check the Motorsports section. Bonaccorsi just won the first ever race for Mazda in the series last weekend. Expect more successes by the Proteges

 

I'll clear up a few things here

First, 215hp. Thats directly from PVO.

Having gotten a ride in one at the last Neon Gathering I've got to say "WOW". 215 is pushing it... its gotta be more then that at the crank. PVO puts out 215 as the HP, Thats a very conservative estimate.

Computer controled boost (15psi stock right now). Brakes from the GT cruiser (also shares the 2.4 Turbo engine which is WHY its a turbo and not a supercharger as the original show car was), which are the largest that DCX now makes.

0-60 in 5.9? yes. Bad launch and on crappy street tires. We'll see what the true times are once they get the first batch to the public...


Mopar is looking at a 25,50 and 75 HP upgrades to them. At its max I am sure it'll be pushing close to 300+ HP if not more.


I do invite you to check out the SRT-4 board at www.neons.org, PVO does read the site and I encourage friendly discussions between car guys.

 

welcome aboard Neon

 

I've been reading your responses to the New SRT-4 car coming out, one thing i would like to shoot out there is...it is a neon and it isnt a neon, yes it uses the car itself to be what it is, but Neon will not be in that name whatsoever other then SRT-4

you guys are alright and talk sense, i like checking out other boards...but most of you's are not even talking CENTS, your talking trash, my only beef is the people who say the Neon is ugly, sure it may be ugly to you, but is your good looking car gonna stop you from gettin your a$$ spanked around at the red light drags? talk sense like the others on here and you won't be a "ricer"

Peace

 

Calm down their cheif, we mean no harm. The only reason we're bitching and complaining like we are is because we're jealous. So far the SRT4 looks like it's going to be a great car, we're just jealous because it's going to have what we think Mazda should have done with some of their cars. Dodge is really going for it with the SRT4. Mazda has so far been playing it safe with the MazdaSpeed Protege as well as their other cars. But hey, who can really say for sure? Neither of the cars is on the streets yet (as far as I know), so it's all speculation right now.

Also, about the ugly car thing. I don't think the SRT4s are that bad looking at all. But you have to realize some people buy their cars based on looks. Hell, we drive protege's... While some of us strive to makes our cars faster, some of us are more into show than go. I consider Protege's the best looking compact car on the market right now. If I wanted something faster, I wouldn't have bought the car that I did... That's fine if you can rip and tear all the other cars at redlights, but that's not the protege's main selling point, and also, that's not why we love our cars.

 

hey buddy, welcome.

first, don't post here if all you are going to do is talk trash. (that goes out to EVERYONE that posts here, too)

next, personally, the only things i don't like about the neon are the steering wheel design and the fact that the back wheels look like an after-thought. (if the back bumper was about 6" lower, i think it would look a HELL-UV-A-LOT better)

i also think the SRT-4 is conceptually a great car. it just looks too neon-ish for me.

 

They should have called it the SRT Bulldog, b/c its looks are subjective and it's ***-kicking ability is not.

 

Another thing to consider regarding this new Dodge is that the Neon has a long, consistent history of **** quality. That's a Dodge for you. There are a lot of cars out there faster than our Proteges; that much is certain. For my uses, however, brute speed doesn't mean as much to me-- The fact that our Proteges render reliability vastly superior to anything Dodge makes (and I'm talking about their entire vehicle line, not just the lousy piece of **** Neon) speaks well to the logic behind choosing Mazda over Dodge. Unless Dodge has really changed their engineering policies, the owners of this Neon can look forward to guaranteed problems-- Problems they'll be forking out their cash to fix. This goes in addition to the time wasted fixing the damn things. Meanwhile, I'll just keep driving my trouble free Protege. My car looks better, it damn well is built better, and it costs me less to own and operate.

I win.

 

So much for trying to remain mature in our debates Oh well

 

Lurker here doing some Mazda research. Just checking out the the new Mazdaspeed Protege and ran across this thread.

[bias]
Having owned two pitiful examples of Neon quality in the past, I can say that I would never own another Chrysler product and have pretty much sworn off anything domestic. I dumped them both ASAP for something that would spend more time in my driveway than being repaired.[/bias]

That being said, I can appreciate the performance potential of the SRT-4 for the money. I don't even mind the front end, although I think the rear view could use some work (especially if SRT-4 owners think they're going to show it to others a lot).

Lastly, just thought you might consider adding the GTI 1.8T to your list. With a reasonable ECU mod (under $1K), the GTI will push some very impressive power from a 1.8l turbo 4 (215hp, 245tq with 93 oct) and is under $20K depending on config. Not that the standard numbers - 180hp, 174tq - are bad.

As others have already pointed out, competition is good, straight line power isn't everything, and we'll all have better vehicles to choose from in the future.

 

that being said, all i can say is, why did you buy the neon twice if you saw quality problems the first time

 

Excellent point! The GTI 1.8T is incredibly modable. In fact, if I didn't think the were so blandly styled, I'd think about one for my next car as well.

 

It was odd circumstances. We drive two vehicles and purchased the second Neon when the first only had 10K miles or so. The transmission didn't fail multiple times in the first car until 20K miles. Of course, I won't even go into how many instrument clusters were replaced in that car...

The second Neon actually had more problems caused by the dealer than faults with the car, but dealer and service center training is still Chrysler's responsibility to prevent problems like the ones I experienced.

Again, this is just my opinion, and we all know what opinions are like...

 

it's ok buddy i hear ya, i own a neon and let me tell you, the dealer does CRAP for you, it seems even thou they've been in business for over 75 years here, they still pull stunts that a new crappy dealer would

 

I agree totally. If I could pick one thing that domestic makes could improve, besides build quality which they are getting better at, it would be improved dealer service.

In my area at least, the Nissan/Toyota/Honda dealers just have superior service. I don't know if they train their people better, enforce higher standards on return visits, or what, but it does seem better. I don't think I've ever had to take one of my Nissans back for the same problem twice, and there were very few problems to begin with - nothing ever serious, just minor stuff.

Manufacturer's need to wake up and realize that the styling/performance of a car is just part of the equation. The dealer is where the customer forms a more lasting opinion about the manufacturer and whether or not they will buy another car of that make.

Using my Nissan example above, the franchise was recently sold to a Chevrolet dealer in the area. After one visit to that place to return an off-lease Maxima SE, I knew I would never buy another Nissan while I live in this area since they are now the only close dealer. Their sales department was bad enough to make me not trust the service. And, I certainly couldn't stand to buy something from them.

Again, my .02 and other loose change...