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Then he had a heart attack. He was 29.

While recovering in the hospital, a friend left Matty a note which read something to the effect of, “Guess you better stop being dead set on destruction, and start getting dead set on life.”

Where the hell am I going with this?

Well, Dodge had a heart attack, in a manner of speaking. Doubling and tripling down on its supercharged Hellcat V8 engines was like running a restaurant while on a non-stop binge. The warning signs were clear.

The all-electric Charger Daytona is an effort by Dodge to be dead set on living — to keep having fun, even if they can’t keep doing lines of E85 (ethanol fuel blend) every night and puking out supercharger whine in the morning.

If you can divorce yourself from the lame, cringy “gas versus electric” identity politics of it all, they’ve succeeded.

The entry level R/T model boasts a mighty 496 horsepower and a 0-100 km/h time of 4.7 seconds — basically what you used to get in the SRT 392 models. But, refreshingly, it starts at just $54,995 (before destination fees and tax credits). Pretty damn good value.

”Level 2” is the new 670-horsepower Scat Pack model. Its MSRP is an eye twitch-inducing $32,000 more than the standard R/T. But … it outperforms the old Hellcat Redeye.

Driving on track at Radford Racing School in Phoenix, Arizona, the Charger Daytona Scat Pack proves itself as perhaps the most well-sorted and balanced car to ever wear a Dodge badge.

This surprising compliance through the corners is owed to the new chassis; it’s 23 per cent stiffer as it sits and 50 per cent stiffer under load from the battery versus the previous model. It also has trick multi-link suspension, “dual valve adaptive” shocks (whatever that means), superior aerodynamics, bigger brakes and rear tires. The steering is light years more responsive than the previous generation. The net result is a car you can actually rotate. You’re not just wrestling it into submission and praying that the tire contact holds like in the Hellcat. There’s some nosedive under braking, some mild understeer, but mostly the car works with you, not against you.

And, no, the Daytona doesn’t sacrifice straight line performance to be lighter on its feet.

Dodge claims the Daytona Scat Pack will do the same 0-100 km/h time of 3.3 seconds as the old Hellcat Redeye, even though, in the real world, that thing could almost never actually do better than four seconds ….

Launching the Daytona Scat Pack down a quarter-mile drag strip, I consistently clocked pass times outpacing the old Charger Hellcat Redeye at 11.8 seconds. And I’m a rank amateur. Log enough wheel time, and Dodge reckons 11.5 seconds is achievable.

But what about the “sensation of the V8?!?” scream the unwashed masses of Facebook-addicted uncles who probably ruined this year’s Christmas dinner.

Yeah, OK, you can’t do a standing burnout. Which is trivial, but still disappointing. The biggest let down of the Daytona Scat Pack is that it doesn’t really feel like Hellcat power. Which was always thrilling in a terrifying sort of way. Like having sex on a roller-coaster.

Happily, that’s where the EV drawbacks end. Dodge doesn’t try to reinvent any user interfaces or touch points that aren’t broken. Climate control switches are analogue. There’s a proper, pistol-grip-style gear selector. It’s all mercifully normal.

Except for the elephant in the room: the “Fratzonic Chambered Exhaust.” Try not to judge it until you hear it in person. With its deep bass pulsing into your chest like a Deadmau5 beat drop, it just doesn’t translate through the weakling speaker in your phone.

The start up and parked revs do sound kinda gimmicky. But it works in motion. On the road, it gives a convincing internal combustion sensation. On the track, the auditory cue helps you modulate throttle input. On a flyby, it sounds like a V8.

Still, the Daytona Scat Pack is no Hellcat replacement, as much as Dodge might want you to think that. It’s a Model S alternative. It doesn’t “reinvent the muscle car.” It reinvents the EV with a sense of attitude, inherent cool and an accessible price tag. It’s the first EV that isn’t for geeks, technocrats, status-seekers or boring people.

This will mean nothing to the turgid, insecure armchair “enthusiasts” whose fragile sense of self is somehow threatened by the concept of electricity.

And granted, after two decades of a general brand position of “fuel efficiency is for nerds,” Dodge’s “boo-hoo, the government made us do it” crocodile tears don’t exactly play on the heartstrings.

But credit where credit is due, Dodge made a good car. A better car.

After his heart attack, Matty Matheson quit drinking and doing drugs, making “dead set on life” a personal mantra. He went on to open his dream restaurant, star in TV shows, and write bestselling cookbooks.

Matty is proof that being “punk” doesn’t mean you have to self-destruct. You can be rebellious in the betterment of things. As long as you’re authentic ….

Which means, Dodge, stop trying to impress your old friends! They were a bad influence. And you know damn well their credit scores sucked, anyway. If this new Charger succeeds, it’ll be because you chose for this muscle car to be “dead set on life,” in a manner of speaking.