Greeting friends! I know it’s been a while but if you follow me on social media, you know I always have grease under my fingernails and never stop having automotive adventures. A couple of days ago I attended the Texas Auto Writers Association Spring Roundup in Boerne, Texas.
Texas Auto Writers Association Spring Roundup 2026
I’ve heard this event described as automotive speed dating. I think that’s pretty accurate. There were 20 vehicles waiting for the various assembled journalists. Three planned routes were available, local, extended, and highway. The only limitation being that you spend no more than 30 minutes with each vehicle, so everyone has a chance to drive everything over the day.
The bright orange Dodge immediately caught my attention. If you followed me for a while you know that during the 1960’s & ’70’s my Uncle Claude was a Mopar master-tech and Dad was a Chrysler man. I grew up during the muscle car era surrounded by the finest from Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth.
Over the years I’ve driven cars with every generation of Hemi. Introduced in 1951 with a whopping 331 cubic inches as the Firepower V8, over the next few years Chrysler turned the smooth and torquey 331 hemi into the fire-breathing 392hp/375 hp. The wild street Hemi arrived in 1966 to 1971 with a barely streetable 425 advertised hp. The third generation came in 2003 in Ram trucks and was soon installed in 300, Charger, and Challenger. In 2015 Dodge shocked the performance world by introducing the completely streetable 707hp Hellcat hemi V8.
HELLCAT 707hp
When Dodge introduced the Hellcat they loaned me an early production car. Yeah, I don’t know what they were thinking either 😉 I did what I do and upon return there was some spirited discussion on the state of the tires. On the plus side I did win a major award for the piece I wrote. Dodge liked the piece and soon forgot about the shredded tires. My buddies never forgot their ride along 😉
There has been a lot of discussion on Dodge’s current 8th Gen Charger. The new car isn’t available with the Hemi, and it’s my understanding it doesn’t fit. Originally the performance version was supposed to be an EV, and we know what’s happened to EV’s over the last year. In fact, the only Charger I’ve seen in the wild was an EV version. Upon seeing it I was immediately struck with what a good-looking car it is. I thought the fake computer-generated exhaust was a cheesy touch. If you want an ICE get and ICE, if an EV get an EV.
SIXPACK H.O. Inline 6 – 550hp
Stellantis the parent company of Dodge has gone through seismic changes over the last 18 months with entire models and programs shelved. Now the top performance car model is the Charger Scat-Pack plus. According to Dodge the Charger Scat Pack’s twin-turbo SIXPACK high-output (H.O.) engine produces 550 horsepower, 531 lb.-ft. of torque, covering 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and the quarter mile in 12.2 seconds.
When I slid into the new car, I was immediately struck with how different it is from the ancient LX platform that dates its development waaaay back to the 1990’s. By comparison the interior of the new car incorporates all of the latest tech and a beautiful dashboard which is a worthy successor of Chrysler products of old. Remember the 1961 300 with Electroluminescent Lighting? This is that on 21st century electronic steroids.
Anyone remember Pontiac during the late 1950’s advertising their wide-track design? This car is wide…really wide. Quoting Dodge, “Standard widebody design of entire new Charger lineup delivers the widest car in the industry on sale today. Driver-focused and award-winning interior design features interior linework and texture inspired by the iconic 1968 Dodge Charger and includes performance-oriented steering wheel and pistol grip shifter.
Power Delivery with Tire Shredding Torque
I’ve driven virtually every iteration of the previous Charger, and this is a very, very different car. Sometime change is hard, and only time will tell how Dodge’s enthusiast customers respond to the all-new styling and hurricane inline-six. Power delivery is different with 88% of tire shredding torque available at an unbelievably low 2,500 rpm. The torque band is as wide as Texas with 90% of torque available from 3,000-6,000 rpm. This delivers almost (dare I say it?) EV like acceleration.
The new styling is fresh with just the right touch of retro. I only had a few minutes with this Peel Out Orange gotcha. But my impression is that the new car is better than the old in every way. I spent a week with previous Hellcat, so we’ll see if Dodge is willing to repeat their previous mistake (I pinky promise to be easier on the tires this time!)
Social Media & Video
Be sure to Like, Follow, Subscribe, et al. @RileyPlaysCar #RileyPlaysCars Here is a video Dodge shared with me. You’ll notice the new car sounds very different from the Hemi V8. Video courtesy of Stellantis.
#RileyPlaysCars #ScatPackPlus #TXAutoWriters #TXAutoRoundup26