The joys of new car ownership didn’t last too long for the 34-year-old buyer of this brand new 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat. Reports say it was only about an hour after leaving the dealership parking lot that the owner lost control and smashed into a Cottonwood pine tree in a rural section of Colorado.
Thankfully the driver and two passengers walked away with no injuries, but the same cannot be said for the Sublime Green Pearl Challenger Hellcat. The front grille and hood, along with the radiator and its supports are scrap. There’s no word on how the 707-horsepower, supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 fared, but there’s a chance it’s headed for the smelters too. It appears the front two airbags deployed as well. The rest of the car actually made it out unscathed.
According to the police report obtained by TFLCar.com, the Hellcat was headed north on the rural road at 8:07 p.m. MST on December 19th when the driver lost control at the top of a blind, cresting hill and over-corrected. This sent the Challenger into the trees at what appears to be a sideways angle.
Road conditions were reported to be clear at the time of the crash, but temperatures were nearing the freezing mark. That’s certainly not the optimal temperature for the Hellcat’s three-season (or optional summer performance) tires to operate. The police investigation is still underway, but the driver has already been charged with careless driving. Talk about adding insult to injury.
Click past the jump to read more about the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat.
Why it matters
Be careful out there, people -- that’s all that matters. Going fast is great, but only when the conditions and a long list of factors warrant the full-throttle charge. Blasting around a twisty road in near-freezing conditions with non-winter tires is basically begging for trouble. Add that to the high probability that this 707-horse muscle car is likely more powerful than anything the driver’s ever piloted before is a recipe for carnage.
Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat
The Dodge Challenger Hellcat is an all-new performance edition of the familiar two-door muscle car. The gearheads at SRT beefed up the 6.4-liter V-8 with thicker cylinder walls, and meatier connecting rods, resulting in a 6.2-liter displacement. Add to that the supercharger force-feeding the V-8 and a wicked ECU tune, and the result is 707 horsepower. It’s backed by either a six-speed manual transmission or the eight-speed automatic.
Prices start at a very reasonable $59,995 for the Hellcat. Of course that doesn’t include optional extras, the $995 destination fee, the gas-guzzler tax that ranges from $1,700 or $2,100 depending on the manual and automatic transmission.