So the neon is a proven fwd car in racing The SRT-4 is known to make tons of power easy = profit?
What are the drawbacks?
So the neon is a proven fwd car in racing The SRT-4 is known to make tons of power easy = profit?
What are the drawbacks?
kinda heavy, and goofy OEM wheel and tire size, if that is a concern for an intended class.
I kinda remember hearing that they were kinda camber-challenged in the front.
And, kinda heavy.
Nice seats, though.
Ah, just saw the require premium fuel too :(
1G neon + SRT engine = win
I was under the impression they were all wadded up or riced to hell by kids.
Well looking at Autotrader and how many are mileage unlisted etc yeah you may be right. I just had the random though of "hey is there a used version of a fiesta ST" already out there
I bought one in 2004 and owned it for six years - I loved that car. I had the Mopar Stage 3 turbo kit on it and never had any problems with the car at all. The drawbacks in my opinion:
-Stock wheels were only 6 inches wide and the stock tires were adequate at best. You could spin them all the way through 2nd gear.
-I thought the handling was only okay in stock form. A set of big swaybars and wider wheels with sticky tires fixed that.
-You can make a lot of power for very little money, which unfortunately means that a lot of them have some seriously questionable mods.
-You are going to have a very hard time finding one in decent shape. They have been abused since day one.
-Premium fuel, and I averaged just under 20mpg for the life of the car. You could get decent economy out of them if you took it easy though.
-Every WRX on the road would try to race you... I dunno if that's still the case.
If you happen to find one that's mostly stock and in good shape - I'd say go for it.
I enjoyed mine for the one drive I took it on before I disassembled it. I got it already balled-up. That turbo spools and it just GOs!
It was also very easy to take apart, so I assume it would be easy to wrench on...
Premium fuel and 20mpg would kill it for me lol
I'd say 20mpg is ok. I get 20 mpg city and 25-27mpg freeway with my 3300 hundred pound alltrac.
They are almost gone where I live (northern california), there were a lot for a while, but even the first gen neons seem to have outlived them by quite a bit, its rare to see one now.
Yavuz wrote: I bought one in 2004 and owned it for six years - I loved that car. I had the Mopar Stage 3 turbo kit on it and never had any problems with the car at all. The drawbacks in my opinion: -Stock wheels were only 6 inches wide and the stock tires were adequate at best. You could spin them all the way through 2nd gear. -I thought the handling was only okay in stock form. A set of big swaybars and wider wheels with sticky tires fixed that. -You can make a lot of power for very little money, which unfortunately means that a lot of them have some seriously questionable mods. -You are going to have a very hard time finding one in decent shape. They have been abused since day one. -Premium fuel, and I averaged just under 20mpg for the life of the car. You could get decent economy out of them if you took it easy though. -Every WRX on the road would try to race you... I dunno if that's still the case. If you happen to find one that's mostly stock and in good shape - I'd say go for it.
lol i drive a wrx and nobody tries to race me.
Good luck finding a clean one. People seem to ask either way too much, or they're clapped out.
A few years back, I missed out on a mint, stock 03 for $7200. Still kick myself over that. I'd take a nice one in a heartbeat.
Other than that, check synchros, 04+ had a Quaife LSD stock. People love the stock wheels, those can be sold to finance something better and the ability to throw better rubber under there. Personally, I'd drop to 16s.
Timing belts are, IIRC, 100k like a normal Neon. I'd do it beforehand, however. Easy to work on, parts are inexpensive. Stock parts are worth some decent money if you choose to upgrade. Control arms are stamped steel, but replacements are also inexpensive.
Really, there is nothing on them that when it breaks, will make you go broke. It's just finding the nicest possible one you can and going from there.
Friend of mine in high school had one. My impressions of it at the time were this:
For Sale, not mine.
http://forums.solo2.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7141
jr02518 wrote: For Sale, not mine. http://forums.solo2.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=7141
So much want.
And 6" wide stock tires? Wtf.
The SCCA is a bit of a kill joy.
The street behind your house has no sanctioning body.
I test drove one when they first came out. In addition to what everyone else has said, they have the turning radius of a full-size truck. Other than that, it was a pretty amazing package for a very reasonable amount of money.
IIRC the crash tests on those were sub-optimal. Something about the dummy's arm going between the door and doorframe and would have lost the limb...
Found it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLZXbmgPJTg
Not sure if the safety thing ranks to you, but they aren't too great compared to other things of the same era.
I was tempted by these new on the lot as they were seriously marked down to like 14K, sort of like what happened to the Saab 9-2x toward the end of its run. Don't see them anymore. See more regular Neons with nose jobs to look like an SRT than the actual thing.
When I was running G Stock with my black car, I ran against a local with an ACR version that had wider 7" rims. The car ran well, though since he never used slicks, he wasn't close to my times. It might be a competitive car in the the new Street class.
I remember sitting in one, and thinking the interior was junk and the shifter would have only been slightly better positioned if it was jammed up my ass. They go like hell though, and they're cheap to modify. Reminds me of DSM's back in the early 2000's, everyone that saw the Fast and the Furious had one.
This may be a local thing, but it seems to me that I've met precisely ONE SRT owner locally that I didn't immediately want to pummel to death. the Mazdaspeed guys used to joke about pissing off SRT owners by pulling up next to them and rolling down our rear windows.... SRT's are manual in the back.
Ah, just saw the require premium fuel too :(
You WERE aware that they have a TURBO, right?? 
Vigo wrote:Ah, just saw the require premium fuel too :(You WERE aware that they have a TURBO, right??
I glossed right over this the last time I read this thread. You mean there's cars that take regular fuel? I haven't been able to push that button in the better part of a decade. I actually used to fill my winter beater on accident with premium because I was so used to it for my DD.
Also- I love the argument over premium vs regular. It's what, 20 cents more a gallon? I'm paying like 2.50$/tank more than a regular mazda 3, getting 1mpg less than my old one, and I have 100 more whp. I consider that a win.
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