The most controversial automobile of 2024 isn’t the Tesla Cybertruck or no matter cool new BMW you suppose is ugly, it’s the Dodge Charger Daytona EV. This electrical muscle automobile is so tormented by anti-woke tradition bullshit that it needed to be saddled with a fuel engine possibility 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 fuel one is like. The prospect of an electrical muscle automobile is thrilling to me, and I believe suppose the Charger’s design is a house run. Extra importantly, it’s actually the rebirth of the American “private luxurious coupe” that fans 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 accessible 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121.0-inch wheelbase, they usually’re big — the coupe is 206.6 inches lengthy, which is six inches longer than the outdated Charger and 9 inches longer than the Challenger. It’s extensive as hell too, nearly two inches wider than the widebody variations of the outdated vehicles.
In individual below auto present lighting, I believe the Charger seems to be nice and has a ton of presence. Positive, it may do with even larger 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and I guess on a smaller wheel and tire package deal it can look kinda dinky, however the base variations of the outdated vehicles did too.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 would possibly by no means guess it had a hatch.
It’s inside the brand new Charger the place I used to be actually shocked. Not by the design itself, although it’s actually leagues nicer than the outdated vehicles in terms of design, supplies and expertise, however by how roomy and ethereal it felt. The Challenger was a very difficult automobile to see out of, with a huge lengthy nostril, tiny aspect home windows and a tall physique; the Charger wasn’t a lot better. Ahead visibility appears a lot improved from the outdated vehicles, particularly due to the EV’s R-Wing hood design, and because of taller home windows and an even bigger quarter window behind the doorways it has much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 aspect quarter window can be of big profit to passengers within the rear seat, which is immensely spacious. It’s straightforward to fold and slide the entrance bucket seats ahead, and ingress and egress for the again seat is loads 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 actually appeared nicer than the Charger’s again seat. It didn’t really feel too darkish or claustrophobic within the again, and I guess the non-compulsory panoramic roof would add to the airiness (and I doubt it can cut back headroom by a significant quantity). The most important shock? Our personal 6-foot-8-inch workers 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 extensive and squared-off with a reasonably low sill, and even with the rear seats up the cargo space is admittedly lengthy and fairly tall regardless of the sloping roof. There’s 22.8 cubic toes 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 toes. Ren Stone, supervisor of Superior Design at Stellantis, made an Instagram put up of a Charger EV simply hauling a 40-by-64-inch field with a Viper windshield in it. The Charger EV may be had with a frunk, however at 1.5 cubic toes it’s pretty small, and it’s a must to go for one of many costly possibility packages to get it.
Everybody is consistently unhappy about how coupes and different area of interest physique types are dying within the U.S., and the way there aren’t any huge coupes that may be actually used as a day by 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 pressure. The Challenger was too compromised by its design to essentially 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 recurrently requires them to haul stuff, and even somebody single who hits the classic furnishings markets too usually and has mates 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 needs to be celebrated.
