The 2022 Dodge Challenger honors the V-8 past and present before it gets let out to pasture.
What kind of vehicle is the 2022 Dodge Challenger?
What does it compare to?
The Dodge Challenger is a two-door muscle car flexing into Herculean proportions with SRT Hellcat and Super Stock models.
It still fights its half-century-old battle with the Ford Mustang and Chevy Camaro, but Dodge stocks it with super-sized engines.
2022 Dodge Challenger What do you know about this beast.
Is the 2022 Dodge Challenger a good car?
There’s nothing else like it. It’s a modern classic with retro style that clings to the V-8 engine like a lifebuoy in a sea of progress.
It earns a TCC Rating of 6.0 out of 10. (Read more about how we rate cars.)
What's new for the 2022 Dodge Challenger?
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Not much except for a Jailbreak option with more color options and a top speed of 203 mph on the Hellcat Redeye Widebody.
Everyone’s cashing in on retro chic, from Hollywood to social media, but Dodge does it best with the Challenger.
Broad, low, and muscular, with ends and lines that care more about attitude than aerodynamics, the 2022 Dodge Challenger embraces an era when your car was a part of you.
The neatest trick appears inside, where the same attitude meets the latest in tech and upholstery.
The 2022 Challenger lineup starts with the 303-hp V-6-powered SXT and GT models, then all the V-8s, including R/T, R/T Scat Pack, SRT Hellcat, SRT Hellcat Redeye, SRT Super Stock and three Widebody variants.
The V-6 models come with an 8-speed automatic and rear-wheel drive or available all-wheel drive; the V-8 options come with rear-wheel drive and a standard 6-speed manual.
The V-8s grumble from a 375-hp 5.7-liter V-8 in the R/T up to the howling and wailing 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 Hellcat. Tuned to its highest potential, it makes 807 hp in the SRT Super Stock.
Related to the four-door Dodge Charger, the 2022 Dodge Challenger is the roomiest muscle car, with enough back seat space for the kids and a trunk larger than most sedans.
Comfy front bucket seats wrapped in houndstooth or available leather give the 2022 Dodge Challenger modern touches that extend to the touchscreen infotainment systems.
It does not apply to active driver safety features, though the Challenger has electronic stability control, which had not yet been mandated when this iteration of the Challenger first bowed back in 2008.
It has mixed crash-test results but automatic emergency braking isn’t even an option.
How much does the 2022 Dodge Challenger cost?
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The 2022 Dodge Challenger offers four engines in four core models spanning 11 variants.
The entry-level SXT and its 3.6-liter V-6 costs $31,275, including $1,595 in destination charges.
and comes with a 7.0-inch touchscreen with smartphone compatibility, a leather steering wheel, dual-zone climate control, and a power driver seat.
The Challenger R/T Scat Pack and its 485-hp 6.4-liter V-8 offers the best bang for our buck at $43,600.
The 807-hp SRT Super Stock super stokes the price to $83,575.
Where is the 2022 Dodge Challenger made?
The American muscle car is made in Ontario, Canada.
Is the Dodge Challenger a good-looking car?
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It hasn’t changed much since it launched in 2008 and it’s still a great-looking car that honors a legendary time of American automotive daring that can be appreciated now by several generations.
It earns two points outside and one inside, with a cabin equipped with modern tech and conveniences. It’s an 8.
Studded with a hood scoop, the Challenger’s long nose hangs over a wide grille with throwback quad headlights that can be rimmed orange.
It’s low, long, and wide, and can be fitted with 18-inch or 20-inch wheels, racing stripes, graphics, eye-popping colors, and all the packages. It exudes cool, even before you crank it up.
Inside, the dashboard cants toward the driver and an easy-to-use touchscreen houses all the performance instruments.
There’s not much extra space for secondary water bottles and stuff, but there’s room enough for smartphone recesses without junking up the seamless horizontal lines.
Performance
The Challenger’s throwback style takes on a different dimension when considering the magic Dodge’s SRT performance arm has squeezed out of another throwback, the V-8 engine.
Our rating system applies to the volume model, which in this case is the 5.7-liter V-8 that earns two points for its prodigious output, and we add another point for its physics-defying handling.
Is the Dodge Challenger 4WD?
The 2022 Dodge Challenger is a proper rear-wheel-drive sports coupe but Dodge offers all-wheel drive on entry-level SXT and GT models for $3,000 more.
Those models come standard with an 8-speed automatic transmission.
Jeep Wagoneer L 2023 lineup takes center stage.
How fast is the Dodge Challenger?
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The tried-and-true 3.6-liter V-6 on SXT and GT models makes 303 hp and 268 lb-ft of torque.
It goes from 0-60 mph in an estimated 6.3 seconds.
It hustles, especially for a vehicle weighing 3,858 lb, and would be impressive enough if it weren’t for its brawnier siblings.
Those siblings are hard to resist. The R/T Scat Pack uses a rip-roaring 6.4-liter V-8 to the tune of 485 hp and 475 lb-ft.
A meaty 6-speed manual comes standard, and the big shifter gives way to a smooth gate and a progressive clutch pedal that perfectly matches the car’s character.
The 8-speed automatic is quicker (costlier, too, with a $1,595 upcharge), and hits 60 mph in the low four seconds.
The adaptive Bilstein shocks let drivers customize the ride settings for the conditions, so even with all the added performance bits you can still have a comfy cruiser for road tripping or caravaning.
It’s all the 2022 Dodge Challenger we need.
But wants brought us here.
The SRT models add at least $20,000, or about 50% more than the R/T Scat Pack, for a 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 with whirring hellfire unlike anything else on the road.
In Hellcat form, it makes 717 hp and 656 lb-ft with a top speed of 199 mph and a 0-60 mph time of 3.5 seconds.
Why would Dodge stop there? To shave one-tenth off the 60 mph time, there’s the Redeye, tuned to 797 hp and 707 lb-ft.
But wait. There’s more. SRT tunes the Super Stock to 807 hp, and on its standard Nitto drag radials it hits 60 mph in 3.25 seconds, according to Dodge.
There are faster supercars and electric cars, but nothing taps into all the visceral senses like a Hellcat.
Features
Dodge sells the Challenger in SXT, GT, R/T, R/T Scat Pack, SRT Hellcat, SRT Hellcat Redeye, SRT Super Stock, and SRT Jailbreak Edition new this year.
The amount of customization from the factory puts the 2022 Dodge Challenger on par with a full-size truck in the sheer number of configurations.
The endless options and good infotainment system on any trim earn it two points to a 7.
The base SXT includes a 7.0-inch touchscreen with smartphone compatibility, keyless start, dual-zone climate control, a power driver’s seat .
and a leather-wrapped steering wheel for $31,000.It has a basic 3-year/36,000-mile new car warranty.
Which Dodge Challenger should I buy?
The R/T Scat Pack rumbles to our attention with its combination of power, features.
and value. In rear-wheel drive only with the manual, its $43,600 tag includes the V-8, four-piston Brembo brakes, 20x9-inch wheels, as well as convenience features such as an 8.4-inch touchscreen, heated front seats, and a heated steering wheel.
How much is a fully loaded Dodge Challenger?
Coming in under $84,000, the SRT Super Stock and its 6.2-liter supercharged V-8 lists as the Challenger’s top contender.
It rides on 18x11-inch wheels with standard drag tires, a custom suspension with adaptive dampers, active exhaust and other performance upgrades.
Fuel Economy
Is the Dodge Challenger good on gas?
Is a dog good at impulse control? No.
The smallest V-8 is the most popular and gets an EPA-rated 16 mpg city, 25 highway, 19 combined with the 8-speed automatic and mid-grade gas.
That’s a 3 on our scale.
The most efficient dog in the Challenger’s kennel is the 3.6-liter V-6 with rear-wheel drive at 19/30/23 mpg; AWD takes it down to 18/27/21 mpg.
Dodge recommends premium gas in the other V-8s, and you’re going to need a lot of it. The 6.4-liter V-8 gets 15/24/18 mpg with the automatic; the manual costs it 1 mpg.
The Hellcats breathe fire at a rate of 13/22/16 mpg, and a Super Stock gets 1 mpg combined less.
.BUYING TIP
👍LIKES
- .Retro cool
- .Muscle car meat with supercar power
- .All the V-8 options
- .Get it while you can
👎DISLIKES
- .Inefficient
- .No standard active safety features
- .Endangered species
- .Oldie but goodie