2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Reviews, Pricing & Specs

The Dodge Charger Daytona EV will eventually be offered in both coupe and sedan formats. For reasons known only to parent company Stellantis’s internal marketing team, it happens to be the coupe that’s leading the charge into dealership showrooms. The more family-friendly sedan will arrive for the 2026 model year. Later, Dodge will add models powered by the brand’s “Hurricane” 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-six drivetrain, and hints have been dropped that the Hemi may return to the line-up as well.

We put the two available versions of the electric Charger Daytona Coupe through its paces at an event hosted by Dodge. This included the two-door R/T and Scat Pack variants, each of which comes with all-wheel drive (AWD).

Due to some fiscal reasoning that will be discussed later in this review (spoiler alert, it’s within the “Cost Effectiveness” section), we opted to spend a bit more time in the R/T trim. Courtesy of its 442-volt powertrain and 100.5-kWh battery pack, the dual electric motor arrangement produces 456 horsepower and 404 lb-ft of torque — and that’s the standard output.

The high-output Scat Pack trim ups output to a whopping 630 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque, the most potent version available until the 807-horsepower Banshee variant arrives. Each example we test drove also came with the “Plus” option package. While it’s not cheap at $9,495 for either trim, it consists of many mod-cons we think car shoppers will want in their zero-emission Dodge muscle machine.

This includes automatic high-beam headlights, a front trunk (or “frunk”), surround-view parking camera, wireless charging pad, power-operated rear hatchback, rain-sensing wipers, 12-way power-adjustable driver’s seat, four-way power-adjustable passenger seat, heated and ventilated front seats, heated rear seats, illuminated door pull handles, multi-colour ambient cabin lighting, and memory settings for the driver’s seat and side mirrors. Our Dodge Charger Daytona R/T was also decked out in White Knuckle exterior paint, the only paint colour out of the eight available that’s no charge in Canada.

Under the sun, the Charger Daytona coupe looked sublime. The white paint (normally a colour reserved for rental fleets) showed off the Charger's muscular lines, especially the long and flowing fenders that give the car a planted and aggressive stance. Additional items on our tester consisted of the Blacktop package ($2,005). This adds dark exterior badging, 20-inch multi-spoke alloy wheels, and 275/40 ZR all-season tires. Last but not least, the Sun and Sound package ($3,695) lives up to its name by adding a full glass roof, along with an 18-speaker Alpine stereo with subwoofer.

By and large, the Charger Daytona Scat Pack we also drove was specced in a nearly identical manner. It did add some racier additions, such as the Track Pack ($6,695). This brings along red brake calipers, firmer suspension settings, adaptive damping, rear spoiler, an onboard driving recorder (ideal for hot laps at a local racetrack), and 305/35 ZR all-season tires wrapped around 20-inch alloy wheels.

Don’t get us wrong: time spent behind the wheel of the outrageously powerful Charger Daytona Scat Pack wasn’t what anyone would call a bad day at the office. In addition to having more horsepower and torque than the R/T variant, the Scat Pack comes with additional drive modes. Our two favourites were Track and Drag, the latter being tailored to squeeze every millisecond from the car’s zero to 96 km/h capability. According to Dodge’s stopwatch, this takes only 3.3 seconds. That’s on par with some of the fastest cars available today, no matter if they’re electric or gas powered. Dodge doesn’t shout about top speed so much because acceleration is far more the Charger’s forte, as is the case for other EVs.

For an added thrill, the “Powershot” feature uncorks an additional 40 horsepower for 10 second intervals. It’s activated via a button on the steering wheel. To be honest, given the car’s phenomenal speed, we all but forgot about this feature during our test drives of both the R/T and Scat Pack. Regenerative braking can also be adjusted via paddles mounted on the steering wheel.

As for the R/T, while it doesn’t have the same heroic levels of horsepower and torque as its sibling, its zero to 96 km/h time of 4.7 seconds is impressive. On public roads the R/T had no trouble getting up to speed quickly, and highway passing maneuvers were conducted swiftly and efficiently. If anything, the Charger Daytona is too deceptive when it comes to high velocities. On more than one occasion we glanced at the speedometer and found we were well beyond legal speeds, all while cruising at what felt like sensible degrees of driving.

Thankfully, gone is the roly-poly ride of the outgoing Charger. In its place is a much more stable and even-keeled suspension. The ride is notably firmer in the Scat Pack when traversing imperfect pavement, though it’s not punishingly stiff or uncomfortable. Another big improvement is steering feel, which is both lighter and more linear than before. All in all, the Charger Daytona delivers a more premium driving experience than the somewhat rough-around-the-edges approach of its predecessor.

To be fair, some of the Dodge’s newfound suspension refinement and ride comfort is partially down to its steamroller-like curb weight. The R/T trim weighs in at 2,585 kilograms (5,698 pounds), and the Scat Pack is an even porkier 2,607 kilograms (5,747 pounds). For reference, the previous Charger tipped the scales around 1,800 to 2,000 kilograms (4,000 to 4,500 pounds), depending on the chosen drivetrain.

This weight also explains the Dodge’s good-but-not-great levels of driving range. The R/T delivers a Natural Resources Canada-estimated range of between 431 and 496 kilometres, depending on your tire choice. The Scat Pack ranges from 348 to 388 kilometres. According to Dodge, both versions can be recharged from 20 percent to 80 percent battery capacity in 24 minutes when using 240-volt DC fast charging.

Similar to the modernized but still familiar sheet metal, the cabin of the Charger Daytona coupe is thoroughly updated but doesn’t rewrite the rulebook in terms of its design and layout. For anyone who’s grappled with oversized yet ill-placed mega touchscreens, this is definitely a positive attribute in this Dodge coupe.

When it comes to passenger space, the new Charger coupe provides plenty of headroom and legroom for front occupants. The high-backed sport seats fitted to our R/T tester were notable for being supportive and easy to adjust. Finding an ideal driving position took only a few seconds. Like the previous Charger/Challenger duo, this new car suffers from limited side and rear visibility. On the plus side, despite its size, the Charger Daytona doesn’t feel ungainly when dicing with traffic.

Legroom in the second row measures 944 millimetres. This is roughly 7.6 centimetres more than what the previous Challenger coupe provided, and 7.6 cm less than the previous Charger sedan. We climbed back there and found friendly degrees of room for at least two average-size adults. Squeezing three back there could risk friendships or familial bonds, however.

In terms of storage, there’s the expected amount of cupholders, map pockets, and centre console cubbies to keep all but the most cluttered of drivers satisfied. One of the biggest cargo-toting surprises is the fact that Dodge has opted to fit the Charger Daytona with a rear hatchback. This creates a wide opening in which to toss shopping bags, luggage, or whatever else you wish to bring along for the ride in the 642-litre trunk.

With the split-folding rear seat down, this expands to 1,056 litres. One caveat is that the trunk itself is shallower than those numbers suggest. Taller items, or especially bulky bags, will need to be pushed well into the trunk to clear the hatch.

A 10.25-inch digital instrument panel is standard on the R/T trim, though a 16-inch display is optional (it’s standard with the Scat Pack). Each comes with a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen that runs the latest UConnect 5 software. The graphics are crisp and clear. Scrolling through various settings and commands didn’t take away too much attention from the road ahead.

Yet for the first time in a long time, we found UConnect didn’t seem as intuitive as earlier iterations. Responses could occasionally be laggy, and simple commands (like navigation zooming) aren’t as immediately clear as before.

Standard tech features on the R/T consist of wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Amazon Alexa, a nine-speaker Alpine stereo, two pairs of USB-C ports for the front and rear, a trial subscription to satellite radio, navigation, and drive mode pages dedicated to EV information or performance data.

Perhaps the biggest technological party trick of the Charger Daytona is what Dodge calls the car’s “Fratzonic” chambered exhaust system. Wait, why does exhaust fall under the tech category? It does when the exhaust in question is artificially produced via two speakers and an intricate network of chambers that result in a Hemi-like soundtrack. During our test drive we routinely toggled through drive modes to see how this quirky feature fared in the real world. Is it a perfect replication of a snarling V8 engine? No, it’s not. Imagine more the sound of a V8 with a hint of whirring Star Wars TIE fighter and you’re closer to the soundtrack of this system.

Honestly, we found it a riot. We routinely toggled from silent-running normal mode into racier settings like Sport, Track, or Drag. The latter mode in particular borders on lunacy. Not only does it disable traction control to maximize acceleration, but the rumble it creates sounds like a hangry Tyrannosaurus Rex. At one stop light we switched from normal to Drag mode and watched as the heads of other driver’s swiveled to see what on earth had just pulled up. It’s a little silly and over the top, which is why we like it so much.

The jury is still out on the Charger Daytona’s crash worthiness since neither the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) or Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has crash tested the 2024 model year.

When it comes to standard safety content, Dodge equips every Charger Daytona with full-speed automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, traffic sign recognition, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, rear parking sensors, driver drowsiness monitor, front, rear, and side parking sensors, rain-sensing wipers, and active crash notification. A head-up instrument display and surround-view parking camera are standard on the Scat Pack and optional on the R/T.

This is where the case for the electric Charger Daytona gets complicated. In terms of how it looks and drives, we’d say Dodge has an absolute winner on its hands. There is enough old school appeal to cater to long-time Charger/Challenger fans, plus plenty of modern tech touches to appeal to car shoppers who might have never considered a Dodge muscle coupe/sedan before.

However, with a starting price of $56,190 (including the destination charge and other fees), the cost of this new-era Charger is relatively high. The previous base Charger SXT with a V6 engine stickered in the mid-$40s in Canada. We fully expect the twin-turbo inline-six version—known as the Charger Sixpack—to be considerably more affordable, though the fact remains the electric vehicles command a serious chunk of cash. At least the Charger Daytona qualifies for the few provincial/territorial EV rebates that remain.

The Scat Pack is even more dear at an eye-widening $89,790 before options. Its closest rival is arguably the Tesla Model S, which starts at $139,990 and, if the official figures are to be believed, will just about out-accelerate the Dodge with its 3.2-second 0-100 km/h time, and a has significantly longer 660-kilometre range. Go for the $159,990 Plaid version, and you’re looking at a 592-kilometre range and an eye-watering 2.1-second 0-100 km/h time, which will comfortably see off the Charger in a drag race.

Shoppers might also consider the $150,442 Porsche Taycan or even the Ford Mustang Mach-e GT. The latter is arguably a league below and, admittedly, an SUV, but it’s similarly priced at $64,553 and still merges a classic muscle car nameplate with electric power.

Dodge has built a great product, but the high entry point could be this modern muscle car's biggest hurdle.