Review: The 2023 Dodge Challenger Swinger Is A Brand-New Old-School Muscle Car
I saw him out of the corner of my eye making a beeline for the car.
He was an elderly, Andy Warhol-looking New Yorker steps away from the eye-searing Sublime Green 2023 Dodge Challenger Swinger I’d just started, its 6.4-liter V8 filling the Manhattan block with thunder.
“Excuse me,†he said while waving through the window.
Bracing for the worst, I lowered it.
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“You know, you’re parked right outside my apartment.â€
Trying to deflect what I expected was about to an angry noise complaint, I replied, “oh, I’m just about to pull away.â€
“No, no, I just wanted to let you know what a pleasure it’s been looking at it out my window at it. It’s gorgeous Have fun!â€
Unexpected, to say the least.
He was as into the car as the group of tweens that had told me it was awesome the night before just a few blocks away.
“It looks like the Hulk,†one said.
And that, in a nutshell, shows the scope of the enduring and somewhat baffling appeal of the Dodge Challenger, which, at 15 years old, is the best selling of the American pony/muscle cars, going on three years.
There won’t be a fourth, as it and the Charger sedan are being discontinued at the end of 2023, but not without some celebration. Dodge has launched a series of six special edition models including the Swinger.
It’s based on the Challenger R/T Scat Pack Widebody and comes standard with a 485 hp 6.4-liter V8 that tortures the rear tires with 475 lb-ft of torque. A six-speed manual is standard, but an eight-speed automatic is available. The base price is $59,845, and $5,590 of that is the Swinger stuff, which is all about appearance and features.
It’s also available with F8 Green and White Knuckle paint and includes Swinger decals and badges; “Gold School†20×11-inch wheels and Shaker hood scoop; green stitching that’s a nod to the 1969 Dodge Dart Swinger’s green interior; heated and ventilated leather and Alcantara bucket seats; a heated steering wheel and a few other bits of special trim.
Since it’s an R/T Scat Pack, it has plenty of performance features packed in, like a very easy to use Line-Lock for burnouts. You just press the brake hard until it engages, hold the OK button on the steering wheel, let up on the brake pedal, roll onto the throttle until the tires have had enough and then release the button as it smoothly lets up on the brakes. It’s not hard to spin the tires with the 6.4-liter without it, but it is particularly handy with the manual transmission. A Launch Control is just as simple and effective, while the infotainment screen is equipped with a variety of performance timers and trackers.
The Swinger has Sport and Track drive models that adjust the traction control, steering weight and suspension stiffness accordingly, while an Auto mode figures it out of the fly based on how you’re driving A Custom mode allows you to mix and match the settings as you like.
The difference in ride quality isn’t dramatic between them, and the Challenger always feels firm, but it’s not harsh. It also feels muscular in every way, from how the doors clunk closed to the punch the engine is always ready to deliver. According to Dodge, it’ll accelerate to 60 mph in just over four seconds and cover a quarter-mile in less than 12 seconds.
It’s a big and burly cruiser, but the 305-mm-wide tires the widebody gets provide plenty of traction off the line and grip in the curves, as long as you are judicious with the throttle.
It’s no sweat to get a slide or drift going anytime and you actually need to be careful with it in the rain. Fuel economy comes in at 17 mpg combined, which earns it a $1,000 gas guzzler tax bill, but you can squeeze 23 mpg out of it on the highway.
No one is buying this car with efficiency in mind and the grins it delivers nonstop are worth the gas money. You can spread them around better than with a Ford Mustang or Chevrolet Camaro, too, because tall adults can fit with reasonable comfort in the larger Challenger’s rear seats.
Dodge is capping Challenger Swinger production at 1,000 for the U.S., and will do another 1,000 Chargers with the trim, but hasn’t guaranteed it will even make that many, so it’s a pretty sure bet to be a future collectible.
I wouldn’t recommend leaving it in a barn collecting dust, however, because it’s a lot more fun when its leaving other cars in its dust.
2023 Dodge Challenger Swinger
Base price: $59,845
Type: 5-passenger, 2-door, rear-wheel-drive coupe
Engine: 6.4-liter V8
Power: 485 hp, 475 lb-ft
MPG (city/comb/hwy): 14/17/23
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