2025 Dodge Charger Daytona EV First Drive: Proof That Electric Muscle Cars Can Be A Thing – TopSpeed

When one thinks of a muscle car, it’s easy to immediately think of cars like today’s Dodge Charger and Challenger as prime examples of the breed. But if you go back in history and look at any of its predecessors or direct competitors, they all have a common underlying theme: tons of performance from massively powerful internal combustion engines shoehorned under the hoods of basic three-box sedan or coupe bodies.

It’s an automotive archetype originally defined by American hot rodders shoehorning an automaker’s most powerful engine, which at the time, were mostly high-output V-8s, into humdrum coupe and sedan bodies in the 1940s. But it wasn’t until the invention of the pony car that the concept and perception of the modern muscle car began to truly take shape. Such examples resulted in the likes of the Ford Mustang, Pontiac GTO, Chevrolet Camaro, Plymouth Cuda, and countless others. Since then, the idea of a traditional American muscle car has always boiled down to a few main characteristics: lots of power, big honkin’ V-8s, and a priority for straight-line performance above all else.

But when Dodge decided to disrupt the game by producing an all-electric variant of its next-generation Charger, the world went up in arms, ready to bust out the pickaxes and torches, and storm the gates of Auburn Hills in protest. Because, what’s a conventional American muscle car, like the Charger, without its raucous and rowdy HEMI V-8 lurking under the hood? Can the new Charger Daytona EV even be considered a muscle car like its predecessors without it? I flew to Phoenix to give it a go and find out.

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2025 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack First Impressions

In the traditional sense, the American muscle car formula always started off with a medium- to large-bodied sedan or coupe body. Right off the bat, in any degree, the new Dodge Charger fulfills this requirement almost to the T. Measuring in at over 17 feet long, seven feet wide, and nearly five feet tall, the new Charger is almost as sizable as its iconic ’69 426 HEMI predecessor, being only shorter in length by two inches, but taller and wider by nearly six and eight inches.

So it certainly has the size and presence of a muscle car, particularly with its overall shape that’s modeled after the original second-generation Charger and with details paying tribute to other generations of years past. Such details include the gaping wide grille with integrated lights that spans the whole front end, to the low-slung roof and seemingly thin, gun-slit window frames, the pronounced shoulder line, and widened wheel wells. Everything about the new Charger’s exterior certainly screams muscle car.

Exterior Dimensions

Driving Impressions And Performance

The first exercise of the day included an hour-long street drive out of Phoenix proper and up into the neighboring mountains, where the Charger surprisingly tackled tight radii, low-speed roads with shocking agility. I use that word very lightly, as one would never consider a nearly three-ton vehicle agile. But with its massive 305/35ZR20 front and 325/35ZR20 rear Goodyear Eagle F1 Supercar 3 rubber, multi-link front and integral link rear suspension with trick dual-valve damping, standard rear limited-slip differential, and tight-ratio steering box, the Charger astonishingly hid its weight surprisingly very well.

The same sentiments and sensations followed later that day when hustling the Charger Daytona EV around 3/4-mile circuit around the Radford Racing School’s track with a lead-follow arrangement, where we were tasked to see if we could keep up with some of the school’s top instructors. That’s where its massive six-piston front and four-piston rear fixed brake calipers with slotted rotors really became useful when bringing the Charger down to ample cornering speeds.

A lighter and more purpose-built ICE-powered sports car will certainly and most likely leave the Charger Daytona EV in the dust in the corners. But the Charger Daytona doesn’t fall apart to smithereens like its old body-on-frame and solid-axle forebearers would. It would also have no issues closing the gap when the road gets straight, proving that straight-line speed is still the priority. So, no matter which way you look at it, the new Charger is certainly set up for a good and fast time.

Braking And Acceleration

On paper, the Charger EV Scat Pack also boasts the same specs you’d expect from anything considered an American muscle car. As such, the tech rider includes 630 horsepower (670 with the “Power Shot” boost mode engaged), 627 pound-feet of torque, two electric motors (one at each axle), a factory-claimed 0-60 MPH sprint in just 3.3 seconds and a top speed of 135 MPH.

From the spec sheet alone, the Charger isn’t slow by any means, which was also exhibited in an on-site quarter-mile drag exercise, where a bunch of us motoring journalists, including yours truly, had no issue consistently churning out 11.4-11.5-second sprints at Radford’s dedicated strip. That said, the Charger Daytona EV obviously prioritizes straight-line speed and performance over handling, which sounds about right, if not practically on point, for an American muscle car.

• Acceleration 0-60 MPH (Manufacturer Claimed): 3.3 Seconds (4.7 Seconds, R/T)
• Quarter-Mile (Manufacturer Claimed): 11.5 Seconds (12.6 Seconds, R/T)

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Performance Specifications

Charging Times And Specifications

Interior Design And Comfort

The insides of the new Charger are just as cavernous as its exterior suggests, with enough room for four full-sized adults and their things. This time around, the Charger sports better outward visibility and a more airy greenhouse and spacious cabin, thanks to larger windows. And because of its considerably longer wheelbase and lack of a center driveshaft tunnel, more interior space is also the icing on the cake.

And with supple yet supportive buckets, virtually no powertrain noises, and subdued noise, vibration, and harshness levels, which also happen thanks to dual-pane windows for better exterior sound deadening, the Charger Daytona feels quiet and comfortable enough to pass for a perfect all-electric sports grand tourer.

Interior Dimensions

Technology And Cargo Space

As part of the Charger Daytona’s interior redesign, engineers made sure to angle the dashboard towards better driver orientation, making for easier use of the car’s latest 12.3-inch Uconnect infotainment system, as well as other crucial HVAC and radio controls on the center console. If you’ve been in a Mopar vehicle as of recently, the layout and software will ring bells of familiarity.

And because Dodge knows its clients well, the Uconnect system comes loaded up the wazoo with onboard telemetry apps that can track 0-60 and quarter mile times, as well as g-forces via onboard gyroscopes, and even lap times thanks to an integrated and comprehensive timer app. Similar to other sports cars, the Charger Daytona also makes secondary use of its forward-facing passive and active safety cameras by enabling their use as an onboard track-time video recorder.

Although a topic of heavy debate, the Charger Daytona’s Fratzonic Chambered “Exhaust” received a lot more positive reactions from bystanders than anticipated. Yes, it’s just a giant, manipulated speaker that makes “fake” engine noises, and yes, it’s not the same as having a thundering HEMI V-8 up front. But it does make a lot of cool futuristic spaceship-like noises and is even loud enough to vibrate the car and others around it to the point where it’s even just as loud as a Hellcat in some respects. And ultimately, it’s still far better than just nailing the throttle to the tune of complete silence.

Engineers also fitted a fastback-style rear lift gate, allowing for an incredible amount of rear storage room, to which CEO Matt McAlear even bragged about making good use of it during a few recent trips to Home Depot for some of his personal home projects.

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An All-American Thoroughbred Muscle Car For The 21st Century And Beyond

Scoff at it all you want. But after spending a full day driving and hooning the new Dodge Charger Daytona in nearly every imaginable way its targeted owner ideally would, it is no doubt, in my mind, an all-American thoroughbred muscle car for the 21st century. Not only is it reflective of the times that we’re in, with all this push towards electrification as the world continues to slowly shift away from carcinogenic internal combustion, the Charger proves what’s possible with the new formula with electrification and that brute performance in a classic American package isn’t going anywhere.

Yes, it doesn’t have a HEMI and yes, it doesn’t make classic muscle car noises. But does it really matter where that propulsion comes from when it looks like one, drives like one, and certainly performs like one, whether the direction is straight or not. Dare I say it, it even sounds like one with its unique Fratzonic sound generator, which is still a major step ahead of just driving around in pure silence. It hits all the main characteristics that defines what an American muscle is and always has been. And although you may laugh and try to disparage it now, you certainly won’t be when one leaves you behind in a cloud of tire smoke and dust at the next red light.