How Well Would the New Dodge Charger Work on ‘The Dukes of Hazzard’?

Much of the discourse around the current Dodge Charger has concerned Dodge’s decisions to eliminate V-8 engines, use a shared body for two-doors and four-doors, and offer an electric version. I don’t care about any of that, because there’s another question that is much more central to the Charger’s very existence, and nobody’s talking about it enough. And that is: What would the Dukes of Hazzard think about the new Dodge Charger?

Our search analytics indicate that this question gets asked hundreds of times every day, although that number does drop significantly when my computer battery is dead. Therefore, it must be answered, and I am a unique authority on this subject, having driven the 2026 Dodge Charger and watched The Dukes of Hazzard—yes, both the 1979–1985 TV series and the Johnny Knoxville 2005 feature film. In fact, in kindergarten I got sent inside at recess because I was “spinning my tires” (kicking dirt while making Dodge Charger engine noises) and a clump of soil flew into a classmate’s ice cream. Why did she have ice cream at recess and I didn’t? Why did she blithely stand so close to Bo Duke fleeing Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane? Even worse, once I got sent inside, another kid in detention told the teacher that I’d been swearing when I hadn’t, and I got in even more trouble. Just good old boys, never meaning no harm? I can relate.

Ezra Dyer

Hazzard County was filled with memorable characters. There were the titular Dukes, as well as Cooter the mechanic, Rosco the sheriff, and the nefarious Boss Hogg. But the main character, really, was a car: the General Lee, Bo and Luke Duke’s 1969 Dodge Charger. The General Lee had a huge Confederate flag on the roof, because that was how 1979 TV executives made sure you remembered the show was set in Georgia. There really weren’t many other clues, given that after the first five episodes, everything was shot in sunny, dry, brown California, and not many of the cast members even bothered trying to fake a Southern accent. Besides the Confederate flag livery, the General Lee was named the General Lee.

It was also supposed to be an ex–race car, so the doors were welded shut and Bo and Luke had to climb in through the windows. So our first question for the new Charger is whether it’s easy to climb through the window in a hurry, as one would when being chased by Rosco or even his dimwitted deputy, Enos.

Ezra Dyer

Climbing in through the driver’s-side window of a 2026 Charger—in my test case, the four-door Scat Pack—is not easy, and I doubt it would be much different on the two-door, with its longer window. That’s because the Charger’s window aperture is a maximum of about 13 inches tall, and the sill is more than 41 inches off the Hazzard County dirt. Climbing in through the Charger window might require some pole-vaulting experience as you Fosbury flop into the driver’s seat. I bet it would be easier when fueled by the adrenaline of a chase, either fleeing from Rosco or in pursuit of a bad guy who’s come to town for the day.

Ezra Dyer

Ezra Dyer

The Charger’s largeness also impedes the other signature Dukes getting-in-the-car move, which is sliding across the hood on a run. The Dukes seldom had time to run around the car, let alone walk, so they’d slide across the hood as a helpful shortcut. The Charger’s hood is tall, like the windowsill, and the Scat Pack also has an inset textured Six Pack-logo vent toward the front of the hood, in the prime sliding area.

Ezra Dyer

What was Dodge thinking, adding a source of friction that could end up being the difference between jail and making it across the Chickasaw County line? The electric Charger Daytona might be even worse, with its plunging hood and front wing. Try to slide across that, and you might get stuck in it, ending up utterly humiliated as Rosco stands there and excitedly says, “Goo, goo, goo!” That is what Rosco said when he was happy and excited. That and “Cuff ’em and stuff ’em!”

But we don’t think that Bo and Luke would have driven a Charger Daytona. Maybe Coy and Vance would have. They were the alternate guys who showed up when the actual Duke actors, Tom Wopat and John Schneider, held out at the start of Season 5 in a contract dispute. Before there was Temu, Coy and Vance were shorthand for a shoddy imitation, and fans hated them. Look, we can believe that you can accurately shoot a flaming arrow out the window of a car that’s in the middle of a 120-foot gap jump, but you’re telling us Bo and Luke left Hazzard to pursue NASCAR careers, just leaving Daisy and Uncle Jesse to the predations of Boss Hogg? As if. The suspension of disbelief only goes so far, and it was the most galling casting move until New Becky appeared on Roseanne.

Once Bo and Luke made it into the 2026 Charger and got moving, the first thing they’d notice is the power. Well, the first thing they’d probably notice is the seatbelt chime because they weren’t real sticklers for safety. But then they’d appreciate the Scat Pack’s 550 horsepower and its all-wheel drive. The General Lee was constantly struggling for traction on Hazzard’s roads, both paved and unpaved alike, but the 2026 model digs in and goes—witness the two-door’s 3.7-second blast to 60 mph. However, when the mood suits, you can disable the front axle for drifting, like when you need to slide the car around in a tight pivot to hide behind a roadside billboard. And the six is paired with an eight-speed automatic, which means that on a curvy road you’ll hear lots of upshifts and downshifts, just like the General Lee. The 1969 Charger had a three-speed automatic, but in Hazzard you could sometimes hear it upshift about 10 times. Probably something to do with the acoustics of the hollers.

What else? Well, the 2026 Charger’s hatchback body means it has plenty of room for hauling moonshine. It is built by the same company that owns Jeep, so Daisy would still drive one of those. The horn goes “honk” but does not play a melody from the song “Dixie.” There is no orange paint option, or should I say, there’s no orange paint option yet. Is there anything else that people identify with the Dukes and their car? I can’t think of any that I might compare.

Ezra Dyer

Oh, wait. There is one thing. It would involve a, uh, suspension test. And here I will shamefully admit that I cannot authoritatively say whether the 2026 Charger can handle a jump of more than 200 feet, because the loan agreements we sign to test cars generally forbid that sort of thing. I’m making my way, the only way I know how. But that’s just a little bit more than the law will allow.

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Ezra Dyer is a Car and Driver senior editor and columnist. He’s now based in North Carolina but still remembers how to turn right. He owns a 2009 GEM e4 and once drove 206 mph. Those facts are mutually exclusive.

Source: www.caranddriver.com — article syndicated from the publisher’s feed; all rights remain with the original publisher.