PHOENIX — Jaguar introduced its first electric vehicle with an ad featuring an elevator-full of gender-bending models. Dodge’s first EV ad boasted loud engine noises, tire smoke and a taunt.

“We’re 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!!!!” exclaimed the ad narrator while a 2024 Charger Daytona ripped across the screen like a bat out of Hell.

Nice to see Detroit’s muscle car brand hasn’t lost its personality.

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.

The Challenger coupe and Charger sedan lineup is gone, a casualty of the Nanny State’s War on Internal Combustion Engines. But rather than abandon muscle cars as in the ‘70s, the Brotherhood of Muscle has regrouped under a single Charger badge that will make EV ‘n’ ICE coupes ‘n’ sedans on the STLA Large platform for flexible production in the face of changing government ‘n’ consumer trends. EVs are called Charger Daytonas, ICE models are simply Chargers.

Government mandates demand conformity, but the non-conformists at Dodge remain defiant even as they adopt regulators’ preferred electric motors. My Charger Daytona Scat Pack and R/T testers embrace the Hellcat’s 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.

OK, that last part was awkward.

Charger Daytona is a gorgeous, tech-tastic hatchback tasked with replacing an icon. As Dodge admits, muscle cars are vehicles “Americans don’t need, but want.” The result is a mixed bag marking two steps forward and two steps back for Woodward Dream Cruise royalty.

This is a ferocious, modern Dodge beast — tethered to a plug.

Design

It’s tough to see Challenger’s menacing face and muscled fenders retired, but Dodge couldn’t 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 century.

The result is a delicious coke bottle shape draped over a 121-inch wheelbase. It’s 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.

I sidled up to Phoenix resident Daniel Jaramillo’s white, 485-horse 2018 Challenger Scat Pack in a Starbucks parking lot. My Scat Pack EV was more streamlined to extend its battery range as well as keep its insane 670 horses sucked to the ground. It’s the halo to a fleet of forthcoming, inline-6-powered cars that share its body, chassis, and interior.

You’ll know the Charger Daytona by its distinctive R-wing — an aerodynamic flourish snatched from the 1969 Daytona stock car, the first NASCAR to eclipse 200 mph. Oooooh, it's sweet — and gives the Charger a long, low snout sniffing the dust for prey. Out back, Charger sprouts a hatchback like the Audi RS7. At half the price of the $131K, 610-horsepower German, the Scat Pack hot hatch offers 50% more cargo utility and 60 more ponies.

If the exterior is retro-‘60s muscle, then the interior is state-of-the-art smartphone. Twin, horizontal hoodless screens are stuffed with features from 360-degree cameras to navigation to performance modes (Scat Pack). I pressed the start button behind the wicked, pistol-grip shifter.

BRAAAAP! The V-8 — er, electric motors? — roared to life.

Sound

The V-8 soundtrack is more gunslinger defiance from Dodge. I like the attitude but found the ICE-like feature gimmicky. Let electric motors be electric motors. Auto analyst Karl Brauer asks: when the first flying car comes to market, will it make the sound of squealing tires in corners?

Challenger Scat Pack owner Jaramillo, 34, disagreed with me.

He liked the rumble and thought it a brand signature. Still, when we pulled out of Starbucks and nailed the throttle onto I-10, the Challenger’s glorious V-8 bellowed like a T-Rex on the prowl while my Daytona Scat in DRAG mode sounded like ... an imitation. That imitation costs $70K versus the $50K for the outgoing Challenger Scat Pack.

Noise can be tiring, however, and I welcomed the EV’s quiet AUTO mode. Or I could turn off the sound altogether in the center screen.

Performance

For all the attention to sound ‘n’ style, it’s easy to forget the new Charger brings a much-needed, all-new chassis. Challenger/Charger were based on 20-year-old bones, and could feel like a wet noodle when pushed.

The STLA Large platform is a significant, 25% stiffer for coming ICE models — and 50% stiffer in the EV due to the battery’s structural integration. That stiffness made for a more nimble beast in the twisties of South Mountain Park and Radford Racing School.

Also apparent was the EV’s 5,767-pound girth — a whopping 1,500 pounds over its predecessor. The good news is that battery gut is slung low, which benefits center of gravity — and part of the weight gain comes from the addition of all-wheel drive. AWD helps manage 670 ponies — not to mention Michigan snow, where the Challenger V-8’s RWD can be a handful. Want to drift on Radford’s skid pad? Selecting drag mode turns off the front motor, though I struggled to rotate the added weight.

Charging

Speaking of Radford, its fleet of 85 Dodge muscle cars is a reminder of the ICE’s inherent refueling advantage. Suck down 20 gallons of fuel (426-mile range) around the 450-acre playground, and you can top up at the pump in two minutes.

Drain the Daytona Scat Pack’s 240 miles of range and, well, you’ll have to leave the playground and find a fast charger to fill 180 miles in 24 minutes. Oh.

Like Challenger Hellcat, my $82K Scat Pak tester will be an accessory for most owners with an SUV in the garage for family trips. If you do hit the road, Charger Daytona is prepared. I asked the Uconnect navi-system to take the EV to Los Angeles and it mapped the 390-mile route including three charging stops. Total time? An hour longer than an ICE model. GAWWWWD! I can hear the ad narrator say.

Batteries require patience.

The Charger Daytona Scat Pack is more urgent when it comes to raw speed. I initiated Launch Control at a Phoenix stoplight and blew the doors off an $80K Porsche Boxster. Sixty mph went by in just 3.3 seconds — 0.4 seconds quicker than Hellcat. On Radford’s drag strip, I crossed the quarter mile in under 12 seconds.

Aw, Dodge, you still got it.

2024 Dodge Charger Daytona

Vehicle type: Battery-powered, all-wheel-drive five-passenger coupe

Price: $61,590, including $1,995 destination fee ($70,970 R/T and $82,175 Scat Pack as tested)

Powerplant: 100.5 kWh battery and dual electric-motor drive

Power: 456-496 horsepower, 404 pound-feet torque (R/T); 630-670 horsepower, 627 pound-feet torque (Scat Pack)

Transmission: Single-speed direct drive

Performance: 0-60 mph, 3.3 seconds (Scat Pack, mfr.); top speed, 135 mph

Weight: 5,767 pounds

Fuel economy: EPA mpge NA; range, 241 (Scat Pack) — 308 miles (R/T)

Report card

Highs: Stylish, tech-tastic hatchback; upgraded chassis

Lows: Porky; $20K more than outgoing Challenger Scat Pack

Overall: 3 stars

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