Hey everyone.
I've been reading about all the turbocharged cars coming out this year. While I've been a die-hard import fan for a long time, I must admit that a turbocharged car that matches a WRX quarter-mile time without AWD, all for 20k or less has managed to catch my attention.
I'm considering looking into buying an SRT-4, but the thing that really holds me back is that I don't know how reliable this car will be. Some American cars are notorious for not lasting as long as imports, and for having more problems.

So what's your opinion? Will the Neon be long-lasting, or would things start falling off after a couple years?

 

yes and no

in the basic car sense, the motor and electrical systems should be reliable, this motor has been in production for 8 years now, so it's nothing new.

However, little things will probably break on this car over time. Build quality on domestic vehicles has gotten WAY better over the last 10 years, but is still behind asian and european in build quality.

 

we have one from our shop that has laid down 228hp and 264tq. the car runs flawless so far. its the best bang for the buck and I dont want to here that "its still a neon" its a badass neon is what it is!!!

 

Sweet #'s, btw Im not stalking your posts

 

you werent there but that was done on your dyno

 

i saw it uith my own eyes and the car was at 200 degrees

 

do you have a video of it at the dyno?
I think its a great car for the money but only time will tell if they'll be reliable

 

The older generation Neon's were major POS's, consumer reports rated them some of the worst used cars you could buy. Hopefully Dodge got their **** together and learned a lesson or two before they designed this new one. Only time will tell...


[Modified by Diego Boost, 7:41 PM 3/6/2003]

 

I would never buy a Chrysler product. Wait until the WRX Sti comes out, because there will be a whole lot of guys that rush out and trade in on the new toy. Then you can snag an only slightly used WRX for the same money as a POS neon.

And for the record, my hatred for neons is somewhat grounded. I have seen and even worked on a few of these cars, and they just have crappy build quality. The SRT-4 is the same car, with the same 2.5 engine that will only be modified enough to get by. It's the nature of auto manufacturing. They can't sell a car for $20K that they're sinking enough money into to make it a worthy competitor for the WRX and EVO.

This is IMHO by the way.

 

The car has a good warranty and figure that any car that has a dealer option of 300 hp without voiding the warranty is pretty reliable. Id bet cash that it is a good reliable car....look at its engineering, it has alot of little extras that make it reliable.

 

I figure that the reliability has come far from the past years, but it is a first run of a new model which always makes me leary. That is what warranty is for though.

If I had $20K laying around and needed a quick factory car, I'd buy the SRT-4. And I'm very anti-Dodge from the things I have experienced thus far in the game. This is probably the only Neon I would make an exception for.

 

Chrysler has tried this soo many times in the past and failed everytime.

Starion/Conquest
Talon/Eclipse

Notice none of them ever lasted.

DSM are some of THE most unreliable cars EVER!

 

Its a new car with a warrenty, who cares about relieability.. It breaks down ,send it back, it breaks down for the same reason three times you get your money back and the choice of shopping else were

 

I heard that 1st gen 4g63s were better than the later ones because they didn't suffer from crankwalk like the later ones. I aslo think that the eclipse GSX is an awesome car with the engine and AWD and affordability nowadays although I don't have any experience with their reliability.

 

This is a video that I got from the Club Grand Prix national club. It shows a new SRT-4 in action. Enjoy. I believe the title says that there is a WRX and a Talon racing also.

http://staff.tcu.edu/jaltschul/SRT-4vsWRX_vs_Talon.WMV


[Modified by l67gtp, 7:34 PM 3/7/2003]

 

Impressive. Are there 3 people in the Neon???

 

The styling doesn't really get me hard (I still think the EG Hatch is one of the sexiest, cleanest designes ever) but you can't argue with the specs. I'm almost afraid to test drive one for fear that I will really fall in love with it. Dodge really has its **** together on this one. They have set out to dominate the rice rocket market and they've brought the goods to do it.

Kudos to them Hopefully Honda will get a clue. Competetion improves the breed.

Mike

 

My main problem with it is that it's FWD and not AWD. Although u can't argue with the price the WRX/Lancer will spank it anywhere besides a stright line.

 

i have 104,000 on my 2g gsx no problems. They do have pretty shitty trannys but the motors are awesome. I have multiple friends with over 150,000 on the orginal blocks running strong with high boost and big turbos. They all have gone through some trannys...

Its sorta like a honda...how many of you have had engine problems? Motors werent designed for boost in mind. DSM wasnt designed for 7000rpm clutch drops.

But if left stock? the eclipse is as reliable as any honda.

*edit*

i just thought..this post is about a neon not a dsm. The neon comes with a good warrenty. I dont think dodge would put a car into production that is going to in for service every other day. The older neons..as much as they were a pos..where pretty relablie. I give the new neon

liam


[Modified by liam821, 4:15 PM 3/7/2003]

 

My sister just traded in her 99 Neon on a used 98 Accord. That Neon was the biggest POS I've ever seen. She got her Neon at about the same time that I got my Civic Si.

The thing started leaking and burning oil at around 10k and it never stopped despite numerous trips to the dealer. They said it was a very common problem for Neon owners. She finally offed it because the warranty was about to expire.

I sold my car last year and got 14.5k for it. She got 4000 on trade-in. This was after she tried to sell it private party for about 4 months. We paid rougly the same amount for our cars when we bought them (16k).

That car was by far the worst investment she ever made. I'll stick to imports for now.

Sonny

 

Do you guys remember the turbo ford probes???? do you?? people thought those were realiable and fast too.

 

The numbers are impressive, BUT I think that Direp put it the best in a previous thread about this car.


Edit: spelling


[Modified by turbocoupe, 11:43 PM 3/7/2003]

 

>>that car will be everything that sucks about a fast fwd. combine that w/ a dodge interior, neon suspension, and u have one hell of a piece of **** at 50k miles.<<

...which would describe nearly every 220+ whp Honda on this board after about 25k miles of hard boost. And there's that suspension again... Step on over to www.scca.org for some edumecation. I prefer the 4-6G suspension over the Neon, but only by a little bit. How much *** does the Neon have to kick at the track in order to prove the "worthiness" of it's suspension?

It's all relative fellas. For example, a fairly large portion of the public thinks the Civic hatch is one of the ugliest cars ever produced. Yeah yeah, it's hard to believe... I don't happen to be one of them, but it's worth taking note.

 

Oh but they make such good part cars!! Cheap DIY turbo parts for us honda's. Circle of life i tell ya. They make turbo'd cars, and we take their parts after they break down and use it in ours.

 

Two words, man: Resale Value

You can mod the **** out of your Honda and when you put it back to stock to sell it, it will still hold it's value. The Neons depreciate like a rock and when you do try to sell it, you really take it in the butt.

What DIRep said =

(yeah, I'm still pissed at the POS Neon)

Sonny