- Can the world’s first electric muscle car keep up with a Tesla Model 3?
- The Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack weighs roughly 6,000 pounds.
- The Tesla Model 3 Performance is nearly 2,000 pounds lighter, but also down on power.
Weight. It’s the enemy of speed and nimbleness. That’s why, despite their relatively low power output, the featherweight Mazda Miata, Porsche 718 Boxster, and all the Caterhams are a blast to drive.
When it comes to electric cars, however, things get complicated. There’s a huge battery that weighs thousands of pounds, in addition to all the other bits that makes a car do car things. You can add more powerful motors, but weight will always come back to bite.
And the Edmunds video above is a testament to that. It features the 2024 Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack and the 2024 Tesla Model 3 Performance. The former is described as the world’s first electric muscle car, while the latter is a four-door family sedan that happens to be quick.
With 670 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of torque, the Charger Daytona should eat the Model 3 for breakfast. The Tesla only has 510 hp and 546 lb-ft of twist.
The plan is simple: start with a quarter-mile sprint, then brake, do a U-turn, and sprint back down the quarter-mile to finish. It’s a test of acceleration, braking, and handling, bundled into a single race. Two runs are on the menu, and after each run, drivers switch places to keep things fair.
From the first two seconds of the race, the outcome is quite obvious. The nearly 6,000-pound Daytona struggles against the underpowered but comparatively slim 4,000-pound Model 3. As a result, the Model 3 Performance smashes the Daytona in almost every category, including the zero-to-60 miles per hour sprint and the quarter-mile time. The Daytona, meanwhile, outperforms the Tesla in the corners.
There’s also the issue of price. As tested, Dodge’s electric muscle car costs $85,965, while Tesla’s performance sedan has an MSRP of $56,630. And it has four doors.
