The most controversial automobile of 2024 isn’t the Tesla Cybertruck or no matter cool new BMW you assume is ugly, it’s the Dodge Charger Daytona EV. This electrical muscle automobile is so affected by anti-woke tradition bullshit that it needed to be saddled with a gasoline engine choice whereas the EV appears a bit doomed to fail. Nonetheless, after seeing it on the Los Angeles Auto Present I’m stoked to drive the electrical Charger, and couldn’t actually care much less about what the gasoline one is like. The prospect of an electrical muscle automobile is thrilling to me, and I believe assume the Charger’s design is a house run. Extra importantly, it’s actually the rebirth of the American “private luxurious coupe” that lovers have lamented the loss of life of for many years now, with a ton of house and practicality.
Dodge is changing each the two-door Challenger and four-door Charger with the brand new Charger, which is obtainable with two or 4 doorways. Not like both of the outgoing fashions, the Charger has a liftback as an alternative of a trunk for each the coupe and sedan. The 2 fashions have the identical 121.0-inch wheelbase, they usually’re large — the coupe is 206.6 inches lengthy, which is six inches longer than the outdated Charger and 9 inches longer than the Challenger. It’s large as hell too, nearly two inches wider than the widebody variations of the outdated vehicles.
In individual beneath auto present lighting, I believe the Charger appears nice and has a ton of presence. Positive, it may do with even greater wheels and a greater offset, and I guess on a smaller wheel and tire package deal it can look kinda dinky, however the base variations of the outdated vehicles did too. The coke bottle form of the physique and fenders is very nice, and the greenhouse doesn’t look too tall and boxy. You may by no means guess it had a hatch.
It’s inside the brand new Charger the place I used to be really shocked. Not by the design itself, although it’s actually leagues nicer than the outdated vehicles on the subject of design, supplies and know-how, however by how roomy and ethereal it felt. The Challenger was a really difficult automobile to see out of, with a huge lengthy nostril, tiny facet home windows and a tall physique; the Charger wasn’t significantly better. Ahead visibility appears a lot improved from the outdated vehicles, particularly because of the EV’s R-Wing hood design, and because of taller home windows and an even bigger quarter window behind the doorways it has much less of a blind spot.
That bigger facet quarter window can also be of big profit to passengers within the rear seat, which is immensely spacious. It’s simple to fold and slide the entrance bucket seats ahead, and ingress and egress for the again seat is so much nicer. Dodge hasn’t launched dimensions but, however at 5-foot-9 I’ve vastly extra headroom and legroom than within the outdated Challenger, and it truthfully appeared nicer than the Charger’s again seat. It didn’t really feel too darkish or claustrophobic within the again, and I guess the optionally available panoramic roof would add to the airiness (and I doubt it can scale back headroom by a significant quantity). The largest shock? Our personal 6-foot-8-inch employees author Logan Carter match within the again seat.
I believe the very best a part of the brand new Charger is the cargo space. It’s merely huge and very usable. The liftback’s opening is large and squared-off with a reasonably low sill, and even with the rear seats up the cargo space is de facto lengthy and fairly tall regardless of the sloping roof. There’s 22.8 cubic ft of house with the seats up, 6.3 greater than the outdated Charger and 6.6 greater than the Challenger, and the rear seats fold down nearly fully flat to extend the cargo space to 37.4 cubic ft. Ren Stone, supervisor of Superior Design at Stellantis, made an Instagram publish of a Charger EV simply hauling a 40-by-64-inch field with a Viper windshield in it. The Charger EV could be had with a frunk, however at 1.5 cubic ft it’s pretty small, and it’s important to go for one of many costly choice packages to get it.
Everybody is continually unhappy about how coupes and different area of interest physique kinds are dying within the U.S., and the way there are not any massive coupes that may be actually used as a each day pushed household automobile like the large private luxurious coupes of yore (yore being, like, the ‘70s and ‘80s), however right here Dodge comes bringing them again with drive. The Challenger was too compromised by its design to actually be sensible, however I can simply see the brand new Charger being owned by somebody with a child or two, or a giant canine, or a job that often requires them to haul stuff, and even somebody single who hits the classic furnishings markets too typically and has pals to drive round. In a world of crossovers the place even sedans have gotten more and more unusual, the existence of a giant coupe just like the 2024 Charger must be celebrated.
