Could A Supercharged V6 Dodge Be A Better Bet Than A Standard V8 Model?

By Gilbert Smith

A 2015 Dodge Charger R/T with a V8 engine under the hood produces 370 horsepower. A Challenger R/T from that same model year produces 375 hp. These are very good numbers even a decade later. But what if we told you that you could blow those specs out of the water with the 3.6-liter V6 version of this car?

The Kelley Blue Book currently sees a 2015 Dodge Charger starting off at a fair market price of just $9,650. Add a $6,000 supercharger kit to the deal, and you're looking at one of the most economical paths to more than 400 horses. Here's what you need to know.

A 3.6 Dodge Is A Potent Ride To Begin With

The 3.6-powered Dodge Charger and Challenger carried basically the same specs from 2015 to 2023, give or take a horse or two, and they can all be fitted with the same supercharger kits. We're specifically looking at the 2015 model year for both simply because we're looking for the cheapest path to adding at least 100 hp, and we're going to be spending less money on an older model.

This is a pretty good starting point right off the bat, giving us around 300 hp for half the cost of a new Nissan. Both of these cars, unmodified, will see 0-60 times in the low to mid-six-second range.

What Will It Cost Us To Supercharge This Sucker?

To get an idea of what our starting costs will look like, we'll take a look at Kelley Blue Book's fair market pricing for every model year from 2015 to 2023. The following prices are for entry-level 3.6-liter V6 models, usually listed as an SE or SXT, depending on the model year and which car we're going with. These prices favor the Charger as the cheaper of the two.

Checking in with AutoTempest, we were able to find the following deals on 2015 Chargers.

• The lowest mileage we can find is 22,948 miles on an SE selling for $19,985 in Texas.
• A 77,047-mile SE is selling in New Jersey for $10,695.
• An 88,071-mile SE is selling for $12,591 in California.
• An 89,292-mile SE is selling for $10,000 in Missouri.
• The lowest price we can find is $5,000 for a 205,043-mile SE in Ohio. Given how affordable some of these low-mileage models are, we would recommend skipping anything with over 200,000 miles on the odometer.

As for the 2015 Challenger, here's what we could turn up.

• The lowest mileage we can find is 35,765 for a $17,993 SXT in Minnesota.
• A 40,426-mile SXT Plus is selling for $19,980 in Washington.
• A 42,600-mile SXT Plus is selling for $21,590 in North Carolina.
• A 48,650-mile SXT is selling for $17,995 in New Mexico.
• The lowest price we can find is $7,700 for a 178-375-mile SXT in Georgia.

So, that's our car sorted. If you budget around $15,000 for a Charger, or $20,000 for a Challenger, you can pretty much have your pick of the litter. Now, what's the supercharger kit going to cost us?

Supercharger Kits Typically Sell In The $6,000 Range

Shopping around, we were able to turn up the following prices for supercharger kits.

• ProCharger sells supercharger kits starting at $6,349 and promising a 40-45% hp gain.
• Ripp sells a $6,549 kit, currently on sale for $6,199, for 2015-2017 models, promising a 175 hp boost.
• A Ripp supercharger for a 2018-2023 3.6 is listed at $6,199 on their website, promising the same performance boost as the 2015-2017 supercharger.
• VT SuperChargers sells a kit for $10,000, currently on sale for $5,000, promising up to 60% more hp.
• eBay has listings under $3,000 for supercharger kits. We're not sure if you'd want to install a second-hand supercharger, though.

It's possible to put this car together for under $10,000 total. But, that's with a high-mileage Charger and a used supercharger. If you'd rather drive something that you won't be selling for scrap within a year of finishing the project, a budget of around $25,000 will give you some breathing room to shop around for a low-mileage model and a new supercharger kit.

If you check in with the Dodge muscle car forums and subreddits, you'll find that Ripp superchargers come highly recommended. The superchargers we listed from Ripp come with a one-year warranty, and Ripp tends to get positive reviews when it comes to customer service.

How Hard Is It To Install A Supercharger?

If you're a visual learner, there are plenty of videos on YouTube showing how to bolt a supercharger into your Dodge. The basic steps will be the same, even if the exact location of every nut and bolt may vary, based on model, model year, and supercharger kit. You're at least going to need to pull the manifold, install some upgraded fuel rails, mount the supercharger, install a new belt, and update your ECU.

Sources: Dodge, Ripp Modifications, r/Challenger, Kelley Blue Book.

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This article originally appeared on CarBuzz and is republished here with permission.