I have noticed that people with Neons either hate or love them. I noticed that the negative comments seem to stem from used car regular maintenance complaints. In other words, they did not like the fact that they bought a used car with the mileage it had on it. Neons are temperamental and I will not argue that; however, one should probably expect to make repairs on any used car with the mileage that is being reported here. Not to put to fine of a point on it, they (these individuals) would most likely complain about any used car purchase due to lack of mechanical skills or knowledge. Neons have a fault with headgaskets near their number four head bolt. The blind hole in the block has NOT been drilled deep enough and a 100 thousand ground off the head bolt usually cures that problem. Sensor problems that cause the computer to make bad calls on engine operations is the number two problem encountered. When I here someone complain about no low-end power it is usually because they have a stock automatic. Four valve per-chamber motors have peaky engine performance and require the ability to keep the motor revved up (this is hard with an automatic sometimes). I will note however, that the fastest Neon is an automatic car (8’s and 9‘s in the quarter mile I believe). My Neon is a Honda killer at the track and that is good enough for me.

P.S. I saw that a complaint was the radiator was leaking on the exhaust manifold. The exhaust manifold is behind the motor and well hidden from any radiator leaks, which suggests a lack experience. This supports my belief of complaints vs. knowledge on this issue.