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How Much Does It Cost to Own and Drive a Hellcat for 50,000 Miles?

How Much Does It Cost to Own and Drive a Hellcat for 50,000 Miles? 7 photos
Photo: Rush Shift/YouTube screenshot
2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
It's Muscle Car Month, and many of you have probably got the bug by now. The Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat is probably the car everybody is considering. It's cool and comes with one of the most powerful American engines of all time. But what is this going to be like to own?
Well, as you'll probably guess, it's not cheap, and for reasons that might surprise you. Despite Dodge's reputation in the reliability department, the car isn't that bad. People drive them like they were stolen and do some serious mods, yet the V8s hold up. Most owners have just had to do regular maintenance at the cost of about $500 per year.

Depreciation is another serious issue to think about. The Hellcat loses about $15,000 during its first year and slips by about $2,000 each year after that. You'll pay about $5,000 in taxes and insurance isn't cheap either, usually at least $1,500.

But fuel is like the biggest shocker. This video takes a look at a 2016 SRT Hellcat that has done about 52,000 miles. Even with an optimistic 11 miles to the gallon, that's about $18,000 on regular gas. But the owner is currently running race gas that's about $10 per gallon.

Chrysler says the car will return around 20 miles per gallon on the highway. But from our experience, at wide-open throttle, it burns through 1.5 gallons per minute. She's a thirsty girl. In most cases, gas and tires are a bigger problem than financing and insurance. But what other 700 horsepower car can you get for the money?

Tires are another major expense. The owner of this Hellcat says that if he does burnouts, they won't last more than two or three months and cost $500 to replace (just the rear ones). If you're not naughty, the supercharged monster might still demand new rubbers once or twice per year.

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About the author: Mihnea Radu
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Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida.
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