I need to take the Hellcat into the shop this morning to have them look at one of the fuel pumps. The car keeps tossing a P062A error, which is fuel circuit A out of spec, and the pumps Dodge used in 15-18 are notoriously crap – so it’s probably that.
Fortunately I bought the ultra top-end extended warranty when I bought the car, so I should only be $200 out of pocket… $200 because the work will be out of network.
See, I bought the car at AutoNation – from their repair shop manager as it was his personal car and he was just selling it through the dealership because it was easy. When I bought it he was very specific about not bringing it to AutoNation for work as the car was beyond their ability… So, I take it to a shop I’ve been using for the last few decades, who also happen to have SRT techs.
And that’s why it’s $200 instead of free.
In other car related news – why are BMW drivers like this?
It’s not even an M-Series or something special – it’s just your bog-standard X3 SUV which simply means you paid too much for the same SUV everyone else drives… New York plates though – that might have something to do with it…
And we’ve been having some construction going on in the building where my office is – construction must pay well these days…
Owning something like a Hellcat is kinda spendy – just because you can afford to spend $80,000 on a car doesn’t mean you can afford it…
For example, I’m over 55, no accidents or anything in the last few decades, have had a long string of performance oriented cars, take yearly offensive/defensive driving courses to keep my skills up to snuff, and have been with my insurance company since Reagan was in office – and I still pay about $300 a month for insurance on the Hellcat.
Mostly because it’s literally a guided missile…
Other costs include things like the $300 a piece for the 305 width tires, and you get to replace the rears yearly. It uses expensive fluids – the thing has two full cooling systems filled with $50 / bottle coolant, has about a half mile of oil cooler piping so it holds 7 quarts of high-end Pennzoil synthetic, and the drivetrain lubricants are made with unicorn tears or something… The lube in the LSD is almost $200 for a fill. And the gas milage is pretty bad most of the time; I think I’m averaging about 16MPG, and it’ll only really run right on Shell V-Power Nitro+ which is always about a buck a gallon more expensive than everything else.
Hell, it uses sixteen $50 spark plugs…
I’ve been dealing with this sort of thing for so long it doesn’t phase me much, but I wonder how the 20-something drywall guy is making ends meet with that Trackhawk.
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