A very reliable and affordable car!
Some electronic chip for fuel efficiency (2 chips/2 failures)
This car gave me no real headaches. I basically only had to deal with routine maintenance from the time I bought it new until the time I traded it in. I regret trading it in.
Surprisingly comfortable for how small it was.
Loved it.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 13th May, 2004
A unicorn of a cool car!
Recurrent faulty starter.
Faulty head gasket.
Vibrations in the steering column.
This car is awesome, great performance for the price. It's also cheap to repair and fun to drive.
The turbocharged version is pretty cool especially when running high octane gas.
Great daily driver!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 4th May, 2004
I hate this car!
What didn't go wrong with this car?
Brakes replaced (including recalls) six times.
Air conditioning quit working and the dealership never seemed to be able to fix it.
Started over heating right before I got rid of it.
Paint peeled.
Drivers side window didn't roll down. Dealership actually fixed that problem.
The floor in the back seat leaked when it rained.
It was the most horrible car I ever owned in my life. At the time there was no Lemon Law for lease vehicles so there was nothing I could do about it. The dealership I dealt with was horrible also. Every time something went wrong with the brakes they blamed me. My previous car had 230,000 miles on it when I got rid of it for the Neon and only changed the brakes one time and the pads a couple of times. I also had friends that had much of the same problems with their Neons.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 27th February, 2004
Not bad for the money
My head gasket blew at 70000 miles.
Oil leaks continuously.
Not too much power on acceleration.
Air conditioner saps too much power off the engine, making using it difficult at best.
The car handles quite well.
It gets good gas mileage.
Repair cost is fairly low.
The ride is uncomfortable and cramped.
It survived a tree landing on it during a storm doing very little damage.
It is so cute!!
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 6th December, 2002
A good cheap car!
Head gasket failed at 82,000.
Turn signal lever failed twice.
Roters rusted, need to be replaced 70,000. When the rotors were replaced, I also had the front and rear brakes replaced.
Brake light switch at brake pedal failed. This caused the brake lights to stay on and kill my battery.
Oxygen sensor at 101,000.
Tires replaced all around at 35,000, 75,000. Front tires replaced at 98,000.
New front struts at 85,000.
Headlight replaced at 92,000.
I purchased my car new with no options other than a radio and a rear window defroster (that's right no AC, power steering, power locks, or power windows). I believe that this is one of the major reasons I've had such great luck with this car. All of those options cause additional stress to the car's systems.
Handling/cornering is a bit scary with the 13" tires, but keep in mind this is no sports car. The one good thing about 13" tires is their replacement cost - $35 each installed.
I have friends with Mazda's and Honda's. None of them that have put similar mileage on their cars have had less go wrong.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? Yes
Review Date: 13th April, 2001
Why do you say that those systems cause additional stress on the car? Power steering just adds parasitic engine power loss and same with AC. How do power door locks add stress to a car? Your comments are dicey, but obviously you have excellent taste in cars.
As an update to my original post. I'm still driving with about 130,000. Had the timing belt replaced-as recommended by owners manual (actually 25,000 late;o). Paint is peeling on roof and trunk (common dodge problem for mid '90's cars) getting ready to sand a spray paint. Also, speedo failed. I still don't regret my purchase. As for the comment about my opinion that options add stress to cars, I'm sticking with it. A/C adds additional under the hood heat. Power windows, door locks, sun roof-all take their toll on the electrical system. 130,000-still have original alternator and only 2nd battery.
It's loosing a bit of it's pep, but still drives 65 like it's nothing. Hope to get one more year out of it.
Base Neon's with 4 lug /13" wheels can use Dodge/Plymouth Omni/Horizon wheels as a potential dress up option that don't need hubcaps. Just make sure you get enough of the center caps as the Omni's tended to knock them off.
21st Feb 2005, 12:18
Not all neons have these problems. Very few do, but overall the dodge neons are good cars.