- Reviewers have found that the Dodge Charger Daytona cannot do a burnout
- The Line Lock characteristic, which disables the entrance electrical motor and locks the wheels, was inexplicably lacking from check automobiles on the launch occasion.
- Dodge would not have something to share about future plans to allow or embrace Line Lock
The Dodge Charger Daytona is out and the primary critiques are lastly hitting the streets. Critics appear to like the automotive, largely, particularly because it’s one of many first efficiency EVs particularly geared toward roping in gearheads away from gas-powered, tire-slaying, row-your-own combustion automobiles. That is not a straightforward feat, however as lots of those that have already made the change can let you know—the moment torque delivered by an EV might be removed from tame.
However there’s one specific quirk in regards to the Charger Daytona that we will not fairly overcome. Regardless of Dodge advertising and marketing the Charger as an electrified muscle automotive, it lacks the power to carry out of essentially the most primary hooning options that any red-blooded, high-performance American coupe ought to have the ability to do: a burnout.
Photograph by: InsideEVs
Information of the lacking characteristic first got here to us whereas skimming by MotorTrend’s first drive overview of the Charger Daytona. Throughout their time with the automotive, MotorTrend observed that (for some unfathomable motive) it was unimaginable to get the automotive to do a burnout. No quantity of twiddling with the controls and fuel pedal might yield a brakestand.
Here is what caught our eye from MotorTrend:
In reality, the Charger Daytona received’t do a burnout. It doesn’t matter what we tried, the electrical Charger stubbornly rejected our efforts to announce its arrival to the world by way of smoke indicators. It’s in all probability able to doing one with a line lock characteristic, however inexplicably that’s the one toy Dodge did not program in.
Certainly that may’t be proper.
Dodge, the corporate that simply stated it was going to save lots of the world from “lame, soulless, weak-looking, self-driving, sleep-pods” by giving the world a battery-powered muscle automotive, would not have made it in order that flagship EV was incapable of spinning its rear tires in a formidable cloud of vaporized rubber… proper?
Possibly there is a good motive for it. Let’s keep in mind right here that the Charger Daytona comes solely in all-wheel drive. Which means twin 335-horsepower motors on the entrance and rear wheels, making a mixed output of 670 horsepower and 627 pound-feet of instantaneous, electrified torque. That is loads of energy for some large quantity 11s on the pavement.
We dug into this quirk a bit extra to seek out out precisely what was occurring. As talked about, the Charger Daytona is AWD, so in an effort to do a conventional burnout, it will want to chop energy to the entrance wheels—which it ought to have the ability to do since an EV would not have to mechanically separate the entrance and rear drivetrains provided that they’re fully separate from each other.
Dodge calls this characteristic “Line Lock”—a time period that is been round since mid-century within the drag racing scene. Its identify is sort of literal and refers to locking stress within the entrance brake strains of a automotive to maintain pads in touch with the rotors and forestall the entrance wheels from turning. The motive force can then mash the fuel pedal and warmth up the rear tires earlier than sending the automotive down the drag strip.
The thought is comparable for the Charger Daytona. Turning the characteristic on would disable energy to the entrance motor to stop the wheels from turning, lock the entrance brakes and let the rear motor unleash its full torque output.Hell, Dodge even brags in regards to the potential to “add in Line Lock for smoky burnouts” on the web site for the Charger Daytona.
However there’s only one drawback: the Charger Daytona would not have the Line Lock characteristic. In reality, a Stellantis spokesperson confirmed to InsideEVs that Line Lock just isn’t at present out there on the Charger Daytona and that the model did not have something to share concerning any future plans for the characteristic.
Effectively, of us, I hate to interrupt it to you, however that is the world we’re residing in. The Dodge Charger Daytona—the world’s first mass-produced trendy electrical muscle automotive—cannot do a burnout. At the very least not but, and whether or not or not it should get an replace so as to add Dodge’s Line Lock characteristic sooner or later is anyone’s guess.
Certain, it will probably do different cool issues. Drift mode will get rowdy and even performs the decoupling of the entrance electrical drive motor. That makes it much more puzzling that Line Lock is not out there for this identical operate. I do know this is not the tip of the world, but it surely looks like such a missed alternative to incorporate a primary muscle automotive characteristic on what’s being marketed as the primary trendy electrical muscle automotive. Possibly that’ll change sooner or later, however for now, I’ll go sit within the nook and surprise what we did to deserve this.
