Does the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack DRIVE like a HEMI V8 muscle car?

Hey guys, what's up? It's Joe Rady from Rady's Rides. We are here in Arizona for the first drive of a very controversial vehicle. What is it? It's this vehicle right here. This is the all new 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona. This particular one is a scat pack. But before we get into what Dodge is referring to, the world's first electric muscle car, let's talk about what's going on here. So there's really a transitioning that is happening at Dodge. Of course, we were there for the last call models. All of that great Hemi V8 power is gone and in its place currently is this new Charger Daytona. Now remember, this model is going to be first available as a two-door for model year 2024. It will then become available as a two-door or a four-door for 2025 plus the introduction of the six pack, which is an ice version of the Charger with that Hurricane straight six twin turbo power plant. Now Dodge is saying that this is the beginning of a new era and there's actually a bigger picture that you're not aware of, I'm not aware of, and the rest of the performance car world is not aware of, of where this is going to lead us. Now of course, we've already brought you this car showing you many of the insides and the outsides of it, but also of course that frat zonic chambered exhaust sound. Very interesting what's going on. So what I want to find out is, did Dodge do it right with the Charger Daytona? Is it possible to have an electric muscle car? And is this the all wheel drive performance car that you should be buying? Let's go ahead, let's dive in our scat pack and find out. Right off the bat, the style, it's one of those cars you have to see it in person to really see just how good it looks aesthetically, especially at the front. Now this color, all new for 2024, there's some original colors, white knuckle, black diamond, triple nickel. This is an all new color called red eye. How interesting that they chose that name, especially coming off the previous generation with the Hellcat red eyes. But when you look at our red eye painted Charger Daytona, you'll notice that beautiful ruby sparkle to it in the Arizona sun. You're going to have full LED lighting and what Dodge calls the LED drag strip, the daytime running lamp that actually is a strip that runs along the whole midsection here, the drag strip. A little bit of gloss black. One of my zonks is the fake corner vents. Why did they not make those functional? I was under the impression that when it comes to Dodge performance cars, everything has a purpose and that to me should have some type of corner air current, especially with this being an EV. We want to help that airflow because we want to maximize range. One thing that actually does that and I'm still saying it and I'm still like in awe of it, it made it into production. What am I talking about? I'm actually talking about the R-Wing. So you have a full, hey, there's my hand, a full pass through at the front of the vehicle. This was first seen at Dodge Speed Weeks two years ago on the concept. Here it is in the flesh, gives it such a signature look and if you go back to the original birth of the Charger, which was 1966, and remember, one of the things is the Charger was always a two-door, always a two-door, but then when we came out with the more modern Chargers, it went to four-door. This will be available, like I said, two-door first, then you could have a four-door, but I love the way this signature look harks back to the 1960s with the Charger, especially that 68 Charger. That was a hot car. Now, we do have a forward-facing camera within the gloss black area. You'll notice the return of the frat Zog badge that illuminates both at the front of the vehicle and the back. More of that beautiful red-eye color and then down below, of course, we're going to have full functionality in our flat black lower grille. Like the way that they styled it and I like the fact that it's functional. That's going to help bring cool air for that liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack and then you're going to have a decent size front splitter. The splitter is not as big as the outgoing Charger, but decent size in the gloss black. I think the one thing to realize, and it may be hard to show it on camera, is this is actually two inches wider, not two inches wider than a standard previous generation Charger, but a Charger Hellcat red-eye wide body. This is actually two inches wider than the wide body, so that means it's five inches wider than a standard Charger from the previous generation. Could you imagine being able to get that kind of width? There's some guys out there that would dream, that would be like their dream come true. You could get it on this Charger Daytona. Now, as we rise up, we do get the bulge. The problem is, the challenge that a lot of people have is there's no engine, no internal combustion engine underneath that bulge, but you are getting a muscle car-esque bulge. I love the way that with the styling, it slopes down into that R-wing and it just, talk about form versus function. As an enthusiast, which is how I'm looking at this car, you can't deny the style. They checked off that box perfectly, and it's going to be interesting. When the six-pack comes, it's going to have a different style hood and a little bit different front end, so that's going to be interesting to see for model year 2025. That's the one, I'll be honest, that I'm really looking forward to, but when we look at this being electrified, you've got to look at history. Remember, we started with carbureted engines, then we went to fuel-injected engines. There were a lot of people that were upset about fuel injection and how it wasn't as tunable as a carburetor, and then you see other changes that came down the line when you look at hybrid performance cars. One of those vehicles that, very interesting, they decided to start off with this new design being electrified. Let me know your thoughts on that, if it's starting to grow on you, in the comments section. I want to know. Now, as we swing wide around the fenders, everything is nicely molded, so a lot of people who are like, oh, the wide body, those fender flares are just tacked on, the actual fenders themselves are widened because we have massive wheels and tires. As we drop on down, you'll notice an optional wheel, that wide-spoke design. You'll be able to get them in black. This one happens to be a nice, polished, bright silver. You'll see our six-piston Brembo calipers with the SRT badge, and then rotors that are bigger than your freaking Arizona pizza. Right now, it's bigger than the Arizona sun that's shining on me. Those are 16 inches in diameter. They're slotted to help cut down on that brake heat buildup, and of course, there is regen braking. One thing you will not find on this electric Daytona is no one-pedal operation. They want the vehicle to be engaging to drive. I told you about large wheels and tires, so this wheel that you see here is 20 inches in diameter, 305 up front. Whoa, I'm getting so excited here, I'm falling over. 305 up front. Wait until we get out back. It's 325 on the width. Think about that. Your Charger Hellcat Redeye has 305s all four corners. This has 305s up front, 325s out back. You got a motor up front and a motor out back to give us that all-wheel drive performance, but you can shut off the motor up front if you want to do your drifting, if you want to do your donuts, or if you want that real-world drive muscle car experience. But let me know what you think about the wheel color with the Redeye. I'm really, really digging the Redeye color with our wheel choice. You do have two-way adaptive suspension, electronic adaptive suspension, all four corners. And then as we come down the side, of course, we got the Rumblebee. It's been modernized a little bit with his wings, and every scat pack for the first edition is automatically going to be stage two equipped, which means we have more horsepower than your standard scat pack, which is going to be offered. Your other choice at the time of launch, which these are getting the dealerships as I'm speaking right now, will be the RT. That's your starting point, and that comes with the level one direct connection power boost pack. This one has the direct connection level two. And there will be other levels which you could add to your car through direct connection. Now, as we come down the side, you do have restyled side mirrors, gloss black with 360-degree cameras. Ours has the optional glass-fixed panoramic roof. Looks spectacular. Gives it that nice two-tone blacked-out roof shape. You'll notice how the door handles don't actually extend out. You actually put your hand in, and that's how you open up the door. So we have electric opening doors. First time on a Charger. Down below, the gloss black strip flares out towards the rear. And I think that's another thing you can't really see on camera is how we got a wide front end. As you come towards the rear, it even gets wider. And then like I said, two doors now, four doors is coming very, very soon. Large quarter glass window. That's going to make it really nice for the passenger sitting in the back. And then this body line right here says Charger to me all day long. Coming out back, massive calipers just like up front. I mean, when I see the size of that caliper, I think of Ronald McDonald's head. That's how big that caliper is. 325s out back. So you're going to get the traction off the line in this all-wheel drive electrified Charger Daytona. We swing it around back. You actually have a sportback design. This rear area is all going to lift up. Can't wait to show you that. Gloss black, large spoiler up top. You'll notice our panoramic roof, how it slicks down very nicely into the glass. And then just like up front, they did the styling just like a 68 Charger. The LED lighting all within the gloss black with your FratZog badge. And then dropping it like it's hot. And it's hot out here. I promise you that. We're in the desert. The Daytona name, nicely stamped, clean. You don't have a bunch of badges all over the place. And then you'll also notice FratZonic. This is your FratZonic chamber. Remember, this is not a speaker system. So Borla offers a system for like the Ford Mach-E. It's literally outdoor waterproof speakers that are mounted under the back of the car. This is something entirely different. It's a patented chamber. And what it does is it works like a pipe organ. So when you drive this vehicle, it actually sends vibrations from the chamber into the car. Which are totally in unison with how much throttle application you're applying. We're going to let you hear it. But before we do that, let's pop the hood. I've actually never popped the hood on a new Charger Daytona for 2024. Let's see what the heck is underneath. All right, guys, we got the hood open. First time I've ever opened up the hood on the new Charger Daytona. You do get a frunk. So you're getting that front mounted trunk space. How much room is in there? It's about one and a half cubic feet. So you can literally put, I would say, one size carry-on bag filled with Twinkies. Put it in there. You'll notice at the firewall, that square piece, that is the top of the electric motor. And I'm going to zonk it. The reason why is Dodge should have done something cool to the top of that electric motor. Because you know, when you take one of these to Cars and Coffee and people want to see underneath the hood, it would give them something cool to see. But what do we have? Being a level two, that E-Stage level two, we got the two electric motors, 670 horsepower, 627 pound-feet of torque. It is mated to a direct drive gearbox. You got to wait for the Banshee to get the two-speed gearbox. It utilizes a 100.5 kilowatt lithium-ion battery pack. Zero to 60 in about 3.3 seconds. Quarter mile in 11 and a half seconds. Range is 241 miles. You could charge on a DC fast charger 20% to 80% in 24 minutes. And believe it or not, the rear motor does utilize a mechanical limited slip diff. Here's the bad news. Being an EV, if you thought the previous charger was heavy, this Charger Daytona weighs in at 5,767 pounds. Now let's think about that for a second. This has more horsepower, more torque than the outgoing Charger Scat Pack. More horsepower, more torque than the Charger Hellcat. Well, not so much horsepower. But the other thing to remember is the all-wheel drive gives you that blistering zero to 60 in 3.3 seconds, which will outdo a Charger Hellcat. But while we go ahead, it's that moment. Let's fire up this Charger Daytona and hear that frat sonic chamber. All right, guys, we are inside this 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona. They're calling these 2024 model year versions. The first edition, just so you know, like I said earlier, all of them, when you go Scat Pack, come with the direct connection E-stage, Level 2 E-stage. Go RT, you're getting the Level 1 stage. Boost. Now, I know you're probably saying to yourself, well, Joe, how much is this? Because that's going to be a big determining factor how I feel about it. Because I know how much a Charger Scat Pack was. I know how much a Charger Hellcat was, even a Hellcat Redeye. What's the price on this one? So before I give you official MSRP, I want you to sit down. Another thing I want to tell you is that this does qualify for the $7,500 tax credit. $7,500 tax credit because it is a full electric vehicle. MSRP starting is right around $73,000. This one has been optioned up with all the goodies to an MSRP of $82,970. It's a quite a bit of cheddar, but let's see what kind of cheese you get. To the door panels, all new design. So this is for all the whiners out there that said the previous generation never got redesigned. Here are all the new changes. The leather material, the red contrast stitching. Look at the way they did that very kind of like art deco design. And what's awesome is at night, it's all illuminated LED ambient lighting. Love the red stitching, the white stitching, no gloss black around the switch gear. And you have the new button. You just tap that button to pop the door open. Even the way they did the door pocket. You could put your two Costco hot dogs at the back. You're probably going to have to eat just Costco hot dogs for a while after buying one of these. And then, of course, you could get a chicken bake and a Pepsi to wash it down. Now going from the door panel to the all new dash. Love the way they did the Daytona name. All that. I don't know if Steven could pick up that red ambient lighting. It's a nice light hue. Leather all the way towards the windshield. The double stitching. Everything really nicely done. Now as you slide in, you're getting an all new infotainment system screen. This is 12.3 inches. Now what's fascinating is that it's not built into the dash. But I like this system a lot more than what you see in the new Mustang when it comes to screens. It's driver focused. All touchscreen. Except you do have real buttons for your AC controls. Real volume knob. Real tuning knob. We can see where the battery pack is since we have the vehicle on. The other important screen is, of course, going through your cameras. We got all new camera technology. All the way. Look how clear the resolution is. Absolutely. Look at that. There's the R-Wing. Just fantastic how it all comes together. The 360 degree camera. We do have three stages of heated seats. Three stages of ventilated seats. And a heated steering wheel. When I push the drive mode selector button. Let me get out of here. Now we have our performance pages. Drag mode. Track mode. Custom. All the different mode setups. You could do line lock. You could shut off the front motor. It just really allows you to change up exactly what you want. Really nicely done. I do like the way they did that. And then, of course, you have all your apps. This is the Uconnect 5 system. Ambient colors. The whole nine yards. Working your way down. Real AC vents that you can use. Just your hands. You don't have to go into the infotainment system like a Porsche Taycan. Three, excuse me, two USB-C's. Then you have some quick buttons to shut off traction control. Shut off some of those safety nannies. Wireless charging. A place for four track day Twinkies. The return for the first time. All new pistol grip shifter for the direct drive transmission. Your start stop button. No gloss black. Look at this. Carbon fiber key fob. Absolutely loving that. You got remote start. Soft touch. Open it up. There is a 12 volt. There's a USB-A. And there's enough room in there, I would say, easily for Egg McMuffins. Get some extra cheese. Because some people might be cheesing on you. You might be cheesing on them in this thing. But definitely have those Egg McMuffins. Seats. I'm going to say it all new. The leather. The bolstering. The stitching. Alcantara. Full electric assist for the passenger. Full electric assist for the driver. We got our panoramic fixed glass roof that I am going to zonk. Because it does not have a power shade. I would like a power shade. But you do get rear seats. We will be getting in the back. I promise you. But what I want you to do is I want you to get over here on the business end. I want to show you behind the wheel of this Charger Daytona. All right, guys. Business time behind the wheel. We do have two memory seat settings. You'll notice the Dodge name on the sill. And then in the pedal box. Aluminum brake pedal. Aluminum throttle. I just would like an aluminum dead pedal. So that's a zonk for the plastic. You do have all these awesome seat controls. 13-way adjustable seats. Love the way the seats feel. They really brought up the level of material. The comfort. I'm six feet tall. Plenty of room. Just like the previous gen Charger. And then the wheel. Flat top. Flat bottom. Perforated leather. With the smooth. You got the Dodge badge in the center. And then you have flat black on the switch gear. We got our power shot. Which gives us that extra horsepower boost. Drive mode selector switch. And then the paddles which operate your regen braking. You'll notice how the ambient lighting. And all the stitching is brought all the way to the driver's side. And then you have an optional 16-inch digital display. It's actually positioned really nicely. And the way that the steering wheel is done. It actually allows you to see everything very clear. You could scroll through different gauges. Different information. Love the colors. Love the graphics. Love the fonts. Just all that together. Looks perfect. And then obviously you got the rear seats. Which we are now going to get into. But I'm looking forward to. Interesting. Going on throttle with you in this electric charger. Hi guys. Backseat time. And this is what's incredible. Two-door charger. The way I think they've always should have been. Well you get the two doors. But you have four seat usability. I mean it makes it that incredible back here. It's actually three across you could fit. I'm not even close to the headliner. Or that panoramic glass roof. And what's interesting is that the seat position. And the seat space is the same. Whether you get the four-door charger. Or this two-door. Which is phenomenal. We got three stages of heated seats in the back. Two USB-C's. And air vents. AC vents. Plus. Nicely padded armrest. Two cup holders. And they did the great job with the stitching. All the way throughout. I can't believe the amount of room that we have in here. Really really phenomenal. And it's going to be interesting to see what the scat pack. How it differs with the six-pack. Because remember the six-pack is going to be internal combustion engine. You got a transmission. You got a driveshaft. How is that going to change the interior dimensions? I know the inside when it comes to technology is going to look the same. But how's the interior dimensions overall going to be a little bit different. That's going to be interesting to find out. But why don't we go ahead. Let's get in that cargo area. Because I think it's going to blow your mind. In this Charger Daytona. Alright guys. One of the things you just can't argue about. With this new Charger Daytona. Is the cargo space. And that was one of the things that. With the previous generation. You compare it to a Mustang. You compare it to a Camaro. It had the most trunk space. This one actually has more. And you have that sleek slope back design. So you come over. You hit the button. That's kind of hidden within the black trim. Up she goes. Nice electric assist. With the rear seats up. You're already coming out on top. You're looking at. Believe it or not. 26 cubic feet of space with the seats up. Fold the seats down. 37.5 cubic feet of space. Now what's great about this. Is that you could bring the goodies for your track day. You're going to the drag strip. You can bring your jack stands. You can bring a cooler. You can bring whatever you need. An air compressor. And still have plenty of room. Plus to put the seats down. It's fairly easy. You just got to reach in and then push. I wish that they had handles somewhere in the back. That is my zonk. Is I wish that they had handles. But you could see that 60-40 split. And I kind of have to reach in here. It's a little awkward going this way. There we go. Almost totally flat. You could do your Costco run. Get your big old barrel of pickles. Barrel of hot dogs. And a package. A pallet of packages of hot dog buns. And you could have that competition. That eating competition. At your house during the 4th of July weekend. With no problem. And get some mustard. Big old 20-gallon jug of mustard. Now what is underneath the cargo floor? You lift it up. We have of course our air compressor. And you got a place for some Twinkies. In case you run out of juice in the battery. And you're out here in the desert. Those Twinkies will keep you alive. Until somebody comes for your rescue effort. But while we go ahead. I don't need any rescuing. What I want to do though. Is I want to find out what is the on-throttle experience. In this Charger Daytona. So if you're ready. I'm ready. Let's get to it. Alright guys. We're inside this 2024 First Edition Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack Level 2. Now if you're wondering. Well Joe. What happened? Did the battery die? No. I'm actually sitting here with everything off. Because I want you to experience. Each step of the way. Of what I'm experiencing. To give you a better understand. Of what Dodge is bringing with this Charger Daytona. So I'm actually going to fire her up. So to speak. Or because she is an EV. Turn her on. To give you the sensations of what's happening here. So hitting the button. You start to get that startup sound. I'm going to go ahead and put it in track mode. To give it the most normal Charger experience. Out of the different modes. Track and drag. Keep that frozonic chamber at its loudest. To experience it. Now the startup is a little bit of a mixed bag for me. I could do without the whole. Kind of sound. But sitting here. They nailed. And I'm not blowing this out of proportion. Because you know how I feel. About electrified vehicles. They nailed the idling aspect. So much so that you feel it. You put your arm on the driver's or passenger side. If you have a passenger in here. The armrest or the center console armrest. You feel the vibration. Coming from the frat sonic chamber. And that is the biggest differentiator. Than any other electrified performance vehicle. And this is where I was unhappy. Extremely with the Hyundai IONIQ 5N. Is that that just had the numbing sensation of an EV. But then they threw sound at it. And it wasn't in unison to what you would experience. In an actual internal combustion engine vehicle. Another thing that's very unique about the Charger Daytona. To give it more of a realistic ice feeling to it. Is the throttle itself. On a vehicle like the IONIQ 5N. It's like a just a flappy paddle. It just wow wow wow. It doesn't have much resistance. This when you step on the throttle. It feels like a throttle. In a Charger scat pack from the previous generation. The sound is still not my favorite. They still need to work. I think there's still some work that needs to be done on the actual tone. But it does get louder and quieter perfectly with the application of the throttle. One of the things that with the IONIQ 5N. And this isn't like a vehicle that is a direct competitor to the IONIQ 5N. That's the most recent experience using that artificial sound in an EV. Is that when you would get off the throttle pedal. It just drops. The sound just quickly drops. And that gave me the feeling of playing Pole Position or Gran Turismo or Forza. With this you slowly apply. It slowly gets louder. And the vibrations you feel it from the franzonic chamber. That's how you could tell that this is more than just a speaker. The vibrations that you're feeling. The way that the interior setup is perfect. I mean that large 16-inch digital gauge cluster. The Uconnect 5 multimedia software. Another thing and this may sound very simple or simplistic. Where it just makes more sense in this vehicle is the pistol grip shifter. It's not an electric style shifter. Where you just kind of pull back on it and it goes into gear. It actually feels like a normal 8-speed torque flight transmission. As you're going from park through reverse through neutral to drive. The only thing that I would change is that I'm going to zonk. Is I don't like the large piece of plastic. That you actually pull back on the trigger so to speak. In the pistol grip. To have the shifter action happen. I wish that they made like a metal or leather. Because you're going to be touching that a lot as you're daily driving this. Everything else though the materials are spot on the money. I have it in drive. We do have it in track mode. I got that electric tilting and telescoping steering wheel in this scat pack trim. And it's really uncanny how the sound really works well with the throttle position. And I think that's where they perfected it compared to the IONIQ 5N. Very very interesting how they did that. So is the FratZonic Chamber perfect? No. But it is a big difference. A better difference than the IONIQ 5N and the sound that that produces. But who is this car really for? I don't think it's really for me or even a lot of you. Those that have Charger Hellcats and scat packs and everything else. This car I don't think is to persuade you to sell your Hellcat and go get one of these. I think it's for those that are looking for an electric vehicle that want to have that unique experience. A more unique experience than a Tesla than an IONIQ 5N or anything else in the performance range. I do like the fact that it does not have one pedal operation. And because it is an EV, having that lower center of gravity really really shows in the handling department. And it does handle very very well. Brakes feel good. Those massive brembos. Are you ready? We need to go on throttle. That's what we need to do. On throttle. Here we go. On the brakes. But the handling. I mean this is where it really really does a great job. You got that two-way adaptable suspension. And you got your different levels of regen braking which is awesome. And you got all-wheel drive. So I'm getting all the grip in the world. All right guys. Boy oh boy. What a very interesting experience. Definitely want to thank Dodge for having us out for the first drive of their, like I said, what they call an electrified muscle car. Very unique how that Fratzonic chamber works. Especially when you compare this to other performance EVs that are in the market. It does have some very unique features to it. But now it's your turn. Dodge is going to read through those comments. What do you think? Is this something that you would spend your hard money on? That hard, you work hard for your money and you only have so much of it. Would you go with this performance all-wheel drive Charger Daytona? Let me know down in that comment section. Because like I said, I'm curious and Dodge wants to know as well. Or are you going to wait for the six pack? Let them know. But if you're new to the channel, you're on your way out. Hit that subscribe button. I promise you it's worthwhile. Come back for more. If you are a subscriber, think you're being part of the Razorized family, got to give it out to Stephen Flood. First time in Arizona. His lips are really chapped. He's a little dehydrated. But you know what? He's making the magic happen, as always. So show him some love in the comment section. Thank you, Stephen, for all that you're doing. Just like always, guys. I'll see you on the next ride.