semtex

my friend has a "racing" neon, front strut bar support, racing head,cam shaft , racing cam sensor, racing computer and a short shifter and cold air intake bla bla bla ive taken it for a spin and i was really supprised it was quick and not a bad ride but for me the car is ugly and very uncomfertible, its like you guys say a toy that about it.

midnightblue97

**** neons.

boricua

nicely put
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ROLL BLUNTS

Installshield

I had a 95 Neon ACR. It was my first car. had like 50,000 miles on it and the guy only wanted $4,000 for it. I guess it was ok for a first car. It had the ACR suspension package which is some sort of stripped down version of the R/T but with Koni struts and bigger hubs and swaybars plus alloy wheels and 4 wheel disc brakes -ABS. i have to say it would smoke my Probe GT in the turns. As far as the engine though it sucked. It was a coupe so it had the DOHC (Coupe ACR had that, the sedan's had the single) It was rated at 150hp and 133lb/ft of torque, and I never beat 16 in the quarter mile. Any internal modding was stupid hard. The bearing caps were not caps at all for the camshafts, they were fixed. you had to jack up the engine and slide the camshafts out sideways through the head. I don't know if this was on the DOHC like I had (never got into it, didn't have it long enough to do any work on my own) but found this out from a friends SOHC. At 65,000 the headgasket blew, and it didn't just leak, oil squirted out of the side of the engine.

Definately go with a KLZE, I have ridden in a PGT with that engine and it is discustingly smooth and fast.

pr5owner

LMAO!!!! i bet the engine bay didn't pass the "Engine bay cleanliness" mechanical inspection test after that

Installshield

No way man...

I got underneath there to look while the engine was running and it almost squirted in my eye!

Also about neons, my uncles baby sitter drove a pink one and as she was backing out of his driveway she backed over a fairly springy bush. She didn't even realize what had happened and continued backing up. As the front of the car began to clear the bush it sprung up and ripped the front bumper cover off of the car!! It flew halfway across his yard!

carguycw

For those of you who aren't familiar with Neons, the Neon ACR was *THE* FWD autox car to have for the first few of years after they came out. The ACR suspension package is AWESOME as factory suspensions go- especially after you installed the factory-authorized "crash" bolts that would give you 2.5-3 degrees of front negative camber! [MAZDA ARE YOU LISTENING- MSP NEEDS THIS! ] It took about 5 years for an Integra Type R to beat a Neon ACR at a top-level autox event... with 45 more hp and a helical LSD.

Say what you will about their quality, the Neon is a great example of how fast you can go with cheap, crude suspension technology. This is one reason I've considered buying one as an autox toy- I've owned 2 1st-gen RX-7's, and those cars taught me to love crude simplicity.

FWIW this seems to be a common phenomenon with DOHC Neons. There is a VERY wide variation between 1/4 mile times of cars that are identical on paper. I've seen confirmed 15.5-15.7 times from basically stock DOHC Neons, but an old racer friend of mine once bought a 96 DOHC Neon ACR with the intention of racing it in SSB, and he sold it because he was unable to break 16.4 at Houston Raceway Park, the fastest NHRA dragstrip in the country (it's 18' above sea level ). Basically, it seems that some Neons make 10-15 hp less than others- probably due to sloppy assembly quality.

Installshield

Yeah the Sohc and Dohc engines make nearly identical torque. the Dohc redlines 500 rpm higher but its pointless because the power drops so fast after 6500rpm you can't even tell a difference. 1st and 2nd gear were the main problems for acceleration. You didn't even hit 60 until well into 3rd (reminds me of the ******* 6sp in Spec V's), which is why it had trouble breaking 8s with 0-60's in magazine tests.


If you would go with a Neon, I would honestly suggest a Sohc, they are proven to be much more reliable and are just as fast as the Dohc (1st gens that it)

Red Racer

If your going to get a Neon, why don't you get the new SRT-4 with 215hp.

Hectic1818

I own a Neon but I haven't modified it because I am a student and don't have much cash. I would suggest you go to www.neons.org and do some research there. Also, go talk to Neon owners and see what they say. I really like my car and it serves its purpose well. As far as the headgasket issue, that was a problem in the early model Neons and should have been fixed. If you buy a used Neon make sure that the headgasket has been fixed.

Hector

UCSBgeek

Isn't the MR2 prone to BHG? or maybe that's another toyota.

boricua

"If your going to get a Neon, why don't you get the new SRT-4 with 215hp."

yea definitly go with the SRT-4. thats one neon not to f*ck with. and it looks decent too.
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SexyCrystall

alcoholiday

i looked at that car out of curiousity the other day. fugly.

by the way, your guys want waaaaay too much for that 93LE miata. it needs so much TLC. cool car though.

ProtegeMaster

"midnightblue97" put it exactly to the point!

The Neon has a long, documented history of wretched, vile reliability; one of the hallmarks of Dodge. With all due respect, it shocks me how many dolts buy this vehicle in the first place. I care not how fast it is. When it’s actually running, that is…

redrims

Read the first page please and don't skim through the thread. Thank you.