Used Car Problems: Mod 2 Fame’s Cheapokitty Update

It’s a problem many of us have encountered when buying used cars, and now it’s bitten my buddy Stefan from Mod 2 Fame: the “little things” that you find the longer you keep a car and really start looking closely at it.

For those following along, you already know Stefan tracked down the cheapest Hellcat Challenger in the nation and bought it for himself, stopping just up the road from me in Nashville, where we hung out for a couple of days. He finally got the car home to New York and was enjoying owning one of the most powerful production cars on the road when he was greeted by that dreaded light we all love to hate, the check engine light.

He’d hoped it was a minor issue, but having the codes scanned and reset didn’t take care of it, so the car is going to the dealership for full diagnostics and hopefully will get a clean bill of health soon, before the factory warranty runs out.

Besides whatever mechanical issue is going on, the car has a few cosmetic blemishes that Stefan will have to have fixed too, including the front splitter being loose on the passenger side and the lower grill being broken, likely issues caused at the same time by an impact with something in the roadway while the car was still owned by the previous owner.

Small issues like this, as well as the few small dents and paint chips, are to be expected when buying a used car, so we’re not looking to slam the dealership that sold the car, especially knowing it was the cheapest Hellcat in the country that met Stefan’s criteria. Fixing these flaws will be a part of the cars journey, as well as the first round of mods that will be coming up soon. Stefan in hoping to put down 800 HP to the wheels, which shouldn’t be too hard considering it came from the factory with 700 at the crank. A smaller pulley on the blower and an upgraded exhaust and tune should help get him closer to that number, but we’ll have to wait and see which route he takes.