Back in March 2024, Stellantis (STLA) -backed Dodge committed a mortal sin in the eyes of its biggest fans and devout followers of the church of muscle cars.
In an effort to transition the brand into a new, electrified age kickstarted by Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares, Dodge introduced its most controversial product yet: a replacement Charger that ditches the Hemi V8 for the choice of either a smaller, turbocharged inline-6 motor or a fully electric powertrain.
Dodge CEO Matt McAlear believed he could convince muscle car buyers to switch to electric while also attracting traditional EV customers.
“I think there’s a compelling opportunity to bring people in the showroom, to look at this new technology and experience this new technology and see what it can do for them and why they can fall in love with it,” McAlear told Automotive News in an August 2024 interview.
YouTube’s biggest EV fanboy isn’t impressed with Dodge’s schtick
In a recent video, YouTube tech authority Marques Brownlee deemed the Dodge Charger Daytona EV a “Fratzonic Flop” in a scathing 14-minute review on his Auto Focus channel.
In the review, he gave some praise to some of the Charger’s outward features, such as its styling, its domineering size, and the car’s loud artificial noise generator.
Dodge calls the system the ‘Fratzonic exhaust,’ and as demonstrated by Brownlee, the system is designed to mimic the loud, growling effects of a traditional HEMI V8-powered Charger, which can be manipulated with the car’s software to be more or less intense.
“If you go to track mode, it’s actually at its loudest. The rumble is way stronger. I can actually—I am not joking—I can feel the car ruling like there was an engine behind me, it’s kind of crazy,” he said. “It’s just as obnoxiously loud as a gas car.”
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However, he found faults with the supposed value for money compared to other electric vehicles in and around its price range.
The vehicle he tested was a Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack, which boasts numbers of 670 horsepower, 627 pound-feet of torque and a 0-60 mph time of 3.3 seconds. Though these numbers seem impressive, at $86,000, Brownlee notes that Dodge is asking for a pretty penny compared to other high-performance EVs he has driven.
“[…] but for $86,000, if that’s really what you’re after is straight line performance, a Tesla Model 3 Performance kind of smokes this. Actually, even a Kia EV6 GT beats this.”
“A Tesla Model Y Performance is on par with this, none of those cost $86,000. Matter of fact, for [$80,000], you could get a used [Tesla Model S] Plaid if that’s what you really want is straight line speed.”
The “Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust” system in the Dodge Charger Daytona. Marques Brownlee said “it sounds like you’re just riding around in like second gear all the time.”
Stellantis
Brownlee found Dodge’s “fake exhaust” annoying
Additionally, he found a glaring flaw in the Fratzonic exhaust that he gave some consideration to earlier in the video.
Brownlee compared the Charger to the Hyundai Ioniq 5N; however, it didn’t exactly compare for the better.
The Ioniq is equipped with what Hyundai calls its “N e-Shift” system, and with it, the car simulates the pops, bangs, and aggressive power-band changes you’d get a real turbocharged gas-powered car with a real dual-clutch transmission.
In comparison, Marques found that the Charger operates much more akin to a leafblower, where the harder you accelerate, the louder it gets.
“[…] as you’re cruising around, it sort of just ends up droning and it sounds like you’re just riding around in like second gear all the time,” he said. “[…] It’s fun at first, but then I think you pretty quickly get over it and you just—I just turn it off. I ended up just wanting to turn it off.”
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Concluding his thoughts, he found that the Charger was not a car that “begged” to be driven fast, noting its boat-like handling characteristics made it a “comfortable cruiser;” anthetical to the “hardcore muscle car” image Dodge conjured up.
“I get that this was supposed to be fun. The noise, the muscle, the looks, the shoulders; it’s just it’s supposed to be this badass, sporty thing, but you turn the sound off and it’s actually a kind of just a boat,” he said. “It was supposed to be fun, but uh, if you want a boat there you go.”
Stellantis NV is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as STLA
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