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Then, Before and Now: The 2003-2005 Dodge Neon SRT4®.
September 25, 2013
Looking back a decade, the impact of the 2003 Dodge Neon SRT4® on the sport-compact marketplace was sudden and unanticipated.
At the time, youthful tuners were beginning to reach critical mass in both scope and potential sales volume. Manufacturers recognized an opportunity to build brand equity among an influential group of younger enthusiasts who, until that point, had built their own as resourceful do-it-yourselfers.
In the immediate post-millennium, sport-compact enthusiasts who preferred a new-car – instead of poring over parts catalogs and burning midnight oil twisting wrenches in the garage – were presented with a growing array of choices. Domestics and imports all faced a new threat on the street in the 2003 Dodge Neon SRT4.
At introduction, it was the second-fastest stock production vehicle in the Dodge brand lineup, trailing only the iconic Viper’s taillights. For $19,995, an enthusiast could acquire a compact four-door sedan that packed 215 horsepower and 245 lb.-ft. of turbocharged torque that was capable of a 153 mph top speed on the track. Car and Driver ripped quarter-mile passes in 14.2 seconds, while hitting 0-60 in 5.6 seconds.
The Dodge Neon SRT4 not only blew the doors off everything in the competitive set in acceleration, but it could out-brake them at track day also – stop after stop, without fade. The car represented homemade apple pie among the imports.
Initial business plans projected a conservative sales volume of only 2,500 units per model year. Over three model years (2003 through 2005), more than 25,000 Neon SRT4 vehicles found homes with eager owners – giddy at the thought of dusting heavier metal.
The “Neon with nostrils” quickly became the categorical benchmark for 0-60 acceleration, quarter-mile times, track-day hot laps, and short stopping distances. In fact, a competitive make product team actually purchased a Neon SRT-4 ACR edition for setting their vehicle-development objectives. The Dodge Neon SRT4 had arrived and the sport-compact tuner community, the automotive press corps and the competition each noted that the bar had been raised.
Before
Stephan Zweidler, an engineering student in the Chrysler Institute, was working on Team Viper in 1998 and remembers the genesis of the Neon SRT4® program. “Tom Gale, then head of design at Chrysler, was less-than-pleased that his son was modifying an import with a body kit and performance parts so he challenged some younger product planning group staffers to develop a competitive sport compact variant of the popular Neon. That’s how the ‘built for enthusiasts, by enthusiasts’ high-performance SRT-4 came to be.”
The spunky product planning and engineering team then did what do-it-yourself tuners had been doing solo, but with vast Chrysler engineering and product-development resources behind them. The turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine came from the Chrysler PT Cruiser GT, while the SRT4’s New Venture Gear T-850 five-speed transaxle was based on a unit from a European-market diesel minivan.
Equal-length half-shafts were used to minimize torque steer. A unique K-member was employed, along with 5-position adjustable shock absorbers, sport springs and a unique steering gear. Among the development mules and test vehicles were some incognito silver Neon models with base trim that surprised more than a few pony car drivers, in and around Auburn Hills.
Between the giant front-mounted intercooler and turbocharger, under-hood heat in test vehicles surfaced as an issue. The engineering and design team quickly collaborated to add cooling ducts to the front fascia. That’s how the SRT4 signature nostrils came to be. Form truly follows function.
Zweidler sums it up by saying, “The Neon SRT4 was a grass-roots effort from within Chrysler to build something special for the sport-compact tuner community.” Mission accomplished.
Now
Today, the Dodge Neon SRT4® has close to 20,000 followers on Facebook. Pretty impressive for a car introduced a decade ago, with just 25,000 units produced. The Active Topic pages devoted to the Neon SRT-4 remain just that – active, as new-owner posts pop up regularly.
The car developed a unique cult following that is as diverse, active and vocal now – as cars are crossing the 100,000-mile mark, often in the hands of second- and third-owners – as when they were new. As this story was being prepared, there were 14 Neon SRT4 models offered on a popular auction website. They ranged from 57,000 to 137,000 miles, while Buy-it-Now prices ranged from 35 to 65 percent of original M.S.R.P. Retained value indeed.
A closer look at those 14 SRT4s on offer showed that only one of them has remained stock. Inside the tuner community, a car served as the canvas for enthusiastic owners to express their automotive individuality.
As all but one of the Neon factory hot rods currently up for auction have been further sport-tuned with performance parts, it demonstrates just how well the original 2003 SRT4 really hit the bull’s eye in the center of the sport-compact target audience.
Neon SRT4 Specs. Reprinted with permission of Car and Driver." http://www.drivesrt.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Neon-SRT_4-Specs.pdf http://www.drivesrt.com/news/2013/09/then-before-and-now-the-2003-2005-dodge-neon-srt-4.html I want this instead of 2003 because 2004 is faster
