2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack Review: The Non-Violent Offender

As someone with a Dodge Challenger Hellcat and a Dodge Magnum SRT in my garage, I feel like Dodge would have a tough time finding a more ideally teed-up customer for the new Charger than myself. While this job provides me with access to far more sophisticated hardware, my obsession with all things automotive started with muscle cars, and rowing through the gears in a bright orange Hellcat has a way of reminding me why I wanted this gig in the first place. It’s the real-world manifestation of the stuff I used to draw in the margins of my notebook during math class in junior high; a car that’s out of step with the automotive world yet somehow better for it. But after a week with the electric Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack—the top of the performance hierarchy, for now—I’m having a tough time conjuring up the same level of enthusiasm. 

I know what you’re thinking, but my beef isn’t with the EV powertrain and the trappings that come with it. Truth be told, I commend any automaker that puts an earnest effort into developing a unique style and personality for a type of vehicle that’s inherently unemotional. And while I think Hyundai did a better job with the ICE mimicry on the Ioniq 5 N, Dodge’s interpretation does tangibly enhance the driving experience. No, my concerns have more to do with the fundamentals, and I’m starting to wonder if Dodge is even targeting folks like me anymore. 

What’s In A Name

The ghost of former Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares looms large in the new Charger. Tavares’ shrewd cost-cutting measures earned him a reputation at PSA Group as an executive who could find profitability where others could not. Given that, it comes as little surprise that the rapid sunsetting of the Gen III Hemi V8 in favor of propulsion systems that would allow Stellantis to avoid purchasing emissions credits to skirt regulatory fines (regardless of whether the available alternatives made the most sense for the application or not) was a mandate that came directly from him. There’s optimism about Mopar V8s returning to the fold in the wake of his departure, but I get the feeling that his influence goes deeper than that. 

For example, I find it hard to believe that people in Dodge focus groups said, “You know, the Challenger is a great car, but I wish it was a lot bigger.” Yet as it stands, the two-door Charger is the defacto replacement for the Challenger, and it’s more than nine inches longer in overall length, an inch and a half wider than a Challenger Widebody, and rides on a wheelbase that’s more than five inches longer. 

It’s no coincidence that those dimensions aren’t far off from the outgoing Charger. Thanks in no small part to the fact that the two-door and four-door have been designed to share both a wheelbase and a roof skin, it’s clear that the new Charger was designed first and foremost to be a four-door sedan. It makes sense that the four-door would take priority when comparing the sales figures of the outgoing Challenger and Charger models, and the structural commonality was likely a big win for development and production costs. But Dodge went to the effort of creating a shortened variant of the LX platform when they were developing the Challenger (known internally as LC), and by not going that route with the new two-door Charger, the end result is a positively massive coupe that looks kind of ungainly from any view that isn’t a front three-quarter. 

Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty to like here. The chiseled brow and full-length light bar deliver a handsome, modern interpretation of the ’68 Charger’s iconic grille and hideaway headlights, and the character lines that intersect near the top of the doors also scream second-gen Charger. There’s a hint of first-generation Charger by way of the new car’s liftgate, too, which gives it a sloping silhouette at the rear and yields hatchback levels of cargo capacity. 

But there are also a lot of things that are off in ways that are difficult to quantify. Is it the short overhangs relative to the coupe’s exceptionally long wheelbase? Is it that the top of the front fenders seem to be higher than the top of the rears? Is it the otherwise kind of soft-edged styling? All I know is that I didn’t have to do any mental gymnastics to find a way to like the modern Challenger the first time I saw one. Good designs don’t need to be deconstructed in order for someone to understand that they’re good. Either they work, or they don’t. 

The cabin, meanwhile, is arguably the new Charger’s strongest asset. While I feel like the front seats are a step backward from the LX cars in terms of both comfort and lateral support, everything else feels like a big step forward from an interior that hadn’t seen a significant update in nearly a decade. The outsized external proportions also equate to a back seat with head- and legroom to spare, even if you’re six foot three. 

The driver’s seating position is fairly upright, like the outgoing Charger, rather than the more hunkered down arrangement in the Challenger, but elements like the C8 Corvette-style steering wheel and pistol grip shifter still impart a sense of sportiness. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it’s also a far more tech-forward vibe than the outgoing cars thanks to the Tron-esque ambient lighting elements, the new all-digital gauge cluster, and the 12.3-inch infotainment display, the latter of which runs on Uconnect 5 software and brings wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto functionality to a Dodge Charger for the first time. It’s a pleasant space to do the business of driving, and there’s a clear emphasis on grand touring-style comfort, but the fact the interior panels rattle during the start-up noise does create some concern about how this stuff will age over time. 

At Speed

That start-up noise kind of sets the tone for a larger theme of cognitive dissonance. I don’t mind the synthesized engine noises, but I do find it odd that Dodge chose not to follow through with the proposed eRupt system, which would have imitated a conventional gearbox in more or less the same manner that Hyundai has with the Ioniq 5 N and its N e-Shift feature. Maybe we’ll see that in an SRT-branded model down the road, but as it stands now, the soundtrack both inside and outside of the car resembles a CVT-equipped vehicle in the way that the tone climbs in pitch as the rate of travel increases but is never resolved with an upshift. And because of that, it also lacks the auditory feedback that both the Ioniq 5 N and a traditional ICE powertrain provide, information that makes it easier to instinctively gauge where you need to brake for a corner and the pace that you can carry through a turn. 

The new Charger is ultimately most in its element when tasked with everyday driving situations. The Scat Pack is outfitted with dual-valve adaptive dampers that do a great job of soaking up road imperfections while keeping body motion in check, and the instant-on response of a 670-horsepower EV with all-wheel drive equates to some serious shove between, say, 30 and 80 mph. It does a much better job of putting the power down than the outgoing LX cars ever did, especially on wet surfaces. I suspect that this is a big part of how this 5,800-pound behemoth manages to cut a 3.3 second 0-60 time, a figure which gives it a slight edge over a Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye despite the fact that the Redeye has a much better power-to-weight ratio.  

The weight makes its presence known when you head out to the canyons, though. Although the new Charger has a huge contact patch and wears ultra-sticky 220 treadwear Goodyear Supercar 3 summer tires, it’s not especially graceful when hustled down a technical road. Understeer comes on earlier than you expect it to, and the suspension has a tough time managing all the weight as it transfers from one corner of the car to another. And while all-wheel drive helps the new Charger turn torque into forward motion instead of tire smoke, it also makes the entire enterprise less entertaining. You won’t get much—if any—rotation from the rear end unless you preemptively go into the Race Options menu in the infotainment system, activate Drift/Donut mode, and then deliberately invoke it. The old Hellcat’s unhinged nature is a big part of its charm, and that character is pretty much absent here. 

During an interview with The Drive earlier this year, Dodge CEO Matt McAlear noted that the company is just getting started with the new platform, and if the LX architecture’s lifespan is any indicator of what to expect, there’s still plenty of time for the new Charger to mature. But as it stands now, this seems more like a car that I’d find myself staring out of from the back seat while handcuffed rather than something I’d drive off of a dealership lot. 

Quick Take

Although there’s hope for the future, Dodge’s new coupe in its current form seems poised to rustle the jimmies of EV evangelists and muscle car purists in equal measure.

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