Automotive

Nasty 2020 Widebody Dodge Chargers encourage bad boys and girls to age disgracefully

Nasty 2020 Widebody Dodge Chargers encourage bad boys and girls to age disgracefully
The 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody is a four-door, fire-breathing, intimidating muscle car for the whole family
The 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody is a four-door, fire-breathing, intimidating muscle car for the whole family
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Left: the horrendously-named Scat Pack. Right: The Hellcat
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Left: the horrendously-named Scat Pack. Right: The Hellcat
The Hellcat version makes 707 supercharged horsepower, the Scat Pack more like 495 naturally aspirated
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The Hellcat version makes 707 supercharged horsepower, the Scat Pack more like 495 naturally aspirated
A facade designed to intimidate
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A facade designed to intimidate
The 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody's lurid air scoops
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The 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody's lurid air scoops
Wide wheel arches and fatter tires feature on the 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody
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Wide wheel arches and fatter tires feature on the 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody
20x11 inch rims on the 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody
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20x11 inch rims on the 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody
Has headlights
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Has headlights
Also has taillights
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Also has taillights
The 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody goes from 0-60 in 3.4 seconds
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The 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody goes from 0-60 in 3.4 seconds
This would be the Frostbite paint job
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This would be the Frostbite paint job
The 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody is a four-door, fire-breathing, intimidating muscle car for the whole family
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The 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody is a four-door, fire-breathing, intimidating muscle car for the whole family
Try not to scare the old ladies too much
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Try not to scare the old ladies too much
Other road users will be glad to see the back of you
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Other road users will be glad to see the back of you
Interior is unremarkable
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Interior is unremarkable
Extravagant performance charts on the infotainment system, that's what we like to see
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Extravagant performance charts on the infotainment system, that's what we like to see
View gallery - 15 images

What happens to muscle car-loving bad boys and girls if and when they decide to grow up? Squeezing kiddie seats into the back of a two-door tire shredder is totally possible, but contorting yourself in there to do up the harnesses gets very old very quickly. This is why people start buying SUVs, and sobbing alone into glasses of strong alcohol late at night as it dawns upon them that they will never again have the chance to be cool, or irresponsible, or badass.

Dodge sees you guys, and it understands. Hell, some of the SRT team themselves probably have children of their own now, ones that they're prepared to acknowledge and drive to kindy from time to time. Thus, they have built themselves, and the rest of us, a practical family sedan that is still utterly badass. A car that lets you bend toward adulthood, but not break.

The 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody is the single meanest four-door production sedan on the planet, in our view. Its 6.2-liter Hellcat Hemi V8 makes a whopping 707 rear-wheel-drive horsepower (527 kW) and 650 lb-ft (881 Nm) of torque. It makes that power with a stirring soundtrack, dominated by the whine of the supercharger force-feeding it with air.

Wide wheel arches and fatter tires feature on the 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody
Wide wheel arches and fatter tires feature on the 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody

The Widebody part is the new bit, meaning that Dodge has fattened the Charger with lurid wheel arches and 20x11-inch wheels. There are big Brembo six-pot brakes behind those spokes, and a new suspension setup including Bilstein 3-mode adaptive damping.

Performance-wise, the extra Pirelli rubber on those wider rims allows the Charger to hit 60 mph (98 km/h) in 3.6 seconds, which is not bad at all, and enough to generate some whoops and hollers from the back seat if you're lucky enough to have kids that don't poop themselves and cry when you hit the gas. The quarter mile is a hair under 11 seconds, and this family four-door tops out at an exorbitant 196 mph (315.4 km/h).

We know our dear New Atlas readers will all want to compare it to a Tesla. Don't compare it to a Tesla. It's not a Tesla. Nobody is intimidated by a Tesla, no matter how fast it accelerates with its hyper-effective traction control. There's a big difference between having people look at your car and think "there's goes somebody with a lot of money who's super future-forward and cares about the environment," and having people look at you and think "I hope that wobbly-hinged psychopath and his unreasonable children don't look at me."

Cars like the Charger are rolling amygdala-activators, they activate fight or flight responses in everybody around them and separate the predators from the prey animals. Some people enjoy feeling like predators. They know you don't like their neck tattoos, they know you don't like them burning lots of gasoline and frying tires in an unsafe manner. That's how they like it. This car is for them.

This would be the Frostbite paint job
This would be the Frostbite paint job

Do the thicker tires on the Widebody edition make it harder to steer? Yes, but Dodge has fitted an electronic steering system to sort that right out. Does it lose features like Line Lock burnout mode and launch control just because it's got rear doors? No, it does not. Indeed, the Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody's extra grip makes it a touch over two seconds faster per lap on Dodge's test track than the narrow body.

There's also a cheaper version, and it carries on the most horrific naming conventions in the Dodge stable: the Scat Pack. I don't know who decided naming a car after actual feces was a great idea, but they sure handed a free kick to anyone who wants to make fun of you for owning one.

Other road users will be glad to see the back of you
Other road users will be glad to see the back of you

The (shudder) Scat Pack version has a naturally aspirated 6.4-liter Hemi V8, making a very decent 485 hp. It does 0-60 mph (0-98 km/h) in 4.3 seconds, and 12.4 seconds on the quarter mile, so it's not slow. Dodge celebrates the (ugh) Scat Pack as the best horsepower per dollar you can get in a production sedan.

Let's make something clear: no roaring muscle car, wide-bodied or otherwise, will actually help you stave off the crushing burdens of family responsibility, or the creeping deterioration of age. They may, however, permit you to rage slightly less impotently against the dying of the light.

Enjoy some nasty surpercharger noises and lots of smoky tires in the video below.

Source: Dodge/FCA

Introducing the 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody

View gallery - 15 images
7 comments
7 comments
jerryd
In other words they market it to mentally insecure people who'll fall for such drivel that can't pass a gas station. Vs a secure person would buy a Tesla at 100mpge of clean power and faster, better handling, better safety and keeps it's resale value far better. Got it!
Rustin Lee Haase
I like this car. It's a great window into the personality of the owner. Then I know who to avoid doing business with.
Ptiu
Not for creeping or lurking. Nothing wrong with straight-talking badass!
Daishi
I read that someone (Randy Pobst) has one in the Pikes Peak hillclimb which is tomorrow. I'd get one but the kids would probably start crying in the back after we pass 180 or 190 MPH. Kids can be so emotionally fragile sometimes. I think I could make it to the school in under 20 seconds if I passed on the right and made occasional use of the sidewalk which would give us valuable extra time in the morning to argue about brushing their teeth.
WB
Scat pack!!! Lol you can't be serious ..how can anyone take this car serious... That shows even more insight into the owner...driving a feces pack.
Josh!
Maybe Dodge should just add more hood-scoops... or a bigger grill... or a wider body... lol. Tesla owners must love pulling away from these.
Nobody
I prefer my Corvette convertible. Same price, more class and better performance. Did I mention that I average 28mpg.