Dodge Charger
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
Dodge Charger Review — Honest Take, September 2026
The Dodge Charger is currently two different cars wearing one badge, and you should think of them that way: the Daytona EV, which the market has spent two years rejecting, and the Sixpack gas car, which arrived in 2026 to rescue the nameplate. One of them you buy at a fire-sale price with your eyes open. The other one you buy because you want 550 horsepower and an actual exhaust note.
The Daytona EV is the cautionary tale. Dual motors, 496 horsepower in R/T trim and 670 in Scat Pack form, a 100.5-kWh battery good for roughly 317 miles, and a fake-exhaust sound system called Fratzonic that Dodge spent the entire launch talking about — and then recalled, because the cars were too quiet to meet the federal pedestrian-warning rule. That sentence is the Daytona's whole era in miniature: big theater, small follow-through.
The documented record: an April 2026 recall of 20,271 Wagoneer S and Charger Daytona EVs because the instrument cluster software can blank the display while you're driving — no speed, no gear indicator, no brake or stability warnings. A July 2025 recall of 8,390 Daytonas for the missing warning sounds. Owner reports of cars bricked after software updates, which is the kind of reputation that precedes a purchase — a March 2026 shopper in the prospective-owners Facebook group asked outright whether the cars are "riddled with problems" because they'd "seen issues with being bricked after updates." In April, another owner asked the group, "Anyone here lemon law their dodge charger ev? Stellantis is being ruthless." In July, an owner posted that the fully charged car wouldn't start after a grocery run — key fob dead, nothing responding — and asked if there was a secret reset procedure while waiting for the tow.
And yet. The May 2026 poster who asked whether the Daytona was "just a horrible car" bought one anyway and updated the thread: "Holy crap it's fun to drive." That split is the whole social pulse — owners who got a good one at a catastrophic discount love the speed; shoppers researching the car find a wall of warnings. Both things are true. The 526-member prospective-owners group reads like a support group for people talking each other into, and out of, the same purchase.
The depreciation is the real story. A June 2026 buyer drove two and a half hours for a fully-optioned Scat Pack: over $85,000 on the sticker, $38,000 on the deal. That's not a discount, that's a capitulation. Dodge killed the Daytona R/T after 2025. When the manufacturer discontinues your trim and dealers cut the price in half, the market has voted.
Enter the Sixpack. The 2026 gas Charger puts the 3.0-liter twin-turbo Hurricane six back under the hood — 420 horsepower in the R/T, 550 in the Scat Pack, all-wheel drive with a rear-drive disconnect mode for burnouts, 0–60 in 3.9 seconds, about 20 mpg combined. Pricing is the sane part: the two-door R/T starts at $49,995 ($51,990 delivered), the Scat Pack at $54,995 ($56,990 delivered). It's a real muscle car again — quieter than a Hellcat, faster than the old 392, and roughly $30,000 cheaper than what dealers were asking for the electric Scat Pack before the discounts. The honest caveat: it's a first-year car with the Hurricane engine family, which is currently the subject of a federal class action in the Ram 1500. Same engine family, different application — note it, don't panic about it, and let the early adopters generate the data.
Value call: if you want the EV, buy used or leftover at the fire-sale prices — a 2024 in the mid-$30k range with the cluster-software recall verified is the only way the math works, and only with the full factory warranty intact. If you want the gas car, the Sixpack R/T at $52,000 delivered is the value play; the Scat Pack is the one you actually want. If you want a proven Charger, buy a 2021–2023 V8 — the last of the old religion, holding value while the new cars sort themselves out.
The honest bottom line: the Daytona is a fast car with a trust problem and a price tag in freefall; the Sixpack is the reset button. Buy the electric one only at half price, buy the gas one with your eyes open, and if you want a Hemi, the used market still has your car.