Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack

One of the few good things to come out of the German Occupation of Chrysler (when the entity was known as DaimlerChrysler) during the first few years of this century was the full-size Chrysler 300/Dodge Charger duo. Built on the bones of the second-gen W210 Mercedes-Benz E-class (Daimler had already moved on to the third-gen E-class by then), the pair marked a return to rear-wheel-drive performance and attitude—and set the stage for Mopar muscle-car glory.

A decade later, the Dodge Charger remains the brand’s bestselling passenger car and a key component of its image. For 2015, fresh styling breathes new life into the old platform. Even better, the roster of Charger performance variants—the R/T, R/T Road & Track, SRT 392, and SRT Hellcat—swells with the addition of the new R/T Scat Pack model.

In a sense, the new R/T Scat Pack reprises the role of the 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8 Super Bee, offering the same basic big-Hemi (6.4-liter) scoot at a $40K price. If that value proposition wasn’t convincing enough back in 2012, the new Scat Pack now shares most of the exterior bad-boy look of the $25K-more-expensive Charger Hellcat: NACA hood scoop, LED running lamps, menacing steroidal lower front fascia, et al.

In our tests, the Scat Pack’s 485-hp 6.4-liter Hemi backed up by a new ZF eight-speed automatic shot the car (which features launch control) to 60 mph in a scant 4.1 seconds and down the quarter-mile in 12.4. While that’s 0.7-second tardier to 60 and a full click less speedy through the quarter-mile than the supercharged 707-hp Hellcat, it’s a second quicker from zero to 60 and 1.2 seconds faster to the quarter-mile mark than a garden-variety, 370-hp 5.7-liter Hemi-powered Charger R/T. The Scat Pack’s lateral grip and braking numbers are even more Hellcatish. Rolling on smaller-size summer tires (245/45R-20 Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercars versus the Hellcat’s 275/40R-20 Pirelli P Zeros), the Scat Pack’s 0.91 g of skidpad grip was just 0.03 g shy of the Hellcat’s and its 153-foot 70-to-zero braking performance matched that of the 200-plus-pound heavier feline from you-know-where. You could say the Brembo binders have your Scat Pack back.

Hello, (Sorta) Kitty!

But what the numbers don’t show is how civilized the Charger R/T Scat Pack is to drive. Okay, so is the Hellcat, but more of the Scat Pack’s performance envelope is usable more of the time. It’s a 4300-pound muscle sedan with the moves of a 3500-pound pony-car coupe, kind of what we’d envision a four-door Mustang GT would be like were Ford to build one. Well-bolstered buckets keep front-seat occupants in place during enthusiastic driving but are capable of cradling 50-year-old butts (the Charger’s target demographic) in comfort. Sure, there’s some low-speed axle whine and ever-present sizzle from the grippy Eagle F1 Supercar tires, but overall the Scat Pack is a fast car you can drive all day and not get tired of.

The performance-tuned suspension doesn’t have the adjustable factor of the Hellcat’s or the SRT 392 Charger’s but is never jouncy in the middle of travel and delivers good body control without beating up its occupants. There’s almost no side-to-side head toss, even on undulating, high-crown roads. The Scat Pack’s electrically boosted steering doesn’t give up much to the Hellcat’s hydraulically boosted setup; turn-in is quick yet nicely weighted with good on-center feel, and the car goes where it’s pointed with precision. Ditto for the Scat Pack’s powerful, four-piston Brembo brakes, which are not the six-piston, two-piece rotor design of the heavier Hellcat, but they’re equally adept at hauling down the brawny Dodge from speed without drama.

Hello, Hemi

Never at a loss for torque, the 6.4-liter Hemi nevertheless makes good use of the eight speeds in the new ZF automatic transmission. While not dual-clutch-quick, the eight-speed’s shifts (which can be manually actuated via the paddles or the shift lever) shave milliseconds off gearchange times compared with the previous five-speed unit’s. Throttle tip-in is a tad on the enthusiastic side; drivers can train their right foot to ease onto the gas or just work the Sport mode settings in the car’s Dodge Performance Pages application. A muscle-car-appropriate level of exhaust rumble is ever present but never intrusive. For the 6.4-liter Scat Pack, Dodge kept the Fuel Saver feature that cuts out four cylinders to help fuel economy under low-load conditions. But when entering fuel-saver mode, say under light throttle at 30 to 40 mph and between 1300 and 1500 rpm, the exhaust note gets momentarily sour as the Scat Pack’s active exhaust system quickly switches from low-restriction to normal mode. Crank up the 276-watt, six-speaker audio system and you’ll never hear it. Or just punch the throttle and cue all of the horns in the Scat Pack’s ample brass section.

Our $41,880 2015 Dodge Charger R/T Scat Pack test car arrived with just a couple of options: $195 summer tires and the $695 Customer Preferred pack 21W with HD radio, navigation, the Uconnect 8.4-inch touch screen, and SiriusXM Traffic and Travel Link. In the face of ever-tightening emissions and carbon-dioxide regulations, it’s unclear how much longer carmakers will be able to offer big, ground-pounding V-8 sedans and coupes at middle-class prices. So if you don’t quite have the scratch for a Hellcat but don’t want to pussyfoot around with lesser muscle sedans, do not hesitate to check out the Charger R/T Scat Pack.