2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Review – Massive Change Leads to Familiar Feeling

Yes, sure, there will be other Chargers coming, including an internal-combustion engine version with a straight-six setup. But Dodge is leading with the EV version, and I had the chance to sample it in Arizona recently.

(Full disclosure: Dodge flew me to Phoenix, Arizona and fed and housed me for two nights so that I could drive the Charger. I was offered a hat which I did not take, and a notebook and pen that I did.)

The Charger Daytona is launching with two trims – the R/T and Scat Pack. A more-powerful Banshee is set to launch in 2025, along with the aforementioned six-cylinder. The car only has two doors at launch – four-door versions are also set to launch later down the road.

Breaking down the current launch, your price of entry is $59,995 plus the $1,995 destination fee. This gets you the R/T and its 496 horsepower and 404 lb-ft of torque. Add the Scat Pack and the Direct Connection Stage 2 upgrade that comes with it and you get 670 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque. Both trims come standard with all-wheel drive.

Those numbers include the extra 40 horsepower you can summon for 10 seconds with a PowerShot button.

You want a Scat Pack? It’ll cost ya $73,190 before D and D. Dodge says both these cars qualify for the full $7,500 federal EV tax credit when leased. Owners can use between getting a Level 2 in-home charger or $600 in charging credits.

Your local Dodge store may have one or more of these babies on its showroom floor before you pop the champagne at your New Year’s Eve party.

Dodge could’ve just tossed us the keys and handed us a map to some canyon roads outside of Phoenix – that’s often how these things go – but instead we were taken to Radford Racing School, which old heads like me remember as Bob Bondurant. It’s as if the company wanted to prove that an EV could perform just like the old Hemi-powered Chargers.

The short answer: It can, but not just in the good ways.

Before we get that far, let’s start with the morning drive to a sightseeing outlook just outside the city. I was wheeling an R/T on a twisty desert road and found that it drove in some ways, like the outgoing Charger.

It’s a large, heavy performance car that still does things that surprise, given the size. The wheelbase is 121 inches long, for goodness’ sake. The R/T’s suspension felt well-sorted and the steering appropriately heavy. Even the fake-exhaust system sounded good at part throttle – is it “throttle” in an EV? – though it had a tendency to give space-ship whooshes when it was time to brake for a corner.

Speaking of the brakes, they felt stout, smooth, and solid, with little fade. You can use steering-wheel paddles to set up the regenerative-braking amount. I found myself preferring to use a little regen as possible, doing things the old-school way with the friction brakes, but being able to one-pedal certain corners was handy.

The car’s ride was smooth on the glass-like Arizona roads, and the rare bit of crappy pavement wasn’t disruptive. In fact, I found myself enjoying the R/T best in cruise mode, fake exhaust banished. A silent sedan comfortably getting one from point A to B.

Downsides to the R/T included materials that felt too cheap for a $60K car and EV settings menus that proved too confusing to use. The good news is that these menus pertain to mostly superfluous features like the fake exhaust – switching drive modes is done quickly and easily via the steering wheel. The pistol-grip shifter is a nice nod to history but proved a little clunky when performing parking-lot maneuvering.

It was Scat Pack time at the track. Track time included multiple runs on the handling loop, multiple full quarter-mile dragstrip runs, and a chance to try our hand at drifting via the car’s Drift Mode (standard on Scat Packs). I did get a bit of on-road time in the Scat Pack, too, but it was all of the rural two-lane or suburban freeway variety.

The car’s size is readily apparent on the handling loop. That’s not to say the Charger isn’t fun – it’s just that one must adjust braking points and cornering lines. For the most part the car was planted, though some body roll crept in while traversing one particular corner. We did need to brake early because of the mass on hand, but the acceleration is instantaneous and prodigious, which helped to shorten the straightaways.

The Charger’s tires (it appeared we ran all-seasons on the track) had enough grip and the steering had no excess play. It’s a heavy track car, but it’s quite capable. The available adaptive suspension is worth the money if you plan on tracking at all.

Moving over to the dragstrip, I struggled to get the power down at first. There was simply too much of it. I ruined the time on my first run by spinning the meats, and my next run was too slow as I tried to be gentler with the accelerator. Even when I managed to feather it correctly, I still couldn’t break 12 seconds. Dodge quotes a 0-60 time of 3.3 seconds and a quarter-mile time of 11.5 seconds.

Then I activated launch control. It’s pretty easy to use – activate it, position the car correctly, hold the brakes with your left foot, pin the accelerator with your right, and sidestep the brake pedal when the light goes green. Hold on and steer. With this done, I ran an 11.7 at 118.73 mph. Electronic wizardry can do some amazing things.

Then again, you have to know how to use the electronics properly. For example, Sport mode actually allows you to access more power on the track, while Track mode is less aggressive in order to keep the battery in good shape for a full day of track driving.

Same goes for the drifting. Drift mode takes a bit of work to setup, but once you get it ride it allows you to get some serious sliding. Unfortunately my hand-eye coordination wasn’t cooperative and I never managed a true drift, though I got close.

On road, the Scat Pack’s power is extremely useful for passing and merging. Dodge’s fake exhaust sounds better on the Scat Pack in just about all situations, but should you want to cruise in silence, you can.

As with the R/T, the Scat Pack is a very adept highway cruiser.

I like the new Charger’s styling – it looks better in person than it does in pictures – and it’s a head-turner. The light bars are cool and I like that it’s a hatchback. There’s also a very small front trunk storage area.

Inside, materials aside, the design looks good, including the large, sweeping infotainment screens. Rear-seat ingress and egress is a tad tricky and the sloping roof significantly cut into headroom. I’d wait for the four-door if you plan on schlepping adults about town in the rear seat on the regular.

At least there’s a good mix of buttons and touchscreen, and the wireless phone charger is well placed. The vehicles I drove were pre-production, so that could explain some fit-and-finish issues.

Available features across the two trims include LED lighting, a light-up “Fratzog” badge, power liftgate, automatic high beams, glass roof, blind-spot monitoring, spoiler, 18- or 20-inch wheels, dual-zone climate control, leather seats (including Demonic Red), power tilt/telescope steering, heated steering wheel, wireless device charging, drive recorder, dual-phone connectivity, USB ports, head-up display, Alpine premium audio, satellite radio, wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, Uconnect 5, Bluetooth, and navigation.

Active driver-assist features include active driving assist, active lane management, adaptive cruise control with stop and go, automatic emergency braking with road user detection, blind-spot detection with rear cross-path detection, drowsy driver detection, full-speed collision warning, and hill-start assist.

Option packages will add things like heated and cooled front seats, carbon-fiber applique, heated rear seats, 360-camera, active crash notification, and more. These packages include a Carbon & Suede Package and Plus packages for each trim. There’s also a Sun & Sound Package and a Track Package that includes the adaptive damping shocks, Brembo brakes, and widebody suspension.

The new Charger reminds me of the old one – large, heavy, powerful, and comfortable. This one just happens to be electric.

It’s enjoyable enough to drive, even when pushed hard, and the lack of a dead-dino-sucking Hemi doesn’t really hurt it. Plus, if you prefer gasoline or can’t easily charge an EV, the six-cylinder is coming and it’s likely to be quite powerful, though lacking the V8 roar.

The styling is cool, inside and out, and commuting is laid-back and easy. The fake exhaust note is a bit cheesy on the R/T and more fun on the Scat Pack, though I suspect most owners will keep it off most of the time.

The range and interior materials are a bit of a letdown, and the price is dear – the R/T I drove cost $70,970 and the Scat Pack rang up at $82,970. So there are flaws that will break some deals.

Is the EV Charger a mind-blowing leap forward in EV technology and/or when it comes to performance EVs? No. Did going EV kill the Charger? No.

For those who like the looks and are cool with EV power, you’ll have plenty of fun and your commute will be cushy. For those who need four doors or an ICE powertrain, just wait, you’ll get your turn.

A big, heavy, comfortable Charger with handling chops and significant straight-line speed?

Where have I heard that before?

[Images © 2024 Tim Healey/TTAC.com]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by  subscribing to our newsletter.