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Comments
I for one will have probably stepped up the chain in terms of refinement, but if the price is right and the power is as good as the initial test reports indicate... Might just take the plunge.
-B
I have never heard of these two being cross-shopped, and wouldn't have believed it if someone had told me!
Do you have any curves to drive where you live, hersbird? That would make the difference to me, personally...;-) Then again, I have zero need or desire for a truck in the first place. Half-second quicker in the 1/4 mile without dumping a bucket of fuel each time sounds cool to me, but I have to admit that to me straight-line acceleration does not a winner make.
Other than the breather, the 2.4L is still stock. There's an awful lot of meaningful modding that could still be done for the price of forcing the intake on the Hemi.
All this is from a strictly car guy, though, so, grain of salt...
You make a good point about further upgrades, but - if you haven't already, you should check out the link above to the Mopar Stage I,II,III SRT-4 turbo upgrades. Stage III isn't street legal (you remove the cats), but Stage II is, and it bumps up output to 270/270 hp/ft-lbs.
hersbird: If the thing whips up half the interest out there that I think it will, then the minimum ADM I would expect to see on these is about $3K. So take MSRP, add $3K to that, and for the first few months, that's what I expect to be the going rate. Once the summer is over, I would think the pace might fall off a bit, but rebates and incentives of any kind on this don't look to figure in until at least year two.
Then again, I'm not an automotive professional.
I just play one on TV (kidding)...:)
You could probably turn it around for profit!! ;-)
On that technician thing, all the service techs do training twice a year. That way the all get certified for everything in the pipeline. After four Chrysler-Dodge products (all good BTW), I can tell you the training doesn't help much. You still take everything back three times before they can figure out what's actually wrong!!
they are in Kellog, Idaho of all places but do a ton of business over the phone. That town pretty much looks like one huge Dodge dealer! Seeing as how Dave Smith is a 3 hour drive, the closer dealers will almost always match Dave Smiths pricing. The PT initialy was an exception for the closer guys, and this neon may be the same, but Smith kept the $300 over invoice the whole time on PT's including the limited "Dream Crusiers". The dealers likely do have a clue about the srt-4 (heck it's been featured with a full road test in every major automotive publication) they just always are trained to sell what they have on the lot right this minute. I don't think that they did end up in the computer ordering system on Monday as told, they haven't tried calling me back at least! Remember that an invoice deal on a $20,000 car is only about a $1000 savings so don't shop 2000 miles away to save $700. Then again don't pay $3000 over MSRP as some folks have envisioned!
Our local farm bureau costs $40 a year to be an assiciate member (good enough for the $500 rebate, and other deals from other companies) and you only have to be a member for 30 days to qualify. You could order today, join the farm bureau today, and by the time the car came in you'd qualify for the $500 rebate. The Farm Bureau also uses the membership fees in many productive ways.
PS. The SRT-4 may not qualify as Dodge is technically not calling it a Neon. It's it's own new line. I realize it's really still a neon with upgrades, but Dodge may use that as an excuse to flake out on the extra $500 off!
You could drive the car and suddenly it was dead.
Yes no energy at all, after a couple of minutes the energy was back and several more times.
It visited the dealer SEVERAL times and the dealer changed the battery three times, I have to tell you that while performing several tests to the battery no faulty codes were observed, but since lately Chrysler is having trouble with batteries we decided to change it, but it wasn't the solution.
Well chrysler ASKED US FOR MORE TIME to repair the vehicle, (The car was back at the dealer since july, so until last week they kept asking us FOR MORE TIME!!!).
Well they finally decided to change the MAIN FUSE BOX with all the harness, they also replaced the starter and baterry harness plus the PCM, now the car is running with no problems, BUT I had to take it to ANOTHER DEALER, so they would place all the harnesses where they should be, put all the screws and clips, etc..etc... of which many were missing.
I hope the car will NOW work fine, because my son drives it a lot on the highway, and when it dies there is no power steering or brakes, and no energy at all!!
We know now this is not the first Neon with such a problem, but Chrysler service dept. Plus customer relations dept. at Chrysler STINK!!
you probably want to post in the regular Dodge Neon board to vent your frustration.
And i´ll now paste this and post it in the Neon forum, thanks and take care.
Come on, plenty of performance cars out there, also have base models at almost half the cost, or more in some cases.
Likewise the SRT *is* another Neon. And like the M3, a problem in the base models could potentially manifest themselves in the M or SRT or whatever premium models. And more relevantly, the Neon SRT is going to be serviced by the same guys who service yosito's Neon R/T, and since his post is about service issues, it's probably worth bringing up. (Unless PVO is staffing Chrysler service centers with dedicated techs to work on SRTs and Vipers only...)
Not that any of this affects my interest in the SRT's ridiculous power at a cheap, cheap price. What are they going for anyway?
Dodge may be trying to avoid the SRT being referred to as a Neon considering the lack of respect the Neon has in the automotive world but it still has the shell of a Neon. It may have a different engine, slightly different appearance, and a tuned suspension but so does the SI and it's still a Civic.
Someone (who shall remain anonymous) really needs to get a better handle on what the automotive world really thinks of the Neon. Especially at the track. Maybe it ain't no holy grail, but guranteed ain't nobody laughing behind its back, nuther!
Damn good little design, easily manipulated and interpreted (a la PT), and easily maintained.
With regard to service technicians, the term is an oxymoron when applied to Dodge and Chrysler. Any issue usually requires three trips to the shop for a fix (the same is true of VW, except you have to double the number of visits)!
No reason to shine this apple; doesn't need it. This is a hot ticket in its own right. Mopar haters will go out of their way to dis it, just as they have the PT, which they have always labeled as "just a gussied up Neon".
Of course it is...
[-P
If it holds up well to each of those questions (which remains to be seen for some of the questions, but it looks good so far for most), comments like "yeah, but it is still just a dressed up neon" sure come off sounding like a case of sour grapes.
"Yeah, but it still just blew your doors off."
On which side of that conversation would you rather be?
"Suspended with MacPherson struts up front and a unique twist-beam axle supported by coil springs and incorporating a Watt's linkage in back"
The SRT will be fast and yes it is way faster than my Civic BUT I care about more than going fast or I would drive a Camaro SS.
If fast was all it took to make a great car the Camaro would still be around. It is damn fast. And now it's damn dead.
This car isn't exactly nose heavy like other domestics.
Any thoughts?
Threads like this always seem to separate out the true automotive enthusiasts from the cars as a fashion accessory crowd.
-B
Not really. Mustangs are quicker than that and don't cost that much more, plus they're driving the right wheels.
And I agree with you that it is still a Neon. Nothing wrong with that at all. Upgrades were smart as well, not just the motor. New tranny, revised suspension, driveshafts, brakes, steering, seats... DC upgraded where it mattered. Even the wing actually is supposed to help at high speeds. The wiper motor doesn't really do much for performance.
-B
oh,
and how do you see the Grand National and Syclone as fast POS?
Last I checked these vehicles are still bringing a premium price and are highly respected cars..
The car handles great, plenty of power, and have had no major repairs so far in five years of driving. It only cost me $12,000 several thousand less than comparable models by Honda, Toyoto which didn't have the power.
Yea, the early Neon's had head gasket problems, but many owner's were covered under warranty or traded them in before the next gasket repair.
The 2003 models have a 7 year, 70,000 mile warranty, which allows plenty of time to dump the car (SRT, et al version's of the Neon), if you ain't happy with it.
BMW's (3 series) don't have the power of the SRT, and cost $ 9 thousand more; ditto, for gobs more Euro cars that also have poor reliabilty ratings (i.e. Audi TT).
Many who bash the Neon never owned one, and read auto magazines that have a habit of dumping on American cars, while praising the [non-permissible content removed]'s and German's.
The SRT is for people who have a beer budget, and can't afford the expensive wine's.