New car soon, any experience with these?

[Inspiribomb]

I have decided that I will be buying a new car soon. I have been thinking about a few, but today went to a dealer and looked at one of these:

SRT-4

I will be test-driving one later this week. Pretty much a no-frills performance car, which is perfect for me I was wondering if anyone has any experience with this vehicle? Keep in mind that this is a totally different animal than the standard Neon. At under $23K, its hard to beat. Seriously, if you have any such-and-such brand sucks comments, don't even bother.

 

[vega ls-12]

very fast car and a good performer.
my only question would lie with durability..
after seeing my sis own a 97 for a few years, i personally would look elsewhere.
she bought the car with 30000 miles on it, 4 yrs old, owned by an older lady.
car was dealer maintained from the beginning.
my sis used mainly to commute to and from school a 40 mile drive each way..
suffice to say in under a year and a half the car needed a new head gasket(which they are known for) and a rebuilt tranny,, all for a car with under 50000 miles on it,,,and yes the car was meticulously mainted by me and my father.. did some checking and these problems are very common, hence the low resale..(out of a dodge mechanics mouth)

sorry for the long post, im not knocking them, but there are better values elsewhere imo ... does some shopping first :yes:
i understand this isnt a base neon,but the price difference is performance not quality,the cars a rocket,driven one on a test drive, but imo the are better values.

and yes,, i know ill probably get flamed for this

 

[2DualsNotEnough]

Car and Driver has a comparison test in the Sept. issue with the SRT4,the Subaru Impreza WRX,Saturn Ion Red Line,the Chevy Cobalt SS,and Acura RSX Type-S.The Dodge finished 3rd,the WRX 2nd,and the Acura 1st.I know Acura has a great reputation for reliability,and Ive driven the WRX,and if I had a choice,Id pick the WRX in a walk.That is one fun-ass car to drive thru the twisties.
Jimmy

 

[Don C]

Link:
http://www.caranddriver.com/article.asp?section_id=15&article_id=9845

 

[blue_lateral]

and yes,, i know ill probably get flamed for this

Nah. I won't flame you. But as a Dodge mechanic in the mid 90's I had a different experience.

Neons were without a doubt the best cars we had. The only pattern failures they really had were fan relays, and spark plugs. Yeah, there were some head gasket problems, but that was in most cases that was a little oil seeping down the back of the block. Thats hardly a show-stopper. Most of these cars were still pretty new.

IMHO anything with an aluminum head on an iron block is likely to lose the head gasket completely (ie combustion getting in the radiator) between 80k and 100k miles. The aluminum expands faster than the iron, and this flexes the fire rings on the gasket. You can only bend a piece of metal so many times. It will break. I saw lots of neons with over 100k and original head gaskets, but any engine built this way (and there are lots of them) with over 80k has a head gasket that is on borrowed time. My $0.02.

Transmission failures were few and far between. At that time most of the Chrysler lineup had 4 speed automatics that were causing a little trouble :worried: . Neon automatics were 3 speeds based on the old torqueflyte design going back to 1960. The were almost Impossible to break. One way to break them was to burn off and get one tire spinning really fast. The spider gears would get to some ridiculous rpm and the differential would explode. I saw a couple of those. I didn't do tranny work, but I don't remember ever seeing a bad 5 speed (my preference anyway).

I like neons. Though we were selling a bazillion of them I didn't get very many to work on. Most of my time was spent on other models.

At that time the no-bullshit version was called an ACR. I really liked those. :yes:

I sure wouldn't write it off just yet

and Ive driven the WRX,and if I had a choice,Id pick the WRX in a walk.That is one fun-ass car to drive thru the twisties.
Jimmy

I have too, and they're an absolute blast. I haven't driven the SRT-4. Are they in the same price range?

John

 

[Inspiribomb]

19k-22k

 

[vega ls-12]

Nah. I won't flame you. But as a Dodge mechanic in the mid 90's I had a different experience.

Yeah, there were some head gasket problems, but that was in most cases that was a little oil seeping down the back of the block. Thats hardly a show-stopper. Most of these cars were still pretty new.

Most of my time was spent on other models.

:

I sure wouldn't write it off just yet

John

an oil leak on a fairly new car is alarming to me...
mot of your time spent on other models, speaks volumes on quality...
seriously though,, i value your opinion, but hold my ground :scratch2:

 

[Inspiribomb]

Going for a test drive later this week, and I can't wait. My 1988 Thunderbird Turbo Coupe is damn quick, but I haven't driven anything new, so it'll be interesting to see how this new turbo vehicle drives, supposed to be fast as hell. The salesman was telling me about the Stage 2/3 kits that are available that bring HP/Torque up over 400!!!

 

[Punker X]

I own a 99 Neon ACR, extremely fun car to drive. No major problems so far.

X

 

[soundmotor]

SRT-4

Congratulations - Upon taking receipt of your new SRT-4, you are now officially a target for every '02 on up WRX owner wanting to prove they are TeH fAsTaR & wishing to make you PWN3D!

Enjoy the stoplights!

 

[Inspiribomb]

Actually, the Impreza WRX is the other car I am seriously considering buying, but the SRT-4 seems to be more what I want. We'll see after some test-driving...

 

[vega ls-12]

Congratulations - Upon taking receipt of your new SRT-4, you are now officially a target for every '02 on up WRX owner wanting to prove they are TeH fAsTaR & wishing to make you PWN3D!

Enjoy the stoplights!

i agree with that. a guy i work with has one..
after a couple upgrades the car spin all four wheels, hard to in awd
the cars a monster,, hes taken out some very good company

 

[colortrakker]

Wow, toss-up. Impreza WRX has more balls and comes as a station wagon but it's ugly and costs $5 grand more. SRT-4's got the look, but no refinement (interior's still really cheap). Chevy Cobalt SS has almost as much horsepower (205) but you have to take a coupe to get it. SS Sedan's engine only has 171 HP.

If cost and style are no object, spring the $30 grand for the 300-HP Impreza WRX STi.

 

[Inspiribomb]

SRT-4's got the look, but no refinement (interior's still really cheap).

That is one of the points of this car. You're spending money on performance, not creature-comforts. I would prefer a no-frills interior.

Chevy Cobalt SS has almost as much horsepower (205)

Well, if you consider 205 ALMOST 230. The SRT-4 also has 250 lb-ft of torque. And unfortunately, cost is an object, compare 21K to 30K.

 

[colortrakker]

No-frills is one thing, Wal*Mart-grade trim is another. That's why I decided against a full-boat Grand Am last time I traded. All that plastic made the car feel EXTREMELY not worth the money.

Here's Motor Trend's head-to-head on Cobalt & SRT-4. It's closer than the numbers suggest.

Or read what Car & Driver says about Cobalt, SRT4, Ion Red Line, WRX and RSX.

 

[Inspiribomb]

Regardless, the I personally don't find the Cobalt to be an attractive car at all. I also prefer the turbocharger to a supercharger.

 

[colortrakker]

To each...but either way, the cost of premium's gonna kill ya.

 

[soundmotor]

Actually, the Impreza WRX is the other car I am seriously considering buying, but the SRT-4 seems to be more what I want. We'll see after some test-driving...

We own an '02 Impreza WRX Sport Wagon, here are a few thoughts on it:

Ours has 75K on it now & we bought it new. Even now with the mileage, it is rattle free and tight as my Audi. Gas mileage sucks but ours is an auto & my wife drives it mostly around town. A stick on the highway will get 26MPG or better. Ours gets 21MPG & sneaks up to 24MPG on the highway. So far, it is stone stock but I have a new Stromung turbo-back exhaust awaiting me to get off my butt & do it. Should both drop the 0-60 times, increase the WHP by 25, & increase the mileage a couple when our foot isn't in it. I am working on a big-brake upgrade as well. That is probably it for mods other than shocks & bars. It is my wife's car afterall.

It has a great interior and the new ones are even better. Not quite up to Audi standards but nicer than many. The cars feel very well put together. It has good comfort, and abominable audio system, fairly quiet cabin, & well placed controls. The new ones are an order of magnitude better in that regard too. Overall, I'd give it an 7.5 out of 10 and would certainly buy another. A coworker has an '05 and I'd say his is a 8/8.5 out of 10. The '06 has even further improvements on the '05 as well.

Good Luck!

 

[bgadow]

My wife had a middle of the road Neon. No problems, fun to drive in the mountains. Then the service manager at the dealer told her to get rid of it before 80K because the head gasket would likely go. I think it had 60K when she traded for a Civic. A friend of mine, about that same time, had to have the gasket job on her Stratus, 80K. I thought this was totally unreasonable.

 

[Inspiribomb]

Colortrakker, I'll test drive a Cobalt and report back what I think, didn't mean to get snippy with you. Planning on doing this tomorrow.