Of Course A Hemi V8 Will Fit In The Charger Daytona — Here’s How
(The Gas Station is where American Cars And Racing Executive Editor Gary Gastelu vents his opinions and bizarre ideas. Feel free to let us know if you think they stink.)
The electric 2025 Dodge Charger Daytona has been officially released and everyone seems to want to know two things about it: Is it any good? Will a Hemi V8 fit in it?
Car reviews are subjective by nature and have been mixed, but the answer to the second question should be a straightforward technical matter. Nevertheless, it remains elusive.
The Charger Daytona is built on a “multi-energy” platform that can also accommodate an internal combustion engine drivetrain, and a Charger Sixpack powered by a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six-cylinder is set to follow it next year. The shift is part of Dodge’s plan to eliminate V8 engines from its lineup in order to better meet increasingly stringent emissions rules.
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Dodge isn’t entirely done with V8s, however, and has announced that it will continue to build Durango SUVs with them into 2025, at least. Even though the new straight-six is more powerful than the V8 it’s meant to replace, many muscle car fans prefer the latter and have been hopeful that it might make its way into the Charger.
One Dodge engineer told Jalopnik that the V8 won’t fit in the engine compartment, although they may have meant one can’t just be swapped in without some modifications to meet regulations. The Charger Daytona is larger than the V8-powered Challenger and Charger that it replaces and Dodge’s V8s are actually a bit smaller than the straight-six in all dimensions.
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When asked directly by The Drive if it can get a V8 in there, the automaker formally said, “Dodge is focused on launching the all-new, all-new electric Dodge Charger Daytona models, as well as the Dodge Charger Sixpack ICE-option models next year. We have nothing additional to share in regard to potential future products.
The thing is, the Charger Daytona definitely has enough room for a V8 … everyone is just looking in the wrong place.
While it looks like a coupe, the Charger Daytona is actually a liftback with a spacious 22.75-cubic-foot cargo area and rear seatbacks that can be folded down to expand it. This makes it similar to a classic Mopar model.
The early Plymouth Barracudas didn’t have liftbacks or hatchback doors, but did have large open cargo compartments that were once used to haul something very interesting.
Hurst Performance turned them into drag racing cars by ripping out the rear seats and installing Hemi V8s inside of the compartments. Tgey could be seen through the expansive rear windows and the cars became known as the Hemi Under Glass.
Thanks to the unusual weight distribution, they were easily capable of doing wheelies for the entire length of a quarter-mile dragstrip, and they were used as promotional vehicles that remain among the most iconic cars ever built.
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If Dodge is looking to get attention for the Charger, a rebooted Hemi Under Glass would more than fit the bill, street legal or otherwise. Given the weight of the Charger Daytona’s battery pack and location of its electric motors at the axles, an EV version probably wouldn’t work as well. Sure, it could just use the straight-six, but Sixpacks usually go into glasses, so “Sixpack under glass” just doesn’t have the same ring.
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