Watch A Dodge Charger Daytona EV Beat A Ford Mustang Dark Horse In Edmunds U-Drag Race

The new Dodge Charger Daytona EV is a controversial car. Prior to 2024, every single Dodge Charger ever made ran on exploding dinosaur juice, and just in the 21st century Dodge has sold over a million of those often Hemi-powered muscle cars. Making an electric muscle car might not be too hard, but making an electric muscle car that is desirable and sells well is proving to be tough, with brand new Charger Daytonas already selling with big discounts.

The Charger Daytona undeniably has muscle car power and speed. In fact, it produces a humongous 630 horsepower (or 670 for 10 seconds using Dodge’s “Power Shot”), and goes from 0 to 60 mph in a manufacturer-claimed 3.3 seconds. Despite Dodge’s efforts to make the Charger Daytona make exciting noises, the Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust just can’t live up to the electrifying orchestra produced by eight cylinders of internal combustion.

To find out how the new electric muscle car fares against the sole remaining gas-powered muscle car, Edmunds pits the new 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack against a 2024 Ford Mustang Dark Horse in its U-Drag race format. Spoiler alert: the electric Charger beats the Mustang.

Representing for the good ol’ boys, the Ford Mustang Dark Horse is powered by a naturally aspirated (!) 5.0-liter Coyote V8 and a 10-speed automatic transmission that sends 500 horsepower and 418 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels only. It weighs 4,016 pounds, and costs $74,155 as tested. These two numbers are both relatively high to sports car traditionalists, but they pale in comparison to the Charger Daytona’s gargantuan heft and price. The Dark Horse has a weight-to-power ratio of 8.03 pounds-per-horsepower.

Representing the new school, the Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack is powered by two electric motors that send that combined Power Shot-induced 670 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque to all four wheels through a single-speed direct drive transmission. It weighs in at a mammoth 5,974 pounds, and costs $85,965 as tested. That’s nearly 2,000 pounds heavier than the Mustang, and its weight-to-power ratio is worse at 8.92 pounds-per-horsepower.

By now, we know that electric vehicles have the advantage off the line when raced against internal combustion vehicles, especially in this case where the Charger Daytona is all-wheel-drive and the Mustang is rear-wheel-drive. But, acceleration isn’t the shocker in this test. The Charger Daytona wins both races, and what’s most impressive is how it pulls on, and ultimately passes the Mustang Dark Horse even when the Daytona comes from behind following the U-turn portion of the U-Drag. Mighty impressive given its inferior weight-to-power ratio. The Charger ended up beating the Mustang in the 0-to-60 sprint, taking just 3.6 seconds while the Mustang took 4.4, and the Charger’s fastest quarter-mile time beat the Mustang by 0.8 seconds with a time of a quick 11.9 seconds to the Mustang’s 12.7. 

Despite the Charger Daytona Scat Pack’s two-for-two win and objectively superior performance, both Edmunds hosts determine that the Mustang Dark Horse is the more satisfying drive. We’re at a weird time in the automotive world where quicker cars aren’t always the real winners. It’s a vibe thing, but the Mustang Dark Horse simply provides a more engaging and holistically enjoyable driving experience. That Charger’s speed is hard to ignore, though.