The vehicle
Dodge Charger Pursuit
Forty-seven entries across fifteen Michigan tests. The car that took the top speed record back for Chrysler in its first year — and then spent fourteen years getting better at something else entirely.
The Dodge Charger Pursuit arrives in 2006 and immediately does the thing everyone remembers: 150 mph, beating a record that had stood since 1969 and doing it on the same proving ground where the Polara set it.
Then the top speed stops moving. What changes over the next fourteen years is the braking, and that is the more interesting story.
Every test
The principal car each year, with the best braking figure any Charger recorded that year. Axle variants and E85 cars are in every Charger entry.
| Year | Vehicle | 0–60 s | Top mph | Best 60–0 ft | Lap s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Dodge Charger 5.7L HEMI | 6.52 | 150 | 130.1 | 97.96 |
| 2007 | Dodge Charger 5.7L HEMI | 6.53 | 148 | 131.9 | 97.69 |
| 2008 | Dodge Charger 5.7L HEMI | 6.24 | 148 | 142.1 | 97.94 |
| 2009 | Dodge Charger 5.7L HEMI | 5.96 | 146 | 135.1 | 97.08 |
| 2010 | Dodge Charger 5.7L HEMI | 6 | 146 | 137.9 | 96.9 |
| 2011 | Dodge Charger 5.7L HEMI | 6.24 | 146 | 133.2 | – |
| 2012 | Dodge Charger 5.7L (2.65 axle) | 5.95 | 152 | 127 | – |
| 2013 | Dodge Charger 5.7L (2.65 axle) | 6.12 | 152 | 128.5 | 96.02 |
| 2014 | 2014.5 Dodge Charger 5.7L (2.65) | 6.12 | 150 | 126.5 | 95.8 |
| 2015 | Dodge Charger 5.7L (3.08 AWD) | 6.32 | 149 | 124.7 | 94.8 |
| 2016 | Dodge Charger 5.7L (2.62 RWD) | 6.48 | 150 | 125 | 96.67 |
| 2017 | Dodge Charger 5.7L (2.62 RWD) | 6.17 | 149 | 123.2 | 97.12 |
| 2018 | Dodge Charger 5.7L (2.62 RWD) | 6.31 | 150 | 132.9 | 97.39 |
| 2019 | Dodge Charger 5.7L AWD | 5.87 | 149 | 126.9 | 97.1 |
| 2020 | 2021 Dodge Charger 5.7L RWD | 6.06 | 149 | 127.2 | 96.77 |
The top speed never really moved
Across fifteen tests the Charger’s top speed sits between 146 and 152 mph, and its 0–60 between 5.87 and 6.53 seconds. Fourteen years of development, and the headline figures land in the same narrow band the car arrived in.
That is the same pattern as the Crown Victoria’s thirteen flat years — and for a related reason. Past a point, these numbers stop describing the car.
The clearest proof of that in the archive
Michigan does not only record the top speed. It records how far the car had to run to reach it. Two consecutive tests of the same Charger:
| 2016 | 2017 | |
|---|---|---|
| Top speed | 150 mph | 149 mph |
| Distance to reach it | 13.28 miles | 1.45 miles |
Thirteen and a quarter miles to reach 150, then a year later a mile and a half to reach 149. Nothing about the car changed that much. What changed was where the electronics stopped it — the full account is here.
A car that needs thirteen miles to reach its top speed has not got a top speed. It has got a ceiling it is crawling up to.
What actually improved
Set the braking column against the speed column and the real development becomes obvious.
| Period | Best 60–0 |
|---|---|
| 2006–2011 (twelve stops) | 130.1 ft, and as long as 142.1 in 2008 |
| 2012–2020 (twenty stops) | 123.2 ft in 2017 — shorter, under a tougher procedure |
In 2017 the Charger recorded the highest deceleration rate any car had posted to that point, 31.44 ft/s². The 2026 Mustang Mach-E GT has since managed 31.62. The only other vehicle that has stopped harder in a Michigan test is a three-wheeled Can-Am.
Where it sits in the record
| Figure | Vehicle | Year |
|---|---|---|
| 152 mph — fastest recorded | Charger 5.7L (2.65 axle) | 2012 |
| 5.81 s — quickest to 60 | Charger 5.7L | 2020 |
| 123.2 ft — shortest 60–0 by a Dodge, and the highest decel rate to 2017 of any car in the archive | Charger 5.7L (2.62 RWD) | 2017 |
| 1:34.39 — fastest Grattan lap in the archive | Charger 5.7L (2.65 axle) | 2014 |
No Charger entry carries the source’s limiter footnote, which is worth noting given the 2016 figure above. Michigan marks some vehicles as limited and did not mark these — the thirteen-mile run is evidence rather than documentation.