2026 Dodge Charger & Jeep Cherokee First Looks, Plus a First Drive in the Hyundai Palisade

Welcome to the podcast of MotorWeek, television's original automotive magazine.

MotorWeek is made possible by AutoValue and Bumper2Bumper and TireRack.com.

Here's your MotorWeek podcast host, John Davis.

And welcome everyone to MotorWeek podcast number 359.

I am indeed your host, John Davis, and we've got a full slate of new vehicles for you today,

starting with the new generation Jeep Cherokee.

Yes, the Cherokee is back, followed by a new version of what's a show favorite and a personal

favorite, the Hyundai Palisade's been redesigned for 26, that three-row crossover-style SUV.

And we're going to end with what's going to be probably the most talked about new

model on this podcast and really around a lot of water coolers.

Ready for it?

The return of the gasoline-powered Dodge Charger, but that comes later in the show right now.

I'm joined by digital producer Jessica Rae and staff writer Alex Kellum.

Howdy.

Okay, Alex, we're going to start with you.

A hot seat.

Jeep Cherokee, compact SUV.

Now some will say that the Cherokee name really very much never went away because

the grand Cherokee has been alive and a going concern, but we haven't seen a

pure Cherokee name on a vehicle.

It's been on pause for three years and now it's back with a whole new design.

So why don't you give us the high points on the new Jeep Cherokee?

Absolutely.

So of all the SUVs, I'm sure you're all aware that right now, boxy is in.

You want something that's got strong muscular angles and all that stuff.

Of all the SUVs that deserve that, I think the Cherokee does.

And it's back boxier, well, no, not boxier.

Not boxier than ever.

But it's close.

The first one was really boxier.

I'm going to get to that.

But there's actually more important things than its form and it's actually its function

with that return because this is actually going to be Jeep's first hybrid.

I know some people hear that.

It's about time.

Your pure hybrid.

Yep.

Because they do refer to the Wranglers as the four-by-ease as hybrids.

Hey, thanks for stealing my thunder there.

I appreciate it.

Sorry about that.

That's what I was going to get to.

But yes, this is the first, like a traditional hybrid.

Right.

So there's no plugging in and they really wanted to put a emphasis on that.

There's no plug.

Instead, what you have is a 1.6-liter four-cylinder under the hood and two electric motors.

And it gets like a one kilowatt-hour battery, so small little battery.

So it's a traditional, I hate to say it, Priya-style hybrid setup.

Yeah.

This Jeep is Priya-style at 100%.

But what they're saying on that, 210 horsepower, 230 pound-feet of torque, and they're

saying the torque comes on low, which is what Jeep people will want.

I think more importantly with this hybrid product, they're saying, and again, this is

all preliminary, so take it with a grain of salt, 37 MPG combined, and on one tank, they're

saying over 500 miles of range.

That is really impressive because I just decided to pull up the 2023 Jeep Cherokee

EPA estimates, and they said 24 combined.

So yeah.

They're good, 50%.

Really impressive.

It is up there, and that's really impressive considering, again, boxy, about as aerodynamic

as a sofa.

Though they have put some aerodynamic emphasis, or they've been conscious of the era with

this because obviously that helps with your fuel saving.

So if I can describe the exterior a little bit, they'll tell you that it's not a retro

design.

Like we've seen brands do that where they try and make it look very, very similar

to the old ones.

It's not quite the case here, but there's a lot of nods to both just Jeep as a brand

and then the Cherokees of old.

So of course we have a seven slot grill in the front, but it's been slightly tweaked a

little bit.

I'm not a super Jeep fanatic, so I look at it and go, oh yeah, it's a Jeep, but I'm

sure someone can pick it out.

The lights in the front and in the back, I know definitely in the back, but they have

this kind of squarish design that's supposed to be inspired by like Jerry Can, which is a

very like off-road type thing.

The wheel arches are trapezoidal again.

That is definitely my top five favorite shapes, so glad they incorporated that.

The D-pillar, the way that that kind of stands up, again, it's more angular now,

it's more slanted, but it has a lot of like, it harkens back to the shapes from before.

The original XJ back in 1984, but in those days almost everything that was an SUV looked

like a box.

Right, right.

And it's, you know, we're kind of coming full circle a little bit with that.

I'm a big fan.

I like the way a lot of SUVs are looking now.

Yeah, I should also say that it has grown a little bit.

It's on the STLA or Stella Large platform, which is so interesting because it is, right?

This is, we're comparing something that's more akin to the size of like a Toyota Corolla

Cross or like maybe somewhere in between that and a RAV4, right?

That's a little bigger, I mean it's grown a little bit.

I don't have the exact dimensions on me unfortunately, but it has grown a little bit.

But it still fits in the compact class and the significance there of the box is the

fact that that's how you get the most useful space out of a vehicle period.

They made a big point in that, that cargo space has grown quite a bit.

I have the actual number on my phone, but it's grown like 30% basically.

That's significant.

So you get more trunk space, you get a little bit more leg room in the second row.

It is a two row, I should have mentioned.

And this is going to be a global vehicle for them, so they didn't want to make it

too big on the outside.

That's true.

Yeah.

Anyway, don't let me distract you.

And I should also mention, we're talking about global and things like that.

The engine is going to be made in Michigan at their Dundee facility.

So that's pretty cool.

I mean they've used, they announced this 1.6 liter, I think a couple years ago.

And they've used it globally in other products as far as I'm aware.

So we're getting it here.

It's going to be made at Dundee.

I don't think the vehicle is going to be made in the United States though.

I think that is going to be in Mexico.

Yeah.

But again.

But again, preliminary.

I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, that the hybrid system is not going to drive all

four wheels.

I don't think there's still going to be a drive shaft in there somewhere.

So I attended the backgrounder, and it was still, at least to me, a little vague on exactly

how everything's going to work there.

But it's engine, two motors, and EVT for the transmission.

Right.

Okay.

Yeah.

It's a fairly conventional setup.

And I guess very briefly on the interior.

Very plush.

And of course they had like a top trim up on the stage for us, so you can expect that.

And there's going to be different levels.

Like it starts with like cloth seats and kind of works up.

But it's got a pretty decently sized like infotainment screen running Uconnect 5 on it.

Not a ton of physical controls, which is something that I think is going to be a little

bit of a miss with, especially with like deep buyers.

Well, deep owners, you can just think they're, talk about hands on.

So anyway.

But that was pretty much what I gained from the backgrounder.

We're going to know more about it pretty soon.

I believe it's supposed to be hitting dealer lots by the end of the year early next

year.

So, you know, we'll, I'm sure have some actual seat time in it very soon.

Well, I just decided to look up the pricing for, well, obviously we don't know the

pricing yet for this chair.

Yeah, that's not confirmed yet.

So we know that it will slot somewhere in between the Compass and the Grand Cherokee.

So the Compass starts at around $27,000 and the Grand Cherokee starts at about $36,000.

So I imagine they will be eyeing a price point somewhere.

30, 32, but that would probably be for the two-wheel drive version.

Or are they, you know, they are going to, it's going to be cost-standard.

Oh yeah.

Okay.

Well, that's significant.

So if they can pull that off for that size and that price.

And for the Jeep people, I'm going to look in the camera for this one, for the Jeep people

out there, there is not a trail-rated version yet, but they did say a trail-hawk is in the

work.

So if you want one, you got to wait a little longer.

Thank you, Alex.

Anytime.

And you're going to be back later in the show to tell us more about the internal

combustion return of the Dodge Charger.

But right now, let's turn to a favorite of ours in the utility arena and the

new Hyundai Palisade.

Now it's still classified as a mid-size utility, although with its three rows, we often around

here call it a large ute.

One might say the 2026 is evolutionary, but it does come out with a lot of stuff that's

new.

Jessica, you want to fill us in?

Well, yeah, a new Palisade is super exciting.

And so many times, you know, these automakers come out with a next generation of vehicle

and it's got some changes, but I don't know, it's hard for us to be like, this is all new.

Right.

But this Palisade, this is really all new.

But it still looks like a Palisade, in my opinion.

Absolutely.

But new platform, this now shares the same platform as the Santa Fe, which I think

let them with a new exterior and interior design add more space interior wise.

There's more leg room for rear passengers, that's in the second and third rows.

Which is already pretty generous.

And there's more cargo space, and the way that I was looking at the numbers of it, it

actually is way closer to the Ionic 9, the all-electric Ionic 9, than I thought it

would be for something that is gas versus electric.

Because as many of us know, the electric powertrains do lend to more space inside

the vehicle potentially.

So yeah, they've done a lot of work with that.

Exterior wise, you did mention it still looks like a Palisade, but it is somehow

more like boxy.

It's absolutely more macho.

I hear that's in right now.

It's very, very, the boxy is in.

Everybody wants the boxiness, but the design is actually even more aerodynamic

than before, which that's very interesting.

And one thing, too, they tried to keep some of the design elements from the

original Palisade, because the vehicle has been so successful.

It's been incredibly successful.

Hyundai is smart.

They don't want to veer too far away from what the design was, but they did

want to update it.

And so now the front grille is very flat, and there are daytime running

lights that sort of frame the grille, which kind of keeps that same vertical

design that they had initially on the first generation version.

And so I think to sum up all of the comments that I'm going to have is that

it's the Palisade that has been very successful.

Hyundai has just made it even better.

They've refined it in every way.

The driving experience is is that much more refined.

They have now they have changed the powertrain, not substantially, but

there is a new engine in there.

It's a 3.5 liter rather than a 3.8 liter.

It's detuned a little bit.

So you're looking at, I believe, 287 horsepower total.

So between horsepower and torque, you lose like less than five on each end.

But you don't notice that.

I mean, it's such a small detail.

But I mean, it's still a very pleasant driving experience.

There's plenty of power, more than enough.

I felt like what I love on about these like three row utilities

is that there's such a lack of body roll when you're driving them.

These aren't small vehicles by any means,

but the way that they're built makes for such a comfortable ride.

Well, another thing that they ended up doing, which I didn't really get to test

out personally because I didn't sit all the way back there.

We'll have to wait until we get one in for testing is that they did make

adjustments to the rear suspension to make the driving experience better

for those who were going to be sitting in the in the second and third road.

And and for reasons of transparency here, I actually own a 24

Palisade and you immediately after coming back and driving the new one,

you got in mine and drove it a little bit.

So it would refresh your memory.

And I had complained that the backseat of this current one sometimes

can be a little side to side on rough roads and maybe give people

that are sensitive a little bit of seasickness.

And you said you think that's been cured.

Yeah, it seemed like everything felt there was no floatiness to me.

Everything between like the steering, the steering felt like just a little bit

sharper, so I wasn't making quite as many small adjustments.

Yeah, everything felt like it was just completely refined.

Now, I do think that people that have the current one, when they get

inside this, when they grow, they're going to be a little shocked

because while the layout is roughly the same, you do have this giant

Ionic nine style screen infotainment screen, which is a big difference

from what they're used to that the interior will sell this car.

It's 110 percent.

They call it the dashboard is like a sofa design.

That's what they're referring to it as.

And it absolutely has this like classiness to it.

It's what is a classy sofa, a very classy sofa.

Well, that goes with the quilted seats that they've been putting in.

I just think it's a funny way to describe a dash.

And then there's the seats.

How do they describe this the seats?

I don't I don't know.

It's not like me, so I try to be.

But yeah, I mean, it's it's traditionally, I think they had

like a black interior or a gray interior as well as like a white interior.

This year, they're adding a brown interior.

And that was the vehicle that I was able to drive.

And it was very nice.

Now, you were driving probably the top.

So driving a calligraphy, which is the top trim.

And that goes for like fifty five thousand dollars.

But but overall, like there were just enough like buttons and knobs in there

because Hyundai, it like they're kind of a little bit of a head of the curve.

Or maybe they were too far ahead initially.

So like, you know, a lot, we were getting to a lot of their vehicles

two, three years ago, no buttons, right?

Oh, just a touch screen. No physical controls.

Now they're like, oh, people didn't like that.

So now they're moving back to more physical controls, which is really great.

And it's lending to great design.

And and it really is interesting, too, as we maybe stay on the interior a little bit,

that it's just that calligraphy for fifty five thousand dollars is incredibly

well equipped. It has heated seats, ventilated seats.

The third row in that can also be heated.

The second row heated or ventilated if you want.

Captain's chairs, bench seats, so you can have up to your seven or eight

passenger configurations.

They have a ton of USB C ports in it.

Very similar to the layout of the Ionic nine.

And so the USB C's are running a hundred watts so they can power

so much stuff or power a laptop or whatever device that you have in your vehicle.

Lots of space, like storage cubbies.

I mean, this is a vehicle that you buy

because you're going to be taking it on long trips

and you want your family to be very comfortable.

So I it kind of I think maybe blew me away a little bit

of to like how much thought that they put into this new vehicle.

And there's, you know, it's quieter.

They put like more insulated windshield glass in there.

You go up to upper trims.

They even put more insulated glass in all of the windows side windows.

Something that is really interesting, too.

The side curtain airbags go all the way to the third row.

Hmm, which I don't think that's unique.

But I'm not sure that the one I have has that feature.

I don't know how many three row SUVs have that.

Yeah, I think it's out there.

They made just all there's like so many little things.

But like I said, you can get all wheel drive on this.

And it starts around like $38,000 for the base trim.

But even if you get the one down from the top calligraphy, the limited,

I assume it's still called limited.

It's it's very well equipped.

Yeah. And so you don't have to get the top model

to get all most of the bills and whistles.

Before we go off on off of the Palisade, I should mention

one of some of the big news for this generation, the second generation

Palisade is that there is a hybrid version that is coming.

That will be a four cylinder hybrid.

It will be a four cylinder hybrid.

It's a 2.5 liter, I believe that they use globally in other markets.

It just we haven't used it here.

So that's coming.

It will be here, I believe, by the end of this year.

I didn't get to drive that one yet because it has not made its way state side.

Did they give you any EPA numbers on EPA numbers?

They said up to 34 miles per that's significant because on a very good day,

I'll see 24. Well, I will say one thing I forgot to mention

when I talked about the powertrain on the V six is that

it does lose one mile per gallon combined.

So it is now at about 20 MPG combined.

So that 34 is a pretty big deal,

especially if you are doing a lot of around town driving.

So we certainly look forward to later this later this year.

We'll have a more comprehensive report on the hybrid version.

Alex, any comments before we move along?

Funny comments, only a few relevant.

Can you off road it?

Yes, you can.

That's a great comment because one of the thanks one version.

They also added another trim.

I didn't want to go too too into it.

Did you open up a Pandora's box there?

I think I opened up Pandora's, now we got to lay in it.

I will very briefly, very briefly mention that there is now

an XRT Pro version of the Palisade that is out for 2026.

No powertrain changes or anything like that.

It does get an additional inch of ground clearance, moving it up to 8.4 inches.

Bigger, bigger tires,

lots of like black accents, recovery hooks front and rear

does get like a limited slip differential, which I mean,

there are some off roady or more all wheel drivey

sort of upgrades here because there's no like skid plates or anything.

So not full board, but substantial and will look cool and people will look cool.

And yeah, I mean, I think they did make some tweaks to the H track

all wheel drive system to I think that's almost an inch for ground clearance.

So yeah, yeah, yeah, an additional inch of ground clearance

from the standard model. So that's that's that's especially.

Yeah, I mean, I don't do serious off roading with mine,

but you know, a little bit more ground clearance would be welcome sometimes.

Yeah, so there is one that's coming for 2026

and that one should probably be in dealers soon.

Standard all wheel drive.

Thank you, Jessica.

Thanks Alex for that comment.

OK, I want to thank our sponsors of this podcast

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And I certainly do.

OK, we're gay.

We have next a lightning round.

And this is a very lightning rounds, basically, are trending automotive topics.

We let everybody around the table have a chance to comment on them.

And this happened just prior to when we're recording this podcast.

Ford has announced that their next generation EV platform is coming

and that will include a $30,000 midsize pickup

that will be built in their plant in Louisville, Kentucky

and is set to arrive in dealers in 2027.

Ford is also evolving their EV assembly line,

turning it into what's called an assembly tree to make production more efficient.

Ford is describing this as their next model T moment.

In other words, EVs for everyone

because they're going to build not only a pickup truck,

but probably a couple of different utilities, a delivery van.

What do you guys think of this announcement?

Is it that unique?

Are they doing stuff that's truly innovative?

Give me your feedback, because we haven't seen the vehicle.

We've seen this event, which was at their Kentucky plant

talking a lot to their workers.

And we've seen some drawings, basically, of the basic layout.

We know that it's going to be maybe closer to Maverick size than to Ranger size.

But, you know, to do this at a profit, can they do it?

I mean, I think this this has the potential to be

I guess a model T moment if it pans out, you know, obviously, like

who, you know, Ford, when they were making the model T, probably like,

this is a really great thing, but I don't think they necessarily thought it would

revolutionize.

Or it would become what we now know as the automotive industry, right?

Making a thirty thousand dollar electric midsize pickup truck.

That's a very big deal.

And I think so many times people are interested in EVs,

but the cost is is really the thing that prohibits them from buying one.

And if you can make one for thirty grand cheaper and undercut even gas things,

that's undercutting a ranger.

Is it not? I mean, oh, yeah, it starts at thirty six thousand dollars.

But you're talking about a even Maverick style pickup.

And we all know Mavericks now have gone from, you know, twenty to thirty thousand dollars.

And you compare this to the effort that Slate this startup is doing,

where they're probably looking at least twenty five thousand for a pickup

that only seats to has no frills, has has wind up windows, crank windows.

And this is going to be a crew cab from the get go,

probably have most of the amenities that we're used to in vehicles today.

For that price, you know, trying to build anything small in this country

for thirty grand and make money, that's tough, almost impossible.

I mean, yeah, because this will be made in America, built, assembled in America

and the batteries as well, because the batteries are new plant in Michigan.

So, I mean, the concept of the assembly tree is fascinating to me.

Alex, why don't you jump in on that?

What do you think about the whole effort?

The next Model T moment.

I'm going to take the very rigid stance of yes and no.

Going to play the middleman here.

But no, I think it's a Ford guy, as a Ford guy.

Yeah, for transparency, looking at the.

Yeah, yeah, he is Ford guy over here.

I think from a production standpoint, it very much sounds like it is.

Kind of describe what that just what the assembly tree is.

Yeah, as she kind of already prefaced, imagine instead of like a vehicle

starting at one end of a line and ending up at the other end of a line

as lines typically go, this will kind of think of it as like multiple lines

in a way where they all kind of converge.

So you'll have like a fork almost more than a tree at the top of the line.

Maybe they're assembling the front end or in the at the bottom.

It's it's the rear and then the midsection with the battery

and all that is in the middle and all of these components, they come with a kit

and that kit has the tools, the fasteners, everything the workers need

because it's not just about speeding up the production of trucks.

It's making it easier on the workers and putting more technology

in there to kind of streamline this.

Those parts get assembled their own way,

which to an extent kind of already happens, but not to this extent.

And then when they converge that front and that rear, just get I say

it like it's so simple, just gets put onto the midsection and then it continues.

You have basically a front subframe with its assembly.

You have a rear subframe and then the battery and this is very important.

The battery is actually the middle structure.

It's even the floor of the cab.

And this is a technology that for my as far as I remember,

it's been actually Tesla pioneered and Rivian uses it.

The making that battery as an integral part of the structure,

which has its ups and downsides.

But go ahead.

Yeah. And I was just going to comment on the whole Model T thing.

This isn't just like we brought up Slate,

who has already said that they're going to make an affordable EV.

And I'm not here to dismiss that.

But I guess my point is that Ford is a much bigger name, a well-known.

Well, also knows how to build cars and knows how to build cars.

So for them to say that they're going to be able to do this,

that to me, sorry, Slate has a little bit more credence.

Right. So from that standpoint, I agree.

However, the thing with the Model T, this is from the Ford website

on their page on the Model T.

It is affordable, simple to operate and durable.

Now, obviously affordable for an EV, especially boom, we've got it right here.

Durable. Well, we don't know until it comes out.

You can't really predict that. Simple to operate.

This is the opportunity for them to make an EV that is not minimalist,

but simple to operate.

Give me physical buttons for things and switch gear for the things I need.

Don't put a bunch of fancy stuff in there that don't maybe mean you dive

just to adjust the mirrors. Exactly.

So if they can do that, this might just be it.

There we go. I think that's that's quite a good lightning round.

Thank you very much for your comments.

Seconds of person, but you know, it's only today.

So we kind of threw the clock away.

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Well, there you go.

Alex, we're now going to come back to you.

You were first up at bat and you're going to take us home on this podcast.

This is your podcast. It is some background here.

The last V8 powered car to wear the Dodge Charger name was made in 2023.

As most of you out there know, it was replaced by the current charger EV.

But Dodge did say pretty much all along not to lose faith

that an internal combustion charger was also in the cards.

It is now here.

It is of the same two door form as the EV and Alex knows all about it.

Now, I should say Alex has been spearheading our excellent Motor Week

social media coverage and on air coverage.

So why not give us the Cliff Notes version of the new charger?

Yeah, I'm bad at Cliff Notes.

I could talk for half an hour, but I'll make this short.

Yeah, so like we are too short.

Yeah. Well, like we said, I am a Ford guy, but really I'm a muscle car guy.

I love American muscle.

So I was super pumped to go see the new internal combustion charger.

Now, this is the part where I have to say it's not a Hemi V8 under.

Want, want, want, want.

But it is a pretty solid powertrain.

It's a six pack.

And for those that know the Dodge Lore, you may be thinking back to

what the original six pack was.

And if you don't know the lore, it's the number of barrels with the carburetor.

So it was three carbs under the hood, two barrels each.

So you got a six pack.

This time that simply refers to the number of cylinders

because the Stellantis Hurricane Twin Turbo in line six, which we've seen

in line six, a foot of put an exclamation point on that.

Two exclamation points, a little emoji there.

Yeah. That's what's powering this thing.

So it's not a V8, but it is a pretty wicked engine.

And it's going to come in two different outputs, not displacements.

It's going to stay a three liter regardless, but they tune them differently.

A standard output is going to come eventually.

That one's 420 horsepower, four hundred sixty eight pound feet of torque.

Yes, you know, that's cool, I guess.

But you want the high output cooler.

You want the H Oh, five hundred fifty horsepower, five hundred thirty one

pound feet of torque, and that's in the scat pack.

The standard output is reserved for the RT.

So there's two trims here.

Now for everybody that says straight six, they don't get it.

A little more history there.

Straight six engines produce better torque for the displacement.

And torque is what really gives you the acceleration.

And I can kind of speak to that.

Dodge said in the press materials that eighty eight percent of peak torque

is going to be felt at twenty five hundred RPMs.

That's quite low from three grand to six grand.

It's over ninety percent.

So you're going to have that low end pull that you want on a lot.

You want to be able to drag and then it's going to kind of, in theory,

at least keep pulling.

I should mention that we have not driven this yet.

We I got to ride in it, but we went to go see it effectively.

So you've gone through a backgrounder on it.

Yeah, precisely.

And to that effect, some fun numbers for you all.

It's zero to sixty is three point nine seconds.

It's quarter mile is twelve point two seconds at a hundred

fourteen miles per hour.

Sorry, my handwriting is terrible.

Hundred seventy seven miles per hour top speed.

Now this is for the scat pack.

And here's a fun number.

It takes seven and a half quarts of oil.

So that's just a fun one to throw in there.

You haven't told us about the transmission or anything else.

So that's the next thing.

So some muscle car magic here.

It's standard all wheel drive, but the transmission that's in there.

It's the torque flight eight speed.

It's a multi plate wet design.

I butchered that, but that's what it is.

So multiple clutch plates, but they can disconnect

and you can send all of the power to the rear wheels.

So if you want to do a donut, so you've got control over that.

Yeah, press of a button.

You can go just to rear wheel drive.

So if you want that old school muscle car feel

or you want to be up to some shenanigans,

which I can't condone, a wink at the camera.

Yeah, you can you can go ahead and do that.

So that would be really interesting

when we finally get one on track to sort of I'm looking forward to

able to, you know, go between the all wheel drive

and the rear wheel drive.

And it's looking that actually will make it a track car.

Yeah. So looking at it, what kind of maybe

won't help it on the track is how big it is.

Yeah, this is this is a charger.

If there's one word to describe it, the word is wide.

I believe it's the widest in its class.

It's with the mirrors, admittedly, it's eighty four

just over eighty four inches wide.

So it's a it's big.

It's about two hundred inches long, 120 inch wheelbase.

The two door, which we got to go see.

Oh, and I should mention something that doesn't play into the muscle car.

Mystique is its stance on the road.

It's got two seventy five wide tires on all four corners.

They have to do that, presumably, because it's all wheel drive.

But I would like to have seen like a staggered setup of that.

Now, you just said something there.

It's not just going to be to two door.

Yeah. So there is going to be a four door model

of this internal combustion one.

So you can pick that up if you like the.

And I think this is a great approach.

I should mention by dodge to it's going to come later, though.

Yeah. So if I get this right,

the six pack two door is by the end of this year next year,

we're going to see the standard outputs.

We're going to see the four doors.

So they're coming a little bit later, but they are well on the way.

But yeah, this two prong approach makes a lot of sense.

If you like that old school muscle car feel

because the way this thing looks, it's again,

not identical to like a sixty eight charger, but it's it's got.

Oh, it's got all the flavor and everything.

Yeah. The front does not have the Daytona.

That's the battery electric one.

They refer to that as the Daytona.

That's got that our wing design element.

This doesn't have it because obviously it needs a wider grill.

We need to let more air in, but everything else is very, very close.

Of course, the other big difference here is in back out of that diffuser.

You don't have a speaker.

You have real deal snap crackle popping exhaust tip.

We got to hear it and nothing artificial, huh?

As far as I can tell, at least I think it sounds pretty gnarly.

Again, I'm going to say this for like the twenty eighth time.

It's not a V eight, but it's still pretty rad.

And I should mention with the two with the two door layout,

everything in the front row is pretty much identical to what we've seen already.

Getting in the back seat, I actually climbed in the back and

wasn't too shabby. You didn't feel like you'd lost a lot of space

just because they know, yeah, the internal combustion drive train and so forth.

Right. I mean, getting in and out is of the two door is obviously a little bit harder.

All two doors. Right.

So if you prefer what they did with the more modern chargers where you have,

you know, easier time getting people in the back, that's still an option.

So pricing, I guess I'll leave it there before I open it to comments.

It's going to start and that's for the RT again, coming later.

It starts at fifty two thousand with destination.

The scat pack, which is arriving sooner is fifty seven with destination.

You can still get the Daytona.

That's only going to be available in the scat pack version.

That's the EV for everyone.

That starts at sixty two again with destination.

If you want a four door on any of those, just add another two grand to that price.

I know we're all going to want to get one of each to put them side by side.

We'll see if we can make that happen. Jessica, any comments?

I really don't have too much to say just because I haven't seen it yet.

And I haven't like sat in it or anything.

I am very excited to drive it.

Especially with now, you know, all wheel drive being being standard on it

and kind of seeing everybody's like

feedback on, you know, from one of the last times that we've driven the the charger,

especially because I can't remember the last one we had when at Roebling

must have been like twenty twenty something like that a while ago.

So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to that.

There's a lot of buzz around this vehicle.

You know, it was very unfavorable for them to make it go completely electric,

even though that initially when they came to this new generation,

they said, hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, it's going to be gas powered.

They, they, they, yeah, from day one that they basically

acknowledged that it wasn't completely off the table.

But I think most people thought it probably was.

Well, I mean, it's been a lot.

I mean, all we saw was the EV, the Daytona for three years.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I'm saying the prototypes and all of that.

That's all they talked about.

And then when they finally told us what this was going to be,

like, here's the production one, they did say, hey,

there's going to be an internal combustion.

I think, even by then, they were realizing that they needed to not

abandon their heritage completely.

My I was just going to say my personal belief I could be wrong.

but with the Hemi making a return and RAM

and everything like that.

I don't think it's gonna be very long.

I think we're gonna see it.

They certainly, I'll say the Dodge people,

their comments were like, well, it could fit.

Yeah, of course it can, it's a shorter block,

it's a shorter block probably than the six.

I would imagine.

I also think I'm excited to see like

where the aftermarket takes this powertrain,

because this is truly the launching point

to see what this inline six can do for performance, et cetera.

Well, we all know BMW loved inlines for so many years.

So yeah, you can do a lot with an inline six.

Anything else?

I think that's a good exclamation point

to end that one on too.

And before we wrap up things though,

and we've been talking around a lot of things,

any rat and raves this week?

I have a rave.

I've got a combo meal over here, but do your thing.

Well, before we got to the end of the show,

I wanted to rave because we can kind of talk about it now

that, well, Motor Week is gonna be back

for a 45th season.

Am I coming with it?

I think so.

Are you?

Do we sign your contract?

Yes, this is actually the last podcast of our 44th season.

So after you've listened to the podcast right now

and two weeks, we will have the first of the new season.

And it will be a little bit different to start things off,

but it's pretty remarkable that we're actually

been able to bring people the best

in automotive information on television

and just about every other medium you can think of

right now for four and a half decades,

coming up in September.

And, well, you didn't mention,

this is a special season because 45 is an anniversary.

We don't wanna give everything away.

Okay.

We can tease it a little bit, just that it's a little special.

Whenever we do an anniversary season every five years,

we try to take a look back.

But generally, it's a pretty minor part of the show

because we, frankly, are still in the business

of bringing you all the information

about the latest new cars.

45, though, is so special.

We recognize we're one of the longest TV shows ever

in existence.

So we're really gonna be going into our vault

more than ever, looking at some historic road tests

we've done and other tidbits more than sprinkled

throughout the episodes to give you an idea

if you're new to Motor Week, where we've been,

and if you've hung in there with us decade after decade,

you're gonna be reminded of some things.

You say, oh yeah, I remember when they did that.

So we've got a lot of fun things planned,

all while making sure we stay up with what's new.

Yeah, we're really excited about it.

Alex, what have you got on your plate?

For the Rant and Rave?

Yeah, all right.

Or you want, talk about it, you know, anything else?

I'm gonna bring it down.

I'm gonna pivot here real quick.

Oh gosh, he's getting serious.

Head up displays, love them, hate them.

Here's why I love them.

Smart idea, you have the information

right in front of you, more cars should have that.

I don't need everything, but my speed,

maybe like the distance to the car ahead of me

because apparently I can't see all that,

but the safety stuff, whatever,

maybe my music of choice, that's great.

Why have we made it so hard to adjust them?

Oh, sometimes, yeah.

I have to menu dive, I was in a car and I'm not.

It used to be just a little thumb wheel.

Now on the left, lower left under the steering wheel,

almost everybody had it.

And you could adjust it in two seconds.

I was in a car recently, I won't name it, but think PGA.

And I was in it, and I had to adjust the head up display.

And I know, I could have read the owner's manual,

but whatever.

In fairness now, in fairness,

an awful lot of the test cars that we get

do not have owner's manuals in them.

And also to be fair, I understand the argument.

Okay, once you buy it and you set it up, it's done.

There it is.

But no, it should not be that hard.

Put a dial somewhere, put a switch, put something there.

And also, while we're at it,

you're gonna put memory seats in that thing,

tether it to the memory seats.

I think that's a big deal.

So people, when they get in it and they change it,

they don't have to mess with it.

Oh, the profile, sure, yeah.

So this is my head up to the automakers

on head up displays.

Where's the good part?

You said you had it.

The good part is that head up displays are great.

I think they're wonderful.

So that's the end of that.

Yeah, yeah, no, the good part was really short.

The rave, whatever.

Thank you, sir.

I want to thank everybody for listening

to Alex's podcast today.

Hey, I had a great time.

Thanks for showing up, guys.

I really appreciate it.

Staff writer, Alex Kellam,

digital producer, Jessica Ray,

and I'm not supposed to be pounding on the desk.

That's okay.

Thank you all out there for listening to our podcast.

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