What Is Dodge Thinking Making The Charger SIXPACK a Full-Size Family Sedan With 550 HP?

We were fortunate enough to get some track time this week in the new SIXPACK-equipped, gas-powered, 2026 Dodge Charger, and it is nothing short of fantastic. We hammered the Charger over a closed course, enjoyed exciting back-country roads in New Hampshire and Vermont, and got to dive into the fine details of the new 2026 Charger lineup with the Dodge team. All the versions were there, two doors, four doors, gas, electric, and the one with the child car seats in it. Wait, what?

Car Seats In the New 2026 Dodge Charger? Why Not?
The Charger is a very large car. In fact, it has almost the same dimensions as my 1969 Plymouth Fury II coupe had. Huge is not an overstatement. And with an available four-door body style, the Charger could lend itself to more than just muscle car duty. To highlight that, Dodge brought one to a racetrack with car seats inside. Weird, but welcome.

The timing of our Dodge Charger test was back-to-back with the New England Motor Press Association’s 35th annual Winter Testing event held at NEMPA headquarters in Middleboro, MA. The Dodge fleet from the rally curse event followed me to the NEMPA meeting. As I walked in, a colleague of mine from NEMPA was moving his child’s car seat from one vehicle to another. It gave me an idea. Let’s run our own test of the Charger as a child seat-carrying family sedan.

We let the expert dad move the seat in. The seat could work either way, but he told us he finds it a bit more challenging to manage a rear-facing seat, so we configured it that way. He easily placed the seat in its spot, connected the seatbelt to hold it securely in place, and was done in under a minute.

The seat installation was so easy because the Charger's rear seat is HUGE. We didn’t even need to move the front passenger seat up. With the front seat in its rearward position, the car seat still had about a foot of space to spare. The Charger is both wide and long, so it was clear another seat would fit in the other outboard spot with plenty of space for a pair of baby bags in between.  

Is the Dodge Charger Safe For Children?
In its prior generation, the Dodge Charger earned a 5/5 Safety Rating from NHTSA. With a weight of about 4,800 pounds and generous proportions, the new 2026 Charger sure has the mass and size to be a very safe vehicle. Full-speed Forward Collision Warning Plus is standard, as are dozens of other safety systems.

AWD, Four Doors, and One Surprise Feature
All-wheel drive is a great cold-weather safety system. Four doors is an enabler. However, the Charger has one more family-friendly ace up its sleeve. It’s a hatchback with a massive cargo area. With its rear seats up, the Charger Four Door has 23 cubic feet of volume, more than a Subaru Crosstrek. That space expands to 38 cubic feet with the 60/40 split rear seats folded. More than ample space for a collapsible stroller and a large baby bag.

What’s your take on the 2026 four-door Dodge Charger? Is it a viable dual-use car that could also be a family car? Tell us in the comments below. 

All images by John Goreham. 

John Goreham is 14 year veteran of Torque News. An accomplished writer and a long-time expert in vehicle testing, Goreham also serves as the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and has a growing social media presence. He’s also a 10-year staff writer and community moderator for Car Talk. Goreham holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and an undergraduate Certificate in Marketing. In addition to vehicle and tire content, he offers deep dives into market trends and opinion pieces. You can follow John Goreham on X and TikTok, and connect with him on LinkedIn.