10 Best Muscle Cars to Buy

Once upon a time, the best muscle cars to buy were the ones with power-packed V8 engines, rear-wheel drive, and all-American roots. Nor could just any car qualify. Only in-your-face coupes and the occasional drop-top were worthy of the “muscle car” moniker. Nowadays, though, it’s a whole new world. Only four current entries trace their roots back to the muscle-car era, and one of them is a sedan.

The good news? The four modern-day muscle cars have a lot more muscle than the originals. All can deliver much more than 600 horsepower while getting from 0 to 60 in well under 4 seconds. In addition, a variety of new brands have gotten in on the muscle-car action with vehicles that fill the same basic role.

To go like a bat out of the Bad Place, the best muscle cars to buy start with the 2020 Dodge Challenger Hellcat Redeye. It’s at the peak of the power pyramid, thanks to a supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi V8 with 797 horsepower and 707 pound-feet of torque.

The Hellcat Redeye also leads the muscle-car class in three key categories: the quickest 0 to 60 time (3.4 seconds), the quickest quarter-mile time (10.8 seconds), and the highest top speed (203 mph). As a practical matter, the Challenger provides noticeably more rear-seat legroom and trunk space than the Chevrolet Camaro or Ford Mustang. The Challenger actually has more rear-seat legroom than in the back of a Chevrolet Tahoe and a larger trunk than the Toyota Camry.

The best muscle cars to buy from the Blue Oval are kept in the Mustang stable. We especially like the new 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 — the most powerful and technologically advanced production Mustang ever. In fact, the 2020 GT500 is the company’s most powerful production vehicle of any kind ever, boasting more output than even the Ford GT supercar.

The GT500 showcases 760 horsepower and 625 pound-feet of torque. It comes from a supercharged V8 engine that’s paired with the segment’s first dual-clutch automatic transmission. Per Ford, the seven-speed unit is “markedly faster than any manual gearbox.” This makes the GT500 markedly faster than past Mustangs, too, with a 0-to-60 time in the middle of the 3- to 4-second range.

The best muscle cars to buy if you’re a traditionalist also include the 2020 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Like its two direct rivals, the 2020 Camaro represents the quickest, most powerful street-legal muscle car ever sold by its brand. The difference-maker here is another supercharged V8, this one able to blow out 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. Backed by that engine, the Camaro ZL1 keeps up with the Mustang and Challenger by sprinting from 0 to 60 in 3.5 seconds.

It’s also worth noting that the 2020 Camaro ZL1 — and this year’s Mustang and Challenger — all offer a level of track capability that goes well beyond what you’d experience with the originals. The modern-day versions can carve corners with some of the world’s top all-around sports cars.

We know many customers today prefer SUVs, so we’ve included one of those with our best muscle cars to buy. This makes sense when you find out more about the 2020 Dodge Durango SRT. For instance, the Durango is motivated by the same Hemi engine that Dodge provides for the Challenger Scat Pack models: a 6.4-liter naturally aspirated V8 that can crank out 475 horsepower and 470 pound-feet of torque.

Dodge’s three-row SUV also features standard all-wheel drive, and while that’s uncommon for most muscle cars, it is optional for the Challenger. All that said, the Durango SRT can haul like both a sports car and a sport-utility vehicle — by combining a 0 to 60 time of 4.4 seconds and a trailer rating of 8,700 pounds.

Yes, you have three choices if you’re shopping for Dodge’s best muscle cars. Along with the Challenger and Durango, there’s the 2020 Dodge Charger — the four-door muscle car. The Charger doesn’t enjoy the same Redeye treatment as the Challenger, but you can order the “regular” Hellcat V8 that’s been supercharged for 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque.

That — plus a top speed of 198 mph — means the Charger is the fastest, most-powerful mass-produced sedan of the year (according to Dodge). The Hellcat can charge from 0 to 60 in 3.6 seconds, too. And this tire-shredding titan is a full-size sedan with more rear legroom than many two-row SUVs. So this member of Dodge’s muscle-car family is well-suited for your family.

The 2020 Nissan 370Z NISMO doesn’t come with a V8, but that’s the case for a number of the best muscle cars to buy. Turbocharged four-cylinder engines and naturally aspirated V6s are common in the Camaro, Challenger, and Mustang ranks. On its part, the 370Z NISMO carries a V6 with 350 horsepower and 276 pound-feet of torque. This marks a bump of 18 horses and 6 pound-feet of torque over the standard 370Z.

Yes, some of the vehicles we’ve already mentioned can more than double those numbers. But since the 370Z is a much smaller car, it’s still plenty dynamic. The Z car also hews to the muscle-car line with an aggressively designed coupe body style, rear-wheel drive, and a performance pack from Nissan’s NISMO motorsports division.

In many ways, the 2020 Nissan GT-R NISMO is a better muscle car than the 370Z. The GT-R is right about the same length as the traditional muscle-car trio, and it offers closer to the same kind of power. The NISMO-fied version — tuned by Nissan’s motorsports division — is a certified track monster that can tear up the road with 600 horsepower and 481 pound-feet of torque. Output is then managed by a six-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission.

Where the GT-R really stands out from conventional muscle cars is with the rest of its powertrain and with its pricing. First, the GT-R NISMO sports a twin-turbo V6 and all-wheel drive. More problematic may be its MSRP. That opens at $210,740.

Keeping the cost of the Nissan GT-R in mind, the 2020 Lexus RC-F is a veritable bargain among the best muscle cars to buy. You can get behind the wheel of this high-performance Lexus at a starting price of $64,900. Even the new limited-production Track Edition is stickered under six figures.

In terms of muscle-car credentials, the rear-wheel drive RC-F features an engine configuration better associated with the Ford Mustang GT: a 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V8 with a throaty growl. Lexus goes on to tune its mighty motor for 472 horsepower, 395 pound-feet of torque, and the ability to break the 4-second mark from 0 to 60. Needless to say, the RC-F can also leverage the Lexus brand for incredible luxury cues.

When we’re talking about the best muscle cars to buy from the luxury brands, we have to talk about the 2020 Mercedes-AMG S 63 Coupe. Now, to be clear, this is a true two-door, not one of Mercedes’ sporty-looking “four-door coupe” sedans.

The S 63 Coupe also has the real deal under the hood, in the shape of a handcrafted V8. Twin turbochargers boost that engine’s output to 603 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque. You’ll feel every bit of it when you press the gas pedal and go from 0 to 60 in 3.4 seconds. As a hi-po version of the S-Class Coupe — which is the brand’s two-door flagship — the S 63 flaunts its share of opulent content as well.

Also relying on AMG power is the next member of the “best muscle cars to buy” club. Behind the scenes, it turns out the same corporation that owns Mercedes-Benz owns a small part of Aston Martin, and that smoothed the way for an engine-sharing deal between the various brands.

The 2020 Aston Martin Vantage takes full advantage of the partnership by borrowing the same twin-turbo V8 found in the Mercedes-AMG S 63 Coupe. Aston Martin, however, stays truer to the muscle-car template by using rear-wheel drive. A further advantage for the Vantage is in the top-speed department. With a maximum velocity of 195 mph, the Vantage is 9 mph faster than its rival.