2026 Dodge Charger Scat Pack Sixpack vs a Used 2023 V8 Scat Pack: 5-Year Cost Compared

You're standing in a dealership, or more likely scrolling one, looking at a new 2026 Dodge Charger Scat Pack. Then you read a review saying the faithful are furious that it's a six-cylinder. Now a used 2023 Scat Pack with the 392 V8 is sitting two tabs over, and it's about $12,000 cheaper.

Easy call, right? Buy the cheaper V8 and enjoy the noise.

Not so fast. A cheaper sticker price is not the same thing as a cheaper car. The used V8 drinks more fuel, probably costs more to insure, and comes with a repair bill that's still ahead of it. The new one has its own costs: the steepest depreciation of its life and a bigger loan. This post runs the numbers on both, and one of them is close enough that it flips depending on your inputs.

What the Reviews Say (and Why It Matters for Your Wallet)

The Drive's review, "2026 Dodge Charger Scat Pack Sixpack Review: This Reboot Is Off to a Poor Start," describes a car trying to stir enthusiasts' souls with six cylinders while the faithful are angry and want a V8. That's a review of feel and identity. It doesn't tell you what the car costs over five years.

But the reaction matters financially, because resale value is driven by what the next buyer wants. If the next buyer is the same enthusiast who wants a V8, then a used V8 Charger may hold its value differently than a six-cylinder one. I can't tell you which way that cuts. Nobody can yet, because the reboot is too new to have a resale track record. That uncertainty is a real cost, and we'll build it into the example below.

The Setup: An Example, Not a Quote

Every number below is a worked example I constructed with round, plausible inputs. These are not dealer quotes or market data. Check them against real quotes in your area before deciding.

Shared assumptions:

12,000 miles per year, 60,000 over five years
Premium fuel at $4.00 per gallon
5-year hold, then sell privately

Option A: New 2026 Charger Scat Pack (six-cylinder)

Price: $52,000, plus $4,000 in tax and fees ($56,000 out the door)
$6,000 down, $50,000 financed at 7% for 60 months
Assumed fuel economy: 21 mpg combined
Assumed resale after five years: $24,000

Option B: Used 2023 Charger Scat Pack (392 V8), 30,000 miles today

Price: $40,000, plus $3,200 in tax and fees ($43,200 out the door)
$7,200 down, $36,000 financed at 8% for 60 months (used-car loans usually carry higher rates)
Assumed fuel economy: 18 mpg combined
Assumed resale after five years and 90,000 total miles: $20,000

Step 1: Depreciation, the Cost You Never Write a Check For

Depreciation is the answer to "How much am I losing every month I keep this car?" It's the gap between what you pay and what you can sell it for.

New: $52,000 − $24,000 = $28,000 (about $467 a month)
Used: $40,000 − $20,000 = $20,000 (about $333 a month)

The used car loses $8,000 less. This is why buying used usually looks good on paper. The first owner already ate the steepest drop. For more on that pattern across mainstream models, see our used vs new 5-year TCO breakdown.

Step 2: Financing, Where the Bigger Loan Bites

New: $50,000 at 7% over 60 months works out to roughly $990 a month. You pay about $59,400 total, so about $9,400 in interest.
Used: $36,000 at 8% over 60 months works out to roughly $730 a month. You pay about $43,800 total, so about $7,800 in interest.

Notice the used loan has the higher rate but still costs less interest, because the balance is so much smaller. Change the APR by a couple of points and both numbers move. We dug into that effect in our Nissan Leaf vs Corolla APR analysis.

Step 3: Fuel, Where the V8 Charges You Rent

New (21 mpg): 12,000 ÷ 21 ≈ 571 gallons a year × $4.00 = about $2,286 a year, or $11,429 over five years.
Used (18 mpg): 12,000 ÷ 18 ≈ 667 gallons a year × $4.00 = about $2,667 a year, or $13,333 over five years.

The V8 costs about $1,900 more in gas over five years. At $5 gas, that gap grows to roughly $2,400. Keep that in mind when you get to the sensitivity section.

Step 4: Insurance and Maintenance, the Costs That Vary Most

These two lines are the least predictable because they depend on you.

Insurance (example): I assumed $2,900 a year for the new car and $3,300 a year for the used V8. That gives $14,500 versus $16,500 over five years. A V8 muscle sedan often rates as a higher-risk car for insurers, but your age, driving record, and ZIP code can swing this by thousands. Two drivers in the same car can pay wildly different premiums.

Maintenance (example): The new car is under warranty for most of the period, so I assumed $3,000 for tires, brakes, and fluids. The used car will be out of factory coverage for part of the five years, so I assumed $7,500: the same routine items plus a repair reserve. That reserve is a guess. It could be $2,000 or $15,000.

The Full 5-Year Tally

Cost category	New 2026 (six-cylinder)	Used 2023 V8
Depreciation	$28,000	$20,000
Financing interest	$9,400	$7,800
Fuel	$11,429	$13,333
Insurance	$14,500	$16,500
Maintenance and repairs	$3,000	$7,500
Tax and fees	$4,000	$3,200
5-year total	$70,329	$68,333
Per month	about $1,172	about $1,139
Per mile	about $1.17	about $1.14

Winner in this example: the used 2023 V8 Scat Pack, by about $2,000 over five years.

That's roughly 3% of the total cost. It's a win, but not a comfortable one. It's the kind of margin that a couple of small changes can erase.

This is the kind of analysis DriveDecision runs for you, so you don't have to build the spreadsheet yourself.

Where the Winner Flips

I changed two inputs to see how fragile that $2,000 lead is.

Flip 1: Used resale comes in $4,000 lower. A V8 with 90,000 miles might sell for $16,000 instead of $20,000. That adds $4,000 to the used car's depreciation, making its total $72,333. Now the new car wins by about $2,000.

Flip 2: The repair reserve is bigger. If the used car needs $12,000 in repairs instead of $7,500, its total rises by $4,500 to about $72,833. The new car wins by about $2,500.

The other direction: if the used car holds its value better than my example (say it sells for $24,000), or if the new six-cylinder depreciates faster because buyers stay angry about the missing V8, the used car's lead grows quickly. That's the resale wildcard the reviews hint at.

Two numbers I guessed, resale value and repair costs, decide the whole comparison. That's exactly why a single "used is always cheaper" rule doesn't hold up.

The California Wrinkle: Smog Rules Are a Cost Too

If you live in California, there's one more item to consider. The Drive's piece "Smog Testing in California Is Broken. Leno's Law Won't Fix It" reports that the new law is being hailed as a landmark win that will keep classic cars on the road longer, but that it doesn't fix the systemic issues with the state's emissions testing rules.

I'm not going to pretend to know the fine print of how those rules apply to a 2023 car. Newer cars aren't the classics that law is aimed at. But the takeaway for a used-car buyer is practical: emissions compliance is a cost that varies by state, and sometimes by ZIP code. If a test failure means a repair bill, that's a hidden cost that lands on the used-car side of the ledger. Ask about a car's emissions history before you buy, and check your state's current rules.

What About Cheaper Ways to Go Faster or Bigger?

Three other stories in this week's headlines are worth a quick mention, mostly as reality checks.

BYD's bigger Seagull. Electrek reports BYD released first official images of the second-generation Seagull, a bigger and smarter version of its most affordable EV. It's a reminder that the low end of the EV market is getting more aggressive globally. I'm not suggesting a Seagull is an option for a Charger shopper. But cheaper EV competition tends to pressure prices across the market over time, which is one more reason resale values are hard to predict.

Geely's fast charger. Carscoops reports that Geely's new charging tech can take a Lynk & Co 01 and a Zeekr 001 from 10% to 70% in four minutes and 30 seconds. That's impressive, but it's about vehicles and infrastructure most US buyers can't get. It doesn't change your Charger math today.

Honda's rumored Pilot XXL. Carscoops says Honda is reportedly considering a crossover around 208.1 inches long, almost Tahoe-sized. It's a rumor, so I'd hold it loosely. If you're really shopping for a family hauler and the Charger is a want rather than a need, a bigger three-row is a different cost profile entirely. Our Suburban vs Sequoia Hybrid comparison shows how full-size costs stack up.

The Inputs Only You Can Fill In

The example above is a coin flip on purpose. Here's what would tip it for your situation:

Your mileage. At 20,000 miles a year, the V8's fuel penalty roughly doubles to about $3,800 over five years, and the used car's mileage-driven resale hit gets bigger.
Your ZIP code and insurance tier. A driver with a clean record in a low-cost state might pay half what I assumed. A young driver in a dense city might pay double. Insurance alone can swing $10,000 either way.
Your loan rate. A credit union offering 5.5% on the new car changes the financing line more than most people expect.
The actual used car. A one-owner car with service records is a different bet than an auction car with a mystery history. Compare the specific VIN, not the model.
Your state's emissions rules. Especially in California, where testing requirements are in the news.
How long you'll really keep it. If you sell after three years instead of five, the depreciation curve changes shape and can favor either side.

If you're weighing a similar gap on a different car, we walked through the same used-vs-new logic in our Honda Accord comparison, and looked at a V8-and-financing scenario in our Jeep Wrangler Moab 392 lease vs buy piece.

You can model this for your specific situation at DriveDecision, with your own mileage, insurance quote, and loan terms in place of my guesses.

The Bottom Line

In this worked example, the used 2023 V8 Scat Pack wins by about $2,000 over five years, mainly because it avoids $8,000 of depreciation. But it's a thin lead. A slightly lower resale price or a bigger repair bill hands the win to the new six-cylinder, and the new car's warranty gives you something a price tag doesn't show: fewer surprises.

Here's my rule of thumb, as a friend who nerds out on this stuff. If the gap between two cars is under about 5% of total cost, stop arguing about the math and decide on the things the spreadsheet can't measure: whether you want the V8 sound, whether you'd sleep better with a warranty, whether you'd rather have the newest tech. When the gap is bigger than that, trust the numbers.

Not sure which side of that line you're on? Plug your real quotes into the DriveDecision comparison tool and see whether your version of this decision is a clear win or a coin flip. It takes a few minutes, and it beats finding out in year four.

Sources

BYD releases the first official images of the ‘bigger’ Seagull EV ahead of its debut — Electrek
Smog Testing in California Is Broken. Leno’s Law Won’t Fix It — The Drive
2026 Dodge Charger Scat Pack Sixpack Review: This Reboot Is Off to a Poor Start — The Drive
Honda Said To Be Considering Super-Sized Pilot XXL — Carscoops
Geely’s Smart Charger Can Charge An EV Quicker Than A Bathroom Break — Carscoops