Muscle car fans have been holding their breath for the arrival of some good, old-fashioned suck-squish-bang-blow since the launch of the all-electric Dodge Charger Daytona, and the wait is finally over. The 550-horsepower gasoline-burning 2026 Dodge Charger Scat Pack is here, and we got to drive it for a day to see if it hits the marks the Daytona may have missed.
Right out of the gate, I’d like to point out that the Charger Daytona is more powerful, quicker, and tremendous fun to drive. But battery packs and electric motors apparently are not the kind of equipment that sparks joy in the hearts of muscle car fans; sales of the Daytona have been slow compared to the previous-generation Charger.
Now that there’s a gas-burning Charger Scat Pack (and more variants on the way), fans of burning petroleum in both its liquid and tire-shaped forms have something to get excited about. No, this thing doesn’t have a Hemi V8 in it (yet, anyway …) but the new high-output Sixpack 6-cylinder engine is an impressive piece of engineering nonetheless, and it may be even more impressive than the Hemi was.
At 550 horsepower and 531 lb-ft of torque, the new H.O. Sixpack is considerably stronger than the 5.7-liter Hemi it replaces, and it enables the new Charger Scat Pack to run from zero to 60 mph in just 3.9 seconds. It’ll turn in 12.2-second quarter-mile times, and it tops out at 177 mph.
If you’re at the track or in an environment where tail-out fun is possible, the Charger Scat Pack has a deceptively impressive party trick: It can switch from its standard all-wheel drive (AWD) to rear-wheel drive (RWD) with the press of the drive mode button and a tap on the screen. If you’d prefer to tweak some of the other parameters, like transmission and steering response, you can do that with the Custom mode.
Our day with the Charger Scat Pack started with a run up and down the Tail of the Dragon, the most theme-park-ified stretch of what are many of the best driving roads in the country. Thanks to an unseasonable cold snap the day before, plus the mid-week timing, we didn’t see a single other car in our first run up the road that stretches between North Carolina and Tennessee. Unimpeded by sight-seers, the gas-burning Scat Pack defied its roughly 5,500-pound curb weight and massive dimensions – the new Charger is about 3 inches longer and an inch wider than a Toyota Sienna minivan – to absolutely demolish every apex and braking zone. Having seen the Camaro and the Mustang make the transition from old-school, knuckle-dragging muscle to modern, highly capable sports coupes, it’s refreshing the see Dodge infuse so much handling prowess while still keeping the feel and spirit of a muscle car.
The tech seems much improved over the previous-generation Charger, too, as does the interior quality. If you’re a bigger person, however, you may bemoan the new seats. Sure, they’re better bolstered to match the new Charger’s more tossable personality, but they’re not the large, plush seats that put the previous car at the top of the industry for comfort for taller or bigger folks. A 2-door model is available now, with a 4-door to follow in mid-2026, but either way there’s a surprising amount of rear leg room, even for taller passengers.
All of that said, a day isn’t enough time to properly evaluate every aspect of a car as capable and complex as the 2026 Dodge Charger Scat Pack. We’re looking forward to spending more time in the car to bring you an even more thorough take on its upsides and downsides. But for now, we can confidently say that the new Sixpack-powered Charger Scat Pack is worth the wait.
