Dodge CHARGER RT vs CHALLENGER RT | STREET RACE!

A 2015 Dodge Challenger R/T and a 2017 Dodge Charger R/T share the same HEMI V8 but very different body styles, and Modern Muscle’s host puts his own Challenger up against @frederic_rt’s Charger to settle which one actually wins on the street. Rolling starts and dig starts each favor a different car, splitting the comments right down the middle. It’s one entry in a much larger local rivalry series. Watch to see who takes it.

A four-door Dodge Charger challenging a two-door Challenger to a street race sounds like an easy call on paper, until the extra weight and drivetrain differences start canceling each other out somewhere past the burnout line. Modern Muscle’s host lines up his own 2015 Challenger R/T against a 2017 Charger R/T owned by a fellow Los Angeles enthusiast known online as @frederic_rt, and the results split almost exactly down the middle depending on which portion of the race is being judged. One comment sums up the entire video in a single line about who’s rolling and who’s launching better — and that’s precisely the argument worth watching play out.

Same Engine, Different Body Style

Both cars in this matchup share Chrysler’s 5.7-liter HEMI V8 under the hood, which means the real variable in this race isn’t engine displacement — it’s everything wrapped around it. The Charger’s four-door body and longer wheelbase add weight and length the two-door Challenger doesn’t carry, while the Challenger’s shorter, lighter chassis is built with a more traditional muscle car weight distribution in mind. On paper, that should give the Challenger a clear edge, which is exactly why the actual results end up sparking so much debate in the comments below the video. That’s part of what makes grassroots matchups like this one more revealing than manufacturer-sanctioned comparison tests, since the outcome isn’t scripted or cherry-picked in advance.

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Meet Frederic and His Charger R/T

The Charger belongs to a fellow Los Angeles-area enthusiast who goes by @frederic_rt on Instagram, and this video continues Modern Muscle’s ongoing series of street races between the host’s Challenger and cars owned by other local drivers willing to line up. Viewers who’ve followed the channel recognize the format immediately: friendly trash talk before the run, a genuine competitive edge once the cars launch, and mutual respect regardless of which car crosses first.

Rolling Starts vs Dig Starts

Comments point out something the raw footage alone doesn’t always make obvious — the Charger appears to have the advantage when both cars are already rolling, while the Challenger gets the better jump off the line in a dig start. That distinction matters enormously in real street racing, where launches rarely happen from a dead stop the way they do at a sanctioned drag strip, and it explains why viewers who watched closely came away with a split verdict rather than a clean win for either car. For anyone cross-shopping these two body styles, that’s the more useful takeaway than any single quarter-mile time.

What the Comments Caught That the Camera Almost Missed

One recurring joke in the comments compares the Charger driver to someone who finally got his first serious bicycle — implying the Charger, in this matchup, is punching above its weight class in a way nobody quite expected going in. It’s a lighthearted line, but it captures the genuine surprise plenty of viewers expressed watching a four-door sedan keep pace with a purpose-built two-door muscle coupe.

Why the Charger Carries More Weight

Curb weight is the quiet villain in any street race between these two body styles. A 2017 Charger R/T tips the scales meaningfully heavier than a comparably equipped Challenger R/T, and that difference shows up most in the middle of the race, where momentum matters as much as raw horsepower. It’s the same physics that’s shaped muscle car rivalries since the 1960s, when a two-door’s lighter unibody frequently outran a full-size sedan sharing the same drivetrain.

Aftermarket Mods and the Fairness Question

Several commenters raise a fair question about parity: has either car received aftermarket tuning, exhaust work, or other bolt-on modifications that could tip a genuinely close race? The video doesn’t hide that question, and one reply directly credits aftermarket mods with helping the Charger keep pace — a reminder that a ‘stock’ street race between two owned, driven, modified cars rarely stays perfectly stock for long.

A Collaboration Built on Mutual Respect

What makes this video stand out from a typical street race upload is the tone. Both drivers clearly know and respect each other, and the race reads more like two friends settling a friendly argument than a hostile grudge match. Frederic himself even appears in the comments thanking the host for the collaboration, calling it one of his favorite videos on the channel — a small detail that says a lot about the community this series has built.

The Bigger Series This Video Belongs To

This race is one entry in Modern Muscle’s larger Dodge Challenger R/T vs. series, a recurring format built entirely around Los Angeles car owners willing to bring their vehicles to camera and let the results speak for themselves. Over dozens of uploads, the series has become something like a running scoreboard for the city’s Mopar community, with viewers tracking which cars have raced which and keeping their own mental tally of wins and losses. Following it from upload to upload has become something like a local sport unto itself for longtime subscribers.

Why Sedans Keep Surprising Coupe Owners

Sedan owners keep proving a point coupe purists don’t love hearing: a four-door muscle car built on the right platform doesn’t have to give up much at all in a straight line. This particular Charger-versus-Challenger race won’t settle the argument permanently, but it adds one more data point to a debate that’s been running since Dodge first put a HEMI in a four-door body — and anyone shopping between the two body styles today would do well to remember it.

A Rivalry Worth Watching Play Out Again

Whatever the final verdict on this particular run, the larger takeaway is how much genuine uncertainty still surrounds a Charger-versus-Challenger matchup even when both cars share the same drivetrain. Weight distribution, launch technique, and driver skill all matter as much as the spec sheet, which is exactly why grassroots street races like this one keep drawing more engaged debate than any manufacturer-sanctioned comparison test ever could. It’s also why Modern Muscle keeps returning to this exact format video after video.

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