2026 Dodge Charger Review: Winter Test

Our automotive expert puts a 2026 Charger R/T four-door through its paces on snow to prove its worth as an all-season high-performance sedan.

Beverly Braga | 

Apr 8, 2026 | 6 min read

Beverly Braga

Pros: All-wheel drive is standard, plus a substantial mix of performance and safety features.

Cons: Sport mode is best reserved for actual enthusiast-approved driving situations. 

The Takeaway: Moving farther beyond its muscle-car status, the new Charger four-door shows it can be an all-season family-friendly daily driver.

Dodge's 2026 Charger muscle car has a six-cylinder gas engine, standard all-wheel drive (AWD), and four doors, increasing its appeal to a wider audience and setting it up to be an all-season family-friendly option. The Charger was redesigned in 2024, and for the first two years of availability, it came only as a coupe equipped with a dual-motor all-electric drivetrain. Now in 2026, the Charger gets its gasoline growl back, thanks to a turbocharged six-cylinder engine called the Sixpack. This Charger stands a chance of winning garage space in every corner of the continent.

• The 2026 Charger's drive modes give you different levels of control
  
• Sport Mode on the Charger lets you drift — but with support
  
• Turning off traction control means more freedom
  
• The 2026 Charger can offer a rear-wheel-drive experience
  

With winter fleeting, I took the new Charger R/T four-door with the Sixpack engine to school. More specifically, to the Team O'Neil Rally School located in New Hampshire. On the local snowpack, I evaluated every one of the Charger's drivetrain settings, pushing the family-size muscle car to see whether the Sixpack sedan truly has the core strength for road conditions beyond drag strip-perfect.

My test vehicle was a Charger R/T Plus with the standard-output Sixpack engine, a 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged inline-six producing 420 horsepower and 468 pound-feet of torque. Options included After Dark premium paint, a full-glass roof, and a premium Alpine 18-speaker audio system, bringing the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) to $62,870, including the $1,995 destination charge. 

Beverly Braga

The 2026 Charger's Drive Modes Give You Different Levels of Control

QuickTake: Although Wet/Snow is the safest setting for wintry-mix road conditions, it's also the strictest and reduces winter-driving fun.

The Dodge Charger R/T offers multiple drive modes: Auto/Eco, Sport, Wet/Snow, and RWD (rear-wheel drive). Dedicated steering wheel-mounted buttons make switching between modes while driving effortless, and only RWD requires the vehicle to be at a complete stop for engagement.

Offering varying levels of car control and confidence, the drive mode differences were quite noticeable on the snow-covered, sometimes icy, rally-school training courses. The Wet/Snow setting provided the most stability thanks to a 50/50 torque split between the front and rear axles. This mode also reduces steering effort, and transmission shifts occur at lower engine speeds.

My first tryout was on the skidpad, where donuts and drifting are encouraged. Wet/Snow is the drive mode least likely to get you into trouble, and it's also the least fun for intentional sliding. Drifting was possible but short-lived because every safety nanny was engaged.

Wet/Snow mode was less of a party pooper on the slalom, where the idea is to maintain speed and control through a winding course of cones. For added anxiety, though, a U-turn marked the halfway point, which then fed into a short straightaway.

I approached with caution but, surprisingly, found myself adjusting my throttle and braking as quickly as the Charger adjusted its traction. I might've still approached the turnaround point more slowly than necessary, but veering off course and downhill was not on my agenda for the day.

Finally came the road course, where lessons from the skidpad and slalom came full circle. With Wet/Snow, there was less slipping and sliding, turning a rally road test into more of a pleasant, scenic drive through the New England woods.

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Sport Mode on the Charger Lets You Drift — but With Support

QuickTake: Sport mode with traction control activated offers more opportunity for drifts and donuts, while backing you up with safety-tech support.

Flipping to Sport mode, the torque split is up to 30% in front and 70% to the rear. Traction control also automatically deactivates, but for the sake of "Why not?",  I turned it back on via the Performance pages. Nevertheless, the difference between Wet/Snow and Sport mode with traction control was as clear as the driven-on snow.

On the skidpad, with small throttle blips and soft brake inputs, I was able to initiate a slide and hold it for part of a turn. Not bad, but I could sense the traction and stability control systems kick in. This was evident during the slalom, too. I was able to go wider around the cones, but was still not ready for that U-turn. With my slides more slippery, I instinctively hit the brakes too hard, which had me spinning. Oops.

Still, if winter driving is outside your comfort zone, traction control-equipped Sport mode will likely help you gain confidence as you learn to operate the vehicle safely in slippery situations.

Beverly Braga

Turning Off Traction Control Means More Freedom

QuickTake: The standard Sport mode loosens its grip on stability and traction, giving drivers more freedom and control.

Where Wet/Snow mode reduces a sense of snow-day freedom, Sport mode with traction control will let you cut a little looser (with plenty of backup). But where we're going, we don't need traction. At least not that much.

For my more advanced skill level, the standard Sport preset was perfect for the winter courses. With the same amount of oversteer but now with minimal vehicle interference, I was able to maintain my drifts (and smiles) for longer. I dared to be more adventurous on the slalom as well. Instead of just driving around the cones, I'd go into a fun but controlled slide.

Sport mode gives you just enough leeway to let loose while keeping the safety systems on standby. On the road course, my speeds and confidence increased only because I knew I could trust the technology. Even with my exuberance, the Charger always found traction at the right time to keep me from completely embarrassing myself.

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The 2026 Charger Can Offer a Rear-Wheel-Drive Experience 

QuickTake: In RWD, the Charger offers its most exciting driving option on snow.

Changing the preset to RWD means 100% of the torque goes to the rear axle. Want that backend to fishtail like it's never going to snow again? Want to be completely free to oversteer into a nonstop drifting dreamland? Want to spin out on command for sheer delirium? For maximum joy in powder-covered driving, RWD is the best bet. Sure, you're probably one iota away from reckless, but what's one iota when exhilaration is on the line?

This isn't to say RWD means you're a loose cannon (unless you want to be). There'll still be some traction-control intervention thanks to the standard limited-slip differential, which is a bonus in low-grip situations like driving on icy surfaces.  

In all settings and scenarios I experienced, the sedan-ness of the Charger four-door never came into play. While maneuvering around cones or sliding through turns, the muscle car never felt heavy or unwieldy. The new Sixpack six-cylinder is a powerful engine, even in its standard-output Charger R/T specification, but not so much as to be overwhelming, and it certainly isn't tiresome as a daily driver.

On snowy days, sunny days, and whatever days happen in between, the new Charger has just the right amount of muscle-car mettle (and standard AWD) to handle whatever the weather gods throw at you.

Dodge provided the vehicle for this 2026 Charger sedan review and paid for airfare, lodging, and meals during the evaluation period.

Beverly Braga

Beverly Braga is a freelance writer and consultant with nearly 20 years of experience as a storyteller and communications professional. Her work has appeared in numerous print and digital outlets covering the automotive, entertainment, lifestyle, as well as food and beverage industries.