Buying a new Dodge Charger Daytona Scat Pack for half its sticker price sounds like a good start. Cleetus McFarland says he got that deal, but the electric muscle car still left him underwhelmed.
In his video published July 28, 2026, he set out to give it another chance after his earlier criticism upset some Charger EV owners. The plan was to measure its horsepower, then take it down the drag strip.
By this point, the Charger had already been through a mud outing. The crew reported lingering wheel vibration, which they attributed to mud left after pressure washing.
They started the day with a full battery and a dashboard estimate of 205 miles. To preserve charge for testing, they drove conservatively to an all-wheel-drive dynamometer. Before the run, they reported 92% remaining.
On the Rollers
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The crew approached the test with a 670-horsepower target and plenty of doubts. With the Charger in drag mode, its display indicated that PowerShot was unavailable because the car was already at maximum power.
The run returned a crew-reported 686 horsepower at the wheels. Afterward, one participant admitted he would have accepted something closer to 530 or 550 horsepower.
One crew member called it “the weakest 686 horsepower” he had felt. The crew suggested that its weight and falling power curve explained the sensation.
Back at the Strip
With a reported 79% charge on arrival, the Charger headed for the quarter-mile. The crew reported an 11.86-second pass at 113 mph, including a 1.84-second first 60 feet and an eighth-mile time of 7.61 seconds at 92 mph.
For comparison, Dodge’s original launch announcement estimated an 11.5-second quarter-mile for the Daytona Scat Pack. McFarland’s outing produced a slower elapsed time, while the crew continued debating how quick the car felt from inside.
After the pass, the battery reading was 77%. The next suggestion was a tug-of-war, with the crew arguing that the Charger’s weight and torque might suit that job.
One More Test
The Charger faced off against a diesel truck in a tug-of-war. “I thought it was going to do way better than that,” a crew member said after the pull. The crew blamed the truck’s higher hitch point for pulling upward on the Charger during the contest.
They also complained about fresh marks on the car Sam had recently cleaned. “Sam is going to be so pissed, dude,” one crew member said.