{"id":33809,"date":"2024-12-12T12:21:01","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T16:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=33809"},"modified":"2024-12-12T12:21:01","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T16:21:01","slug":"payne-dodge-charger-daytona-is-an-uncaged-tech-tastic-beast-tethered-to-a-plug","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2024\/12\/payne-dodge-charger-daytona-is-an-uncaged-tech-tastic-beast-tethered-to-a-plug","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Dodge Charger Daytona is an uncaged, tech-tastic beast \u2013 tethered to a plug"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phoenix<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 Jaguar introduced its first electric vehicle with an ad featuring an elevator-full of gender-bending models. Dodge\u2019s first EV ad boasted loud engine noises, tire smoke and a taunt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building electric vehicles to save our planet … FROM ALL THOSE LAME, SLEEK-LOOKING, SELF-DRIVING SLEEP-PODS EVERYONE ELSE KEEPS POLLUTING OUR STREETS WITH! GAWWWWWWD!!!!\u201d exclaimed the ad narrator while a 2024 Charger Daytona ripped across the screen like a bat out of Hell.<\/p>\n

Nice to see Detroit\u2019s muscle car brand hasn\u2019t lost its personality.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack EV is built on the same platform as forthcoming Charger ICE models.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n

At a time when governments, in a repeat of the 1970s, are determined to cage beloved V-8s like the storied Challenger\/Charger SRT Hellcat, Dodge has leaned into the performance benefits of electric motors.<\/p>\n

The Challenger coupe and Charger sedan lineup is gone, a casualty of the Nanny State\u2019s War on Internal Combustion Engines. But rather than abandon muscle cars as in the \u201870s, the Brotherhood of Muscle has regrouped under a single Charger badge that will make EV \u2018n\u2019 ICE coupes \u2018n\u2019 sedans on the STLA Large platform for flexible production in the face of changing government \u2018n\u2019 consumer trends. EVs are called Charger Daytonas, ICE models are simply Chargers.<\/p>\n

Government mandates demand conformity, but the non-conformists at Dodge remain defiant even as they adopt regulators\u2019 preferred electric motors. My Charger Daytona Scat Pack and R\/T testers embrace the Hellcat\u2019s gunslinging lifestyle. I spent a day behind the wheel of the EVs in the Valley of the Sun doing doughnuts, drifting, turning heads, drag-racing Porsches and … making loud V8-like sounds.<\/p>\n

OK, that last part was awkward.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n
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The $70k 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack EV (right) replaces the $50k Challenger Scat Pack V-8 with more power and AWD, but less range and more weight.<\/em><\/div>\n
Henry Payne, The Detroit News<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Charger Daytona is a gorgeous, tech-tastic hatchback tasked with replacing an icon. As Dodge admits, muscle cars are vehicles \u201cAmericans don\u2019t need, but want.\u201d The result is a mixed bag marking two steps forward and two steps back for Woodward Dream Cruise royalty.<\/p>\n

This is a ferocious, modern Dodge beast \u2014 tethered to a plug.<\/p>\n

Design.<\/strong>\u00a0It\u2019s tough to see Challenger\u2019s menacing face and muscled fenders retired, but Dodge couldn\u2019t keep paying hundreds-of-millions in fines to Uncle Sam for making V-8s. So the brand dusted off its design archive and penned a 1968 Charger for the 21st<\/sup>\u00a0century.<\/p>\n

The result is a delicious coke bottle shape draped over a 121-inch wheelbase. It\u2019s longer and wider than the Challenger with four more inches of rear legroom. My red R\/T and white Scat Pack models got looks wherever I went.<\/p>\n