Newer challenger's

Ok, I know no one wants to read a book on here but this got me jumping head first into a rabbit hole and I expect this will turn into just that.

Let me start off by saying that my favorite idea is a Duster that runs/drives like my R/T did. I love the idea of building it myself, and avoiding some of the compromises you have to accept with a new Challenger (weight, options you don't want, etc.). Plus, while I don't chase car show trophies I do like going to them and entering a car, which I wouldn't do with a new Challenger. Not going to "show" something that I bought even if I were to do a cam swap and upgrade the brakes. Oh, and building my Duster means no car payments which I really like.

I also understand that not everyone wants the same thing out of their car. If you want that old school feel, for whatever reason, no reason to read on. But if you want to drive your car every day, road trip it to Route 66 and back, and want something that could replace your Camry while still offering most of the comforts but a lot more fun, maybe a new Challenger or upgraded A-Body makes sense.

All that to say that if someone were standing at the precipice of wanting to drive something fun and useful at the same time, not sure upgrading a Duster is the best way to get there cost wise.

Just some quick budgeting starts to make even a brand new Challenger R/T look like a pretty good deal. Assuming you don't have anything to start with, I would go looking for a very clean basic A-Body that doesn't need body/paint or interior work with all good glass and seals. Maybe a restored slant 6 car. Figure $15K for something like that if you look hard? Then throw money at it so you don't have to spend any more time than necessary reengineering the swap and can almost bolt it together with all new parts.

Crate motor $8,000.00
T56 swap $7,000.00
Swap parts $1,800.00
PCM/Harness $2,200.00
Suspension $3,400.00
AC $3,000.00
Wheels/tires $2,000.00

That setup would total $42.4K including the car, and I am sure I am underestimating costs and missing things.

Even if you already own an A-Body that is fairly stock you are looking at $27.4K to do the swap.

For comparison, the R/T I would spec shows a final price of $43,645 on the Dodge website. That's with White paint ($0 cost), Performance Handling Group (for the Brembo brakes), NAV (to get the 8.4 only) and Driver's Convenience Group (for the security alarm). Not much more than the full build listed above. And the bare minimum R/T (for me) would be $40,870 with the Brembos, less than the above build.

Assuming you are as cheap as I am and don't mind years of collecting parts and building stuff yourself you could use this budget:

Used motor $1,500.00
T56 swap $5,500.00
Swap parts $1,800.00
PCM/Harness $1000.00
Suspension $3,400.00
AC $3,000.00
Wheels/tires $1,000.00

That's still $17.2K. And don't forget the cost of body work, paint and trim if you want the cleanliness of the new Challenger.

For $20K you could get a well used R/T if you look hard, and then finance it right now and be driving today. And add some nice features like ABS, traction control, cruise, power windows, etc. without adding any cost or work that the A-Body build would need.

I get it that you can build a SB or BB to make as much power, but a used 6.4 will get you something similar in power and yet be far more drivable. Add the 6 speed, AC and suspension to the SB/BB build and you still aren't far off the cost of a used Challenger but you are probably behind in drivability.

There are certainly still cheaper ways to do this, too. Cutting the T56 out of the budget helps a bunch, but it also really chops into the drivability aspect. You could also try to a make a core 5.7 work like I am, and hope you don't flush $400-800 on a motor that isn't junk. Many ways to do this, just remember that most of them will result in a car that doesn't drive as well as a Challenger and will probably add a year or more to the build.

Not trying to talk anyone out of their A-Body or into a Challenger, just saying that there are a couple of ways to look at this and some of them put me on the side of buying a Challenger. If I had the space, and didn't care about the car payment, I would buy a Challenger and leave my Duster more like it is. But I don't want the payment so I need to bring the Duster up to what I had in the Challenger.