camaro, and the Challenger, for the sake of posterity.

With the paper specs, the Challenger was listed with more leg room, more head space, more cargo space. Supposedly the back seat also has more leg room than those other cars. It was possible to get a small engine for a much lower price, but ultimately, a great deal of the fun/reason you buy a car like this is not fuel efficiency. That’s good because the initial sticker said 15/21mpg (city/highway). That’s a gas hog.

*Leg room–better than advertised. I’m tall. With the seat all the way back, reclined somewhat, my foot doesn’t reach the pedals. I’ve never been in a driver seat with that much room. *Head room–I’m tall. There’s 3-4″ of extra space above my head even with the seat adjusted upwards to its maximum height. *Passenger room is equal to the driver side. If I have a complaint with ‘room’, it is that the elbow rest on the door and the sill portion of the window/door are not at optimal heights for me regardless of steering wheel adjustment. This is more noticable on short drives than longer ones–I think that means I got used to it an hour into the drive or so.

*Cargo space is immense since it connects to the back seat. Best cargo area for a sports car I’ve seen. With Tetris-skills, I bet you could fit 4-5 suitcases in the trunk. If you lower the back seat, you could even store long stuff in the car’s trunk. I’m totally happy with the space available–would’ve been happy with half the space actually. *The engine is massive, twice the size of my other car easily. It’s the Dodge 6.4l 382. If you like engines, it sounds amazing. The rumble means business…though the soundproofing of the interior is EXCELLENT. If you don’t want the engine’s rumble bothering you, if you have the windows up, you’ll have a quite quiet ride.

*Top Speed: I’ll never see this. It’s capable of 180 but since I only drive on regular roads, I can’t confirm anything more than 100mph on a nice, empty back road. *Acceleration: I can’t reach it’s listed acceleration, but that may be because I have regular street tires on it. I can get 0-60 in about 4.8. It’s supposed to do it in 4.1. What’s MOST relevant is that the acceleration has practical value on highways–if you need to pass someone, if you need to merge quickly…you can. But…there’s nothing like actually flooring the gas pedal from a standing stop and feeling the torque almost lift the front wheels off the ground. (The first time that happens…it is a bit scary…then it’s just plain cool) *Brakes: If you can accelerate, you need to brake. I can go 60 to zero in just a little more space than the length of a volleyball court. The danger with this is that the guy behind you on the road can’t stop that quick. I worry about getting rear-ended rather than hitting something in front of me. The car also has brake-assist so that it will begin slowing ‘just in case’ in certain situations and it will give you a visual/auditory warning if it thinks you are too close/won’t be able to break at your current speed. It’s annoying–but probably supposed to be. *Handling–this is not a ‘sports car’, certainly not meant for a track with curves, etc. The Challenger is absolutely a muscle car. It is about going fast. The steering is quite heavy and because of the car’s length, it’s not going to make pinpoint curves. Oh. Well. It can handle anything you run into on the interstate or a normal city street. Good enough. Also of note–the steering wheel itself is thick, a little wider at 10-and-2 for grip. It’s a nice size, especially over long distances. *Steering wheel–I put this separate. It’s the first I’ve had that telescopes in and out as well as up and down. Comfortable regardless. I adjusted it a few times while driving several hours straight along with my seat’s reclining ability. Perfect.

–I get that it’s a muscle car and everything about describes that, but it undersells the Dodge. I think it fits the category of ‘grand tour’ car better. It’s fast and it’s comfortable short or long haul. (See the next point, too)

*Gas Mileage is better than expected. The 15mpg estimate for city travel–I think that could be an overestimate. It’s a gas hog when you are doing start-and-stop from light to light. Getting 2.2 tons into motion takes energy. BUT WITH THAT SAID, the Challenger is far better than the advertised MPG for highway use. On a 500+ mile trip through flat land (Iowa), I was able to get 27mpg. My most recent trip from the Midwest to South Carolina and back–hills, road construction, driving thru major cities like Nashville), I was still able to get 24.5-26mph on each tank of gas.

*Sound System: Wonderful for music. The system doesn’t seem to work as well for hands-free phone calls. I’m not sure if that’s because the call is mono rather than stereo. Meh–I’m in the car to enjoy driving–so the less-than-optimal phone bit doesn’t matter.

*Visibility: The rear roof supports on the left and right are huge–they create massive blindspots for the Challenger. There’s technology to cope, ranging from the rearview camera for backing up to sideways ‘radar’ that beeps when you are close to things to either side of your car as it backs up. When on the road, the side mirrors have lights that turn on/orange when there are vehicles sitting in those blind spots. VERY useful at night–I wish the lights would be brighter during daylight as a bit of reflecting sun/glare can make the light hard to notice. *Visibility #2: The front windshield is fine for driving–but if you are planning to look around at all, it’s visibility is pretty much straight ahead. Anything up high, you won’t see. This DOES affect things at some street lights if you are at the front of the line waiting for it to turn green.

*Internal “Quality”: It’s generally plastic. Most cars are. I admit, I did find myself thinking how super spectacular the car would be if it had high-end components like leather instead. None of this affects my feeling for the car, but I think from the manufacturer’s standpoint, this is a missed opportunity. *Luxuries–it comes with a limited XM/Sirius subscription. It’s nice, but I can also tell you that SiriusXM repeats its shows so it isn’t as unlimited for music as you’d think. The seat heater and seat cooling fan are nice. I’m not 100% sold on the seat cooler being that great after the initial 5-10 minutes of running it. I do like the remote entry system. One ‘luxury’ it has that I wish didn’t exist was the push-button start. I REALLLLLLY miss turning the key. Using a key makes me feel like I’m causing the engine to start. A push-button is like readying Windows to run on my computer.

When I purchased the Challenger, I really did debate buying the less expensive version with the smaller engine for the sake of gas mileage because I like how the car body looks, but I’m glad I did not. The small-engine Challenger is a poseur. It looks like a muscle car, but really, it doesn’t have much more oomph than any other car out there….maybe that’s the sort they market as a ‘Grand Tour’–fast enough on interstates and comfortable.

I’m glad I got this one–not just for the power, but the widebody was supposed to handle curves smoother, etc. It does do just that.

I get a Challenger won’t be for everyone–if you care about gas mileage…not for you. Want to accelerate on winding roads…no, not the best car. But man, if you want to hit the accelerator and feel like you are hitting Star Wars hyperspeed..this works. Want to pass people driving you nuts on the interstate…this works. Want a car that looks like its description, that doesn’t look generic/similar to every other car circa the 2020s…this works. Want a car with enough leg and head room for God…this works.

I’ll likely come back in another 7,000 miles or so for an update.