For one thing boasting almost 700 horsepower, the 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona’s press rollout appeared pretty subdued. No smoke machine, no Evening Ranger-grade lasers.
One of many first feedback out of the mouth of Dodge Model CEO Matt McAlear: Method the Charger Daytona “as a muscle automobile first and an EV second.”
Okay, Matt, you’re on.
Certainly, the brand new Charger Daytona–orderable now and anticipated for early 2025 supply–is out there with both 496 horsepower in R/T trim or a whopping 670 horsepower in Scat Pack trim.
[2024 Dodge Charger Daytona: The muscle car goes electric]
That’s barely extra and barely much less energy, respectively, for the sporty and super-sporty variants of the earlier Charger and Challenger, however right here’s the actual distinction: Whereas these earlier Dodge hotrods used V8 energy, the latest Charger takes its title critically, using a 100.5 kWh battery pack to drive twin 250 kW electrical motors.
Dodge’s pitch is that electrification is the very best present (get it?) strategy to create the sort of efficiency clients anticipate from their most muscley automobiles. The corporate isn’t technically flawed–EVs are ceaselessly among the many hardest-accelerating vehicles on at this time’s market–but it surely looks like there’s additionally a buried lede in that declare referencing company gasoline economic system and emissions requirements making it harder and fewer economically viable to only cam up and pressurize a monster V8 and ship it out into the wild.
At any fee, the brand new Charger appears to be like the half. It cuts a good-looking, well-proportioned determine, evocative of the B-body Chargers of the late Sixties. That’s a acutely aware determination, based on the outside and inside stylists in attendance, who cited not solely strains and curves, however particulars and Easter eggs lifted from arguably the best-looking Chargers.
Pictures Credit score: J.G. Pasterjak
Once more, although, the buried lede of that good-looking and well-proportioned form is the sheer dimension of the auto. Dodge claims that the brand new Charger, at almost 80 inches huge (with out mirrors), is as huge because it’s legally allowed to be with out including heavy truck-style further marker lamps.
We’re unsure that’s precisely one thing to brag about.
The brand new Charger is over 17 toes lengthy, with a 122-inch wheelbase. The wheelbase itself is lower than 2 toes shorter than a whole-ass Miata.
{Photograph} Courtesy Dodge
From 30 toes away and with none visible context, it’s handsome. As you get nearer, the factor fills your peripheral imaginative and prescient to the purpose of comedian overkill.
The roof sits almost 5 toes above the bottom, and whereas viewing the automobile from the door, the entrance and rear bumpers might as properly be in neighboring counties. Whereas electrification introduced loopy energy and torque, housing that 100.5 kWh battery pack takes up some severe actual property.
No less than the house is used effectively. This two-door automobile has again seats rivaling these of most four-door sedans, and it’s additionally a real hatchback, with sufficient house within the again to swallow an entire set of wheels and tires.
Pictures Credit score: J.G. Pasterjak
Up entrance, the cockpit space could be very driver-focused, with screens and gauges angled towards the motive force, and people late-’60s design cues and textures work very properly of their new, trendy context. The squared-off steering wheel is properly sized, however there’s so much occurring in these areas so far as buttons and switches are involved.
Paradoxically, the PowerShot button, which unleashes the complete fury of the Scat Pack’s 670 horsepower for 10 seconds at a time, is positioned low and on the correct aspect of the steering hub, forcing the motive force to take away a hand from the wheel to interact full-power mode.
All of that dimension we referenced earlier isn’t only for present, both. It hints at mass that’s in abundance on this chunky hunk of muscle machine. Dodge lists the curb weight of the 670-horsepower Scat Pack variant at 5767 kilos. For these conserving rating at residence, that’s 300 kilos greater than a 2010 Toyota Tundra crew cab with a 5.7-liter V8.
It’s a LOT of automobile, and definitely most EVs are nowadays due to these heavy battery packs, however the Charger weighs in at round half a ton greater than vehicles just like the Tesla Mannequin S or Hyundai Ioniq 5 N–and almost 1800 kilos greater than a Mannequin 3 Efficiency. Yikes.
So whereas the Scat Pack does throw 670 horsepower to all 4 wheels, these horses are closely laden. The ability-to-weight ratio is extra in keeping with vehicles just like the BMW M3, making it appear far much less particular, particularly in a class of vehicles with more and more ludicrous efficiency.
Acceleration is stable–Dodge claims 3.3 seconds to succeed in 60–however not spectacular given the competitors within the class. It feels bizarre saying a 3.3-second zero-to-60 is “not spectacular,” however in a class the place the 3-second barrier is frequently flirted with and even damaged, it takes a giant assertion to make a splash on this pond.
All 2025 Charger Daytona Scat Packs will embrace the Monitor Bundle, which comes with some massive ol’ six-piston Brembo calipers pinching 16-inch, two-piece rotors up entrance, four-piston rear calipers, 20×11- and 20×11.5-inch wheels wrapped in 305mm- and 325mm-wide Goodyear Eagle F1 tires and a multi-mode adaptive suspension.
{Photograph} Courtesy Dodge
On observe, the Charger is–considerably shockingly–pretty nimble regardless of its heft. It turns in properly, with higher than common really feel and suggestions, though the mass does take a while to redirect.
Braking, likewise, has surprisingly good really feel and suggestions regardless of being brake by wire and closely leveraging regenerative braking. Braking is the place you most really feel the three tons of automobile underneath you, with all that mass heaving ahead to take a set on these entrance tires and simply overwhelming them, triggering ABS intervention. It takes just a few laps to get used to utilizing the brakes at 100%, however when you get the texture proper, the motion is, once more, surprisingly efficient contemplating how a lot mass it’s arresting.
The draw back to these brakes is that they insist on monogamy. For instance, it will have felt nice to path off the brakes–which give ok suggestions for efficient path braking–whereas preloading the driveline with the gasoline pedal–or electrical energy pedal, or accelerator, or no matter we’re calling it these days.
However each time the automobile senses any simultaneous operation of each pedals, irrespective of how slight, it shuts you down. The automobile immediately goes into limp mode, killing energy and ready so that you can take away all toes from all pedals for lengthy sufficient for it to reset.
And that is a bummer as a result of there’s positively extra efficiency out there with the power to two-pedal issues. Significantly for vehicles of appreciable mass and comparatively mushy suspension just like the Charger, the time spent transferring your proper foot between pedals is time that might simply be used to extra exactly management the speed and ferocity of that weight switch.
Perhaps essentially the most spectacular side of our observe sampling was the management of the vertical movement by the adaptive dampers. Attenuating that kind of mass is not any small feat, however the Charger took the heaves like a champ, simply capable of keep full throttle over curbs and small yumps with little to no chassis upset.
Whereas the dealing with loop at Radford Racing Faculty, location of the press rollout, was pretty tight and low-speed, we had been capable of finding just a few vibrant spots in our VBox knowledge. Notably, the Charger Daytona gripped above 1g laterally at various spots, and we noticed peak braking at or close to the 1g mark as properly. Peak acceleration reached close to 0.4g, placing it in league with the likes of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N, a minimum of for restricted stretches.
That stated, although, the Charger Daytona, even in Scat Pack with Monitor Bundle type, is just not actually at residence on observe. The “observe” mode choice within the driving choice menu even trims over 100 horsepower off the entrance electrical motor to scale back power-on understeer and produce extra stability to the chassis.
We tried just a few laps in “sport” mode, which unlocks all of the out there energy, however the throttle was extraordinarily sensitive, and the ability merely overwhelmed the entrance suspension throughout lengthy nook exits, slowing lap instances.
We discovered the very best laps on the tight course had been out there in observe mode with even handed use of the PowerShot button after we may truly use the extra thrust. On an extended observe with extra full-throttle operation, observe mode would be the quickest resolution, but it surely actually will really feel ungainly on many nook exits.
{Photograph} Courtesy Dodge
However the greater query is who’s going to even drive this automobile on observe, anyway? And even greater than that’s who’s truly the shopper base for this automobile?
Dodge’s reply to that query was that its clients basically are youthful and hipper than the trade common, which is sort of a non-answer as a result of it doesn’t actually specify whether or not these younger, hip individuals are shopping for Hornets or simply aching for a 3-ton electrical muscle automobile with out cool stuff like superior torque vectoring that its competitors has.
It appears to us that conventional hotrodders aren’t notably amped up for an electrical muscle automobile, and the sorts of tech early adopters and efficiency lovers that gravitate towards efficiency EVs aren’t jonesing for the old-school vibes of the Charger.
Oh yeah, we haven’t even talked about how these old-school vibes are augmented by Dodge’s “Fratzonic” exhaust, which blasts a digital exhaust notice by means of a sequence of audio system and resonance chambers within the rear of the automobile.
{Photograph} Courtesy Dodge
It’s … sort of cool? Perhaps?
Look, we truly sort of just like the idea of a digital exhaust. Sound is a crucial ingredient within the total emotional enjoyment of something, notably a high-performance automobile.
However the execution leaves a bit on the desk in our opinion. With the {hardware} in place, the choice exists to supply any sound possible. Any waveforms, frequencies and results can be found with some easy coding.
And Dodge selected to go together with … a retro-sounding V8 rumble. Why not leverage that expertise to permit EVs to create their very own distinctive sonic id moderately than imitating one thing they clearly aren’t?
BMW went out and obtained legendary movie composer Hans Zimmer to design sounds for its EV lineup, arising with one thing that’s fairly cool, distinctive and identifiable.
Dodge sampled a V8 and threw some delay and flanging on it. There’s no guidelines, and the expertise to defy expectations and create pleasure is sitting proper there, so why not use it?
{Photograph} Courtesy Dodge
And that’s sort of the story with the entire Charger Daytona expertise. Yeah, it’s sort of cool, however removed from really particular within the section contemplating what else is out there.
And at a $73,000 MSRP and sticker costs north of $82,000 for a Scat Pack with Monitor Bundle, it’s not even a discount, particularly when contemplating its old-school hotrod method.
Will probably be attention-grabbing to see who these vehicles truly enchantment to and what the eventual patrons truly find yourself doing with them. And the 1000-plus-horsepower SRT model dropping later in 2025 ought to hopefully carry the correct quantity of efficiency to the platform that’s considerably absent in these variations.
Feedback
So it’s massive however properly proportioned.
How does the Dodge appear if you happen to consider it as a decrease value different to one thing from Lucid?
APEowner stated:
How does the Dodge appear if you happen to consider it as a decrease value different to one thing from Lucid?
It is powerful to make this math math out accurately as a result of even the bottom contented Lucid has extra options (like correct route planning or Plug&Cost) than the Charger. Now, apparently extra options shall be added by Dodge as OTA updates, however as of now the TomTom-based nav system would not even do true cost system/community integration to do automated route planning.
The Charger actually appears to goal for an old-school scorching rod expertise, but it surely does it at a premium worth and with efficiency that does not set itself aside sufficient to miss the dearth of options or all that mass.
DavyZ
Reader
12/18/24 1:59 p.m.
I would prefer to see it proper subsequent to a 1969 Charger for dimension and dimension comparability. These EVs simply do not excite me. I believe Chrysler has narrowed down their demographic to such a sliver of the inhabitants that these vehicles will not promote in nice numbers. The present Challengers and Chargers are operating in every single place right here in NC, with drivers who love muscle vehicles. So what number of of these patrons would think about an EV model? What number of Tesla and Ioniq patrons would think about one among these new Chrysler EVs? I am guessing not too many.
Not permitting two pedal driving within the observe mode or a efficiency automobile is an odd alternative.
If we insist on giving EVs synthetic sound, why not amplify their actual sounds? A few of what I’ve heard from the Ford SuperVan and Ken Block’s EV was fairly badass.
$73k looks as if loopy cash for this. Hopefully you guys get an opportunity to present one a correct take a look at across the FIRM to get some knowledge however I would wager you would spank this factor with a Mustang that prices so much much less.
Driven5
PowerDork
12/18/24 2:04 p.m.
For these of us that think about automobiles sounds to be akin to music, I am actually upset within the present state of EV sounds. In contrast to many, I am not against audio system getting used for this, however solely in the correct context.
Automobiles with combustion engines are like acoustic guitars. EV’s are like electrical guitars, with all the potentialities and musical potential that entails. Sadly, moderately than truly plugging the electrical guitar in, they’re selecting to only go play Guitar-Hero as a substitute.
And, for reference, this is a video of the Hans Zimmer-composed noises J.G. is speaking about:
DavyZ stated:
I would prefer to see it proper subsequent to a 1969 Charger for dimension and dimension comparability.
Trying on the specs, it is 2 inches shorter in size, 7 inches wider, and seven inches taller. Appears like round 50% extra curb weight as properly.
Tom1200
PowerDork
12/18/24 2:21 p.m.
Certain it is highly effective but it surely, in a nutshell, encapsulate my most important challenge with EVs.
They’re grossly obese. You aren’t going to be chucking it about with out shredding the tires briefly order.
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