Dodge Neon SRT-4...

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tehFAO

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Just wanted some honest opinions on this car...

I've just now come to the point that I could finally afford a nicer car, or at least one in the $10,000-$15,000 range... and the 2004 Neon SRT-4 falls right in that area.

I'm already kind of dead set on it, but... well, meh, I don't know. People say different things about it and I've yet got a good clean cut answer on just what kind of car it is... is it cheap? Is it solid?

What does everyone think?
 
I actually quite like the car. They are quite mod-able from what I've seen and a lot of people have made them look really nice. I can't ever remember seeing one that I didn't find attractive. I don't know much about how the actual car is, but they seem to be around a lot here, so I'm guessing they are pretty good.

Plus, you'll be able to say "You just got beat by a Neon."
 
Cheap. Fast. Have a bit of street cred...

But other than that, I haven't heard much of them in a while. I'd question the reliabilty, particularly if it was driven hard by the previous owner (which I imagine has happened, extensively). But yeah, they're decent cars.

...Just not my cup of tea...
 
Yeah it's cheap. The front windows are power and the back windows are crank. I wouldn't touch one with a ten foot pole but it works for some people. Evidently you are one of those people. Best wishes from Denver.
 
One can find a much nicer vehicle in the 10-15 grand range IMO. I don't mind SRT-4's but for the money there are many other better vehicles out there. Also, trying to find one that hasn't been abused by it's last owner will be a tad tricky.
 
you havent given us any parameters in your budget.

everything from a doka unimog (uber cool) to a daewoo falls in that price range

what are you looking for?
more doors?
power?
performance?
handling?
utility?
economy?
 
If it's a first car, stay away from anything that might have tricky handling or expensive repairs.
 
If you want a nice project car, the SRT-4 should do... tons of power potential, stout engine (apparently) and halfway decent handling.

Only cons are the difficulty of changing camber with that beam rear and possible wear-related problems with driveaxles and transmissions... but hell, a short test drive will tell you if the car is worth it or not.

But for a daily driver... for 15k, you can get a lot of great metal, whether secondhand or brand new.
 
If you are younger the 21 stay away since the insurance on them will eat you alive. Even more so if you have any tickets on your record.

SRT-4's are terrible used cars as well since a large majority of them have been thrashed throughout their life time, either on the streets, on a track, or both. Unless you plan on keeping in on the track and having something else for your daily I wouldn't suggest it at all. Also you are from Colorado so I assume you get snow, even with winter tires SRT-4's suck, so keep that in mind.

I know a lot of SRT-4 owner because basically any son of a Chrysler employee got one when they came out, there were probably 15 or 20 of them when I was in high school. Even more of them at the university. They all think they are fast, and they are, but they drive them like complete idiots. I can only assume a majority of SRT-4 owners are the same and you really don't want a car that's been through that unless you get one from a little old man.
 
niky
Only cons are the difficulty of changing camber with that beam rear...
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Sorry to contradict you, but all Neons are independent rear suspension, SRT or not. They never had a beam axle back there. Are you thinking of the same vintage SE-R?

The SRT is easy to get power out of, a little harder to get handling out of, but it is doable. The problem with most of them is the same problem as with a Civic Si, except even more so: abusive ex-relationships. Many of them have been driven quite hard by squids who really shouldn't have been allowed to buy one.

Not all of them fall into that category, however, and for $15k you should be able to find a nice one. Pick a well-cared-for, stock, adult-owned car instead of a pre-modded one, no matter how cool it looks.

There are plenty of other interesting cars in that price range, though, as Niky suggests.
 
Where's MistaX when you need him.

Basically, anything that sounds like a tractor (and specifically SRT4s) is unbeatable. Even faster than a dog, really.
 
Well, the other cars I was looking at were used Volkswagen GTI's and Mustang GT's.

Right now I drive a truck, a '95 5.8L 351 Ford F150. Yeah, it's not sooo great on the gas. I'd be lucky to get 14mpg out of it, I think. My commute to work is about 33 miles each way... but it's all highway travel.

I've really been looking for something a little easier one the gas, but it's got to still have some balls too. This is also a car that I'm going to rely on for some time, I think. SRT-4 sounds, if I can find the right one, sounds like a more immediate solution rather than a long term one - unless I baby it myself, which ultimately... I'm sorry to say, I wouldn't do so much. lol
 
The most annoying thing on Earth is when people say performance cars may have been abused in the past so stay away from them. Well durrrr... but if they're performance cars shouldn't they hold up??? If not it's not the fault of the prior owner but of bad engineering!
 
tehFAO
Well, the other cars I was looking at were used Volkswagen GTI's and Mustang GT's.

Right now I drive a truck, a '95 5.8L 351 Ford F150. Yeah, it's not sooo great on the gas. I'd be lucky to get 14mpg out of it, I think. My commute to work is about 33 miles each way... but it's all highway travel.

I've really been looking for something a little easier one the gas, but it's got to still have some balls too. This is also a car that I'm going to rely on for some time, I think. SRT-4 sounds, if I can find the right one, sounds like a more immediate solution rather than a long term one - unless I baby it myself, which ultimately... I'm sorry to say, I wouldn't do so much. lol
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If you're looking at the SRT-4, you may as well look at a 1996-1998 Cobra. Sure, they drink premium and have V8s, but they'll get 25+ mpg on the highway. And they're not lacking in balls.

2001 Cobra or 2003-2004 Mach 1 are options as well. Preferably the Mach due to the solid rear axle. (1996-8 Cobras have live axles as well)
 
M5Power
The most annoying thing on Earth is when people say performance cars may have been abused in the past so stay away from them. Well durrrr... but if they're performance cars shouldn't they hold up??? If not it's not the fault of the prior owner but of bad engineering!
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It's still just a Neon with a turbo on it. The car was designed to have performance on the cheap, that's never a good combination.
 
As for the answer to M5Power's question... that's one thing. It's the same problem the Mazdaspeed Protege and the Mazdaspeed3 have. These are cars that are not built to have that much power. Many cheap turbo cars are like that... the MSP's issues are a block that can't take much more boost than stock (though some people are finally pushing over 300 whp on the stock block on street cars), a clutch and gearbox that can't take any power at all and an intercooler designed for a turbodiesel (seriously, it was). The Mazdaspeed3's issue is engine mounts that stand absolutely no chance of holding up to an engine with enough torque to rip tree stumps out of the ground.

That's why an Evo costs so freaking much compared to a Lancer or even compared to a Mazdaspeed or SRT4... There's so much that had to be reinforced (transmission, suspension, stiffened chassis) to hold up to the stress of containing that power... and you can still blow through clutches with track work.

Duke
Sorry to contradict you, but all Neons are independent rear suspension, SRT or not. They never had a beam axle back there. Are you thinking of the same vintage SE-R?

The SRT is easy to get power out of, a little harder to get handling out of, but it is doable. The problem with most of them is the same problem as with a Civic Si, except even more so: abusive ex-relationships. Many of them have been driven quite hard by squids who really shouldn't have been allowed to buy one.

Not all of them fall into that category, however, and for $15k you should be able to find a nice one. Pick a well-cared-for, stock, adult-owned car instead of a pre-modded one, no matter how cool it looks.

There are plenty of other interesting cars in that price range, though, as Niky suggests.
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Durh... my bad. I do recall somebody saying it was hard to change the camber on the SRT4... oh... now I remember... it was the guys at GrassRootsMotorsports who said that they needed positive rear camber to get the car to rotate... you're right, I mixed the two up. :ouch:

And that's the other answer to M5's question... A Civic is a normally dead-reliable car, but buy one of the "faster" Civics that's been through a rough owner, and you're bound to see some very interesting wear. When we sold the Sentra, the next owner suffered a snapped drive-axle. :lol: My bad... but then, he was drag-racing it, at the time, so he didn't complain about it to me till I asked what happened to it... :D
 
M5Power
The most annoying thing on Earth is when people say performance cars may have been abused in the past so stay away from them. Well durrrr... but if they're performance cars shouldn't they hold up??? If not it's not the fault of the prior owner but of bad engineering!
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YSSMAN
You do remember who built the SRT-4, right???
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Abusing the living crap out of something will kill or injure it no matter how well it is engineered. By your logic, F1 cars should never break since they are so well engineered.

The problem is not that the Neon SRT was engineered by Chrysler to be a cheap quick car. The problem is that the cheapness put that kind of quickness within the financial range of a lot of squids who would likely abuse the living crap out of anything, just because they are squids.
 
tehFAO
What does everyone think?
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Honestly, I'm not trying to crap all over your thread here but basically, it's a Neon. I'm not saying it isn't impressive in it's own way, Mopar does all right for themselves, but at the end of the day it's still just a "faster" dodge neon. For that same price range you could get any e36 M3 with money to spare, maybe even the e46 if you could find the deal. If you're set on the ride then you're set I guess, and I hope it works out for you, but you can polish a turd all day, but it's still just crap in the end.
 
Keef
Where's MistaX when you need him.

Basically, anything that sounds like a tractor (and specifically SRT4s) is unbeatable. Even faster than a dog, really.
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[john]

Nothing is faster than a SRT-4

[/john]
 
Duke
The problem is not that the Neon SRT was engineered by Chrysler to be a cheap quick car. The problem is that the cheapness put that kind of quickness within the financial range of a lot of squids who would likely abuse the living crap out of anything, just because they are squids.
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You receive no arguement in the opposite way from me, I was attempting to be a smartass. Certainly, however, you will see SRT-4s driven into the ground. Its the nature of the car and the MOPAR fanboy...
 
Duke
The problem is not that the Neon SRT was engineered by Chrysler to be a cheap quick car. The problem is that the cheapness put that kind of quickness within the financial range of a lot of squids who would likely abuse the living crap out of anything, just because they are squids.
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That is the only problem I have with my Mazdaspeed. Just reading some of the forums can make your head spin circles and if those are only a portion of the people who drive the car, im not looking forward to meeting the others.

That being said, there are those people (like me, young enough to tear it up but old enough to know better) who baby their "performance car" as you would your everyday Camry. I was lucky enough to find a much more mature forum on the Mazdaspeed with members trying to test/tune products rather than just throwing them on and hoping it works.

Out of the box, the N/SRT-4 is a great turbo-4 that is receptive to basic modifications so I would say go for it if you want to buy one. However, I would REALLY do research into what goes wrong, how long they last, common issues, etc. There are performance cars out there that have been taken well care of and are still stock. If you look long enough, im sure you can find one with service records and other information that might give you piece of mind.
 
Well, I think it would be an awful idea to get a cobra for a daily commuter. And they arent all that fast stock. And they definitely dont turn too well.
 
I didn't know the old Cobra's got such good gas mileage! lol I just wish the Terminators were in my price range, I'd definitely go for some of that.

As for the Neon, you know... in all actuality, I'm not looking to be impressive or anything. I just want to have a nice, practical, ready-to-go, easy to drive car that isn't a traffic bitch. I have to have that passing power.

A BMW sounds nice, but what happens when it breaks down? I don't know the first thing about BMW's. lol Dodge is pretty easy, especially seeing how simple 4 cylinder engines have become now. Parts would be easy to get, easy to replace, easy on the pocket book. That's all I'm ask'in, and that's what I see in the SRT-4.

It's definitely quick... some would like to try and use it to "impress" people, but you can't overlook it's true purpose.
 
If you really like the Neon SRT-4 (and I do) go to www.grassrootsmotorsports.com and order their recent back issue - it's got an in-depth SRT buyer's guide that lists differences between years, problem areas, things to look for, etc.
 
tehFAO
In all actuality, I'm not looking to be impressive or anything. I just want to have a nice, practical, ready-to-go, easy to drive car that isn't a traffic bitch. I have to have that passing power.
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To be honest, if passing power is what you want, the SRT-4 isn't going to have exactly what you want. You've gotta wait for that turbo to spool up, and then in a flood of power, you're either in the rear end of a pickup or trying too hard to stay out of a ditch.

If you're looking for some kind of power monster that's going to be easy to work on and indeed "fast," I'd be looking into something with a V6 over a Turbo I4. Cars like the Nissan Altima 3.5 SE come to mind, as well as the obligatory VW GTI/GLI VR6. Hell, even a Honda Accord V6 can run with the best these days...

You're more likely to find cars like that getting similar gas mileage, in better condition, maybe even for less money.
 
Haha, well I can definitely appreciate what 230hp is in a car that weighs less than 3,000lbs... but we're not talking about a dragster here. If you know what you're doing, and know how to drive, that's power easily handled. I'm not one who'd say that I'm a Vinny Diesel and "live my life a quarter mile at a time" but really in the great big scheme of things... 230hp is controllable. I'm not an inexperienced kid, this would actually be third vehicle coming from a Camaro (that was my first car, and I learned quickly what speed is), and the truck mentioned earlier.

I'd expect that even much of the time, I honestly wouldn't use that full potential. It would be nice though to have that power readily avaliable just when I want that quincher, or when I get the luxury of showing the rich kid in a BMW 320 what a real 0-60 time is. Hahaha ;)
 
You seem like a knowledgeable person, and if you know of a well-cared for, kindly regarded SRT-4, go for it.

But, like 240SXs, Civic Sis, and the like...finding an unmolested one is the trick. Your best deal is to look for one where the import scene hasn't hit full force, yet. Say, the boonies. the middle of no-where. Illinois. Iowa. Somewhere reasonlbly flat, where the majority of turbos go into Diesel pickups.
 
They are fast for sure. I have been to a couple road track events and these cars do REAL well out there. Even bone stock they do real well plus they are decent on gas and not too bad to look at. It will also be good in the winter since its FWD and you live in Colorado.
 

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