When Dodge unleashed the new Charger, it assured us it’s a homage to American muscle cars and a pledge that they’ll march forward into the future. That may very well be true in more ways than one. Yes, it has the powertrain of the future, but it also carries a few relics from the past, things that haven’t always been part of American exceptionalism. Dodge may call it a car, but the spec sheet often reads more like a light truck manifesto.
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Let’s dive straight into the numbers. The 2024 Charger Daytona is 206.6 inches (5,247.9 mm) long, 79.8 inches (2,027.8 mm) wide, not counting the mirrors, and it tips the scales at a portly 5,838 lbs (2,648 kg). And while you may have an inkling of how large the car is from those numbers, it helps to put them into context to understand how truly massive they are.
It can be hard these days to tell the difference between a vehicle that is heavy because it is modern, and one that is heavy even by modern standards. The Charger is the latter. To put the muscle car’s 5,838 lbs curb weight into perspective, it’s 53 lbs (24 kg) heavier than a long-wheelbase Cadillac Escalade ESV equipped with the 6.2-liter V8 engine and rear-wheel-drive (5,785 lbs or 2,624 kg).
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Read: 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona EV Has Up To 670 HP, Straight-Six And Sedan Here Next Year
Meanwhile, its overall length of 206.6 inches (5,247.9 mm) outstretches the 2023 Dodge Charger by more than half a foot (152 mm). And just when you thought that was impressive, it’s also a whole three inches (76.2 mm) longer than the BMW X7, another premium SUV whose size is part of its luxurious appeal, because apparently, size really does matter – or so Dodge seems to believe.
On the flip side, the Charger measures 79.8 inches (2,027.8 mm) wide, which places it in the company of supercars, where width is crucial for stability. Impressively, it’s only 0.08 inches (2.2 mm) narrower than the Lamborghini Aventador.
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The only dimension in which it is comparable to a car, or at least the outgoing Charger, is in height. Whereas the old model measured in at 58.5 inches (1,485 mm), the upcoming model will grow by half an inch, and is 59 inches (1,499 mm) tall.
Despite the gargantuan proportions, the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona will be pretty sprightly on a straight line. The Scat Pack version of the car is capable of making up to 670 hp (500 kW/679 PS), of reaching 60 mph (96 km/h) in 3.3 seconds, and of running the quarter-mile in 11.5 seconds. With more performance to come, it shouldn’t be held back by its size, except when it comes to putting them on the truck to deliver them to customers.
