2026 Dodge Charger Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The 2026 Dodge Charger is an imposing car. Dodge highlights the Charger’s width as a benefit, pointing out in the car’s promotional materials that it’s wider than the prior Charger Widebody model and proudly calling out that it has the “widest body of any car in the industry.” It’s also nearly nine inches longer than the last Charger, and while it doesn’t look out of balance in pictures or in person, those massive exterior dimensions mean the car must be parked with patience and care. That’s especially true for the two-door coupe and its extremely long pair of doors.

In place of the electric-powered Dodge Charger Daytona’s sleek front end, which is designed with an aerodynamic cut out that lets the wind flow freely over the car’s passenger compartment, the gas-powered Charger Scat Pack boasts a comparatively blunt-faced grille design. On the gas Charger, the grille rises rapidly into a bulging hood that looks straight out of the Hemi-fueled 1960s muscle car heyday. A unique rearward-facing hood applique that proudly announces its SIXPACK-logoed engine reminds the driver what’s sitting under the domed hood. The grille features an illuminated Fratzog logo front and center, tying it to other recent performance cars from Dodge. The main grille is highlighted by an additional lighting element that runs its full length, and additional blacked-out intakes dominate the lower bumper.

The Charger’s long bodysides are gracefully unadorned (besides the Scat Pack Bee fender badge), and there aren’t any kinks or flourishes to draw the eye away from the fastback body shape. The Charger looks more refined in two-door guise, but the practicality of the four-door sedan makes for a more practical shape for families. At the rear, a standard gloss black spoiler and dual stainless steel exhaust tips further pay homage to Dodge’s illustrious muscle car past.

The 2026 Charger’s interior feels spacious and modern. The dashboard is defined by horizontal lines and a big digital touchscreen. Design flair is shown throughout the Charger’s interior, highlighted by crisscrossing lines on the front door panels. These work with a fancy interior lighting setup to provide interesting patterns that stand out due to the alternating highlights and shadows made by the indented pattern. Dodge calls it an Attitude Adjustment lighting system. A pistol-grip shifter is a nod to Dodge’s muscular past, and on the opposite side of history, a thick and chunky steering wheel with a flattened top and bottom is a modern take on driving performance.

The 2026 Dodge Charger is offered with multiple powertrain options that include both electric motors and gasoline-fueled engines. In electrified form, the 2026 Dodge Charger Daytona R/T sends 456 horsepower to all four wheels while the ultra-powerful Charger Daytona Scat Pack tips the scales with 630 hp. The gasoline-fueled Charger range starts with the 420-hp Charger R/T, and the Charger Scat Pack that we tested boasts 550 hp. Both gas-burning Chargers feature an eight-speed automatic transmission.

There’s certainly no lack of power from the most powerful iteration (at least for now) of the Hurricane inline-six engine family that currently proliferates throughout the Stellantis vehicle lineup. The 550-hp 2026 Dodge Charger Scat Pack leaps off the line with authority. In fact, a little too much authority—even a light press of the throttle pedal results in a burst of power that makes it harder than it should be to ease away from a stop sign or green light.

The Charger’s turbocharged engine feels strong throughout its rev range, with more than 90% of its peak torque delivered between 3,000 rpm and 6,000 rpm. Dodge claims a 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds, a quarter-mile time of 12.2 seconds and a top speed of 177 miles per hour. Standard all-wheel drive across the range helps the Charger launch hard off the line, and owners who want to set their personal-best times will want to make use of a Launch Control system that allows the driver to dial in the launch rpm as the computer ensures maximum turbo boost pressure. The standard Brembo brakes with six-piston calipers up front deliver strong and consistent braking performance under normal roadway use.

Owners who care more about smoking their tires than maximizing traction can use the Line Lock system that comes standard on the SIXPACK-powered Charger that keeps the front wheels locked up and lets the rear wheels spin with abandon. It’s also possible to switch the Charger Scat Pack into rear-wheel-drive mode with the touch of a button, which is useful mostly for wild tail-out driving antics, drifting and donuts. Considering the high cost of the Charger’s standard 275/40ZR20 Goodyear all-season tires (larger tire options are available) and how easy it is to burn rubber in the Scat Pack, owners may want to keep the high-output Charger in its standard all-wheel drive mode with the traction control system enabled.

The modern Dodge Charger isn’t designed to go fast solely in a straight line. A front multi-link suspension system with forged aluminum links pairs well with an independent four-link setup in the rear to do an admirable job of keeping the Charger firmly planted on the pavement. The gas-powered Charger boasts near-ideal 55% front, 45% rear weight distribution, and there is enough feel from the steering wheel that the driver feels confident throwing it into the bends of a tight, twisty road like the famed Tail of the Dragon route that we drove in Tennessee. Ride quality is also very good for a car with such lofty performance capabilities.

The 2026 Charger Scat Pack is programmed with five drive modes: Auto, Eco, Wet/Snow, Sport and Custom. Each of these modes noticeably changes the vehicle’s demeanor. Switching from Auto to Sport results in the opening of the Charger’s active exhaust flaps, which in turn dials up the sound coming from the engine and dual exhaust tips. Sport also alters the car’s front/rear torque split, puts the transmission into a more aggressive mode and increases steering feedback. Eco mode, as its name suggests, prioritizes fuel economy while Wet/Snow maximizes traction when driving on slippery surfaces. Custom Mode allows the driver to create their own personalized settings.

The 2026 Dodge Charger’s massive exterior pays dividends inside. The Charger offers plenty of room for four adults in both two- and four-door styles. The long doors of the coupe make it fairly pain free to crawl into the spacious rear seats, though the four-door sedan is, as you would expect, a better option for owners who plan to haul more than one other person on a regular basis. Tall occupants may find themselves bending down more than they expect to access the rear seat in all versions of the car as the sloping fastback shape does cut down on head room. Dodge’s tape measures say there’s over 39 inches of head room up front but only 36.9 in the rear.

Dodge has a long history of offering humorously named colors, and the 2026 Charger’s optional palette includes deep After Dark blue, lighter Bludicrous blue, Peel Out orange, Redeye red, Destroyer gray and lovely Green Machine hues. A black roof is optional (or standard on Diamond Black cars). The interior’s feeling of airiness is aided by the Charger’s optional and massive glass roof, though owners who live in especially warm or sunny areas will want to make sure the panoramic roof doesn’t make the interior too hot.

Black seats come standard in the 2026 Charger Scat Pack, finished in a mix of leatherette and cloth. The Plus model adds full leatherette as standard equipment, and real leather seating surfaces with or without suede inserts (part of the Carbon and Suede package) are optional. Demonic Red leather is optional for an additional charge.

Although the Charger looks like a traditional coupe or sedan with a trunk, the design actually benefits from a large rear hatchback that opens to a sizable 22.8 cubic-foot cargo area. With the rear seats folded flat, that expands to 37.4 cubic feet. Either way, the sloping hatch means the cargo space isn’t as usable as the area offered by something like a compact crossover, but the large area is certainly an improvement over most coupes, including the Ford Mustang that offers 13.5 cubic feet in its trunk.

A 10.25-inch freestanding digital instrument cluster display is standard in the 2026 Charger Scat Pack. Our test car was equipped with the larger 16-inch display that comes standard on Plus models, and it was easy to see in all lighting conditions with crisp and colorful graphics. A 12.3-inch touchscreen display sits proudly in the center of the dash, canted slightly toward the driver. Dodge’s latest Uconnect 5 software is easy to use and offers wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability. The Plus models get a wireless charging pad ahead of the pistol-shaped gear shift lever along with built-in navigation. A head-up display is optional.

Dodge equips the Charger Scat Pack with its own Performance Pages that are accessible through the infotainment screen. Drivers can track performance metrics from inside the car, including 0-60 and quarter-mile times, max cornering performance and more. There are also screens that display a full complement of virtual gauges so the driver can keep a tab on the car’s current health.

There are tiny rotary controls on either side of the infotainment screen for volume and tuning functionality. Below the central touchscreen are haptic buttons for the climate control. Though the physical controls are appreciated, the fact that they are very small and tightly grouped together means it takes a little time to get acclimated with the setup, but after a short learning curve everything is easy to find and control.

Neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) have yet tested the latest Dodge Charger generation for crashworthiness.

The 2026 Charger comes standard with Active Driving Assist, a technology package that can manage acceleration and braking and can also keep the car centered in its lane. Other standard safety equipment includes Forward Collision Warning and Automatic Emergency Braking with Vulnerable Road Users Detection, Active Lane Management, Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop and Go, Blind-spot Monitoring with Rear Cross Path detection, Traffic Sign Recognition and Drowsy Driver Detection.

The Scat Pack Plus model adds Turn Signal Active Blind Spot View (tech that displays a camera view of the car’s blind spots when the turn signal is activated) and replaces the standard backup camera with a 360-degree camera and additional views to make parking easier. And, as we said already, the 2026 Charger’s large exterior dimensions coupled with its big aluminum wheels make those extra parking aids awfully nice to have.

We found that the Charger’s Active Driving Assist worked well on the highway. Drivers are required to keep their hands on the steering wheel—this is not an autonomous car, after all—and the car’s digital brain doesn’t fight the human’s minor corrections.

There aren’t many cars that compare favorably with the 2026 Dodge Charger Scat Pack. If a buyer’s primary reason for choosing a car is horsepower, it’s hard to argue that they shouldn’t head on over to their nearest Dodge dealer. The American automaker says the Charger offers the most standard horsepower of any muscle car (420 hp) and the most horsepower under $55,000 (the Scat Pack’s 550-hp rating).

Buyers looking for a muscular coupe may be intrigued by the Ford Mustang, which starts at $48,555 in 480-horsepower V8-powered GT form or over $65,000 in 500-hp Dark Horse trim. The 2026 Dodge Charger Scat Pack coupe costs $56,990 (all prices include destination), offers 550 ponies and comes standard with all-wheel drive. It’s also a lot larger, which may sway a buyer in one direction or the other, depending on what they are looking for.

Would-be buyers considering a high-performance sedan would have to spend tens of thousands more on a V-badged Cadillac—the 472-hp turbocharged CT4-V starts under $65,000—or possibly a German option from Audi, BMW or Mercedes to get similar levels of performance surrounded by a four-door body shell (albeit with what ought to be a considerably different ownership experience). And that means power-obsessed shoppers ought to look at the four-door Charger for around $60,000 as a muscular bargain.

None of that is to say that the 2026 Dodge Charger is a good choice for the majority of American families looking for a daily driver. A Honda Accord or Toyota Camry can be had with a nice set of options for under $40,000 and should provide years of trouble-free service for anyone looking for a safe and efficient sedan. And, of course, practically every automaker doing business in the United States offers a range of practical crossover SUVs, too. As of this writing, the EPA had not yet published fuel economy estimates for any gasoline-fueled Dodge Charger. Considering its prodigious power output, we’re not expecting any mileage miracles to rival any miserly four-cylinder sedans currently for sale.

For a small subset of buyers, there’s nothing in the Charger Scat Pack’s price point that will provide the kind of thrills that the 550-hp, all-wheel-drive Dodge can offer.