Thoughts on a 2004 Dodge Neon

[cs1992]

I drove the car today. I must say ,the interior and exterior were almost like new. However, I was not all that impressed. Although the engine hummed right along it was not as smooth as the 1.8L I am used to and road noise was very concerning. Compared to my Vibe it seemed quite unrefined. Having 17k miles on the odometer is not as impressive of a selling point as I thought...at least for the price. The seller needs to drop the price by $1000 for me to show any further interest.

[unkillsam]

Originally Posted by cs1992

I drove the car today. I must say ,the interior and exterior were almost like new. However, I was not all that impressed. Although the engine hummed right along it was not as smooth as the 1.8L I am used to and road noise was very concerning. Compared to my Vibe it seemed quite unrefined. Having 17k miles on the odometer is not as impressive of a selling point as I thought...at least for the price. The seller needs to drop the price by $1000 for me to show any further interest.

A 2004 Neon is worth about $7,000.00 to $7,500 for a private seller according to Kelly Blue Book.

I don't know if the seller would drop it to $6,000.00 unless he really needs to offload the car.

That being said, don't buy it. I don't trust Neons.

[01sunfire01]

look at a cavalier or a sunfire. any year is great for them you can get them dirty cheap also. i drive a 98 cavalier for the winter and i dont mind it at all. it has 104K on it and it runs great. my other friend has a 98 cavalier and its got 146K on it it just threw it first check engine light 2 days ago. there great cars and cant kill them. my friend has a 05 neon SXT and its all decked out with the spoiler rims and fog lamps. she likes it and hasint had a proplem with it. but they are very cheap it only has front power windows and lock the back are not.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by cs1992

Compared to my Vibe it seemed quite unrefined.

Of course it seemed unrefined... you're comparing an American engine to a Toyota engine, what do you expect????

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

Originally Posted by lio45

Of course it seemed unrefined... you're comparing an American engine to a Toyota engine, what do you expect????

Yeah that high-po 1.8 that revs up to like 8000 revs that one is very smooth and nice. The pundits say it is unrefined but that is when it is turning like a billion revs obviously.

[King Riffle]

Originally Posted by 01sunfire01

look at a cavalier or a sunfire. any year is great for them you can get them dirty cheap also. i drive a 98 cavalier for the winter and i dont mind it at all. it has 104K on it and it runs great. my other friend has a 98 cavalier and its got 146K on it it just threw it first check engine light 2 days ago. there great cars and cant kill them. my friend has a 05 neon SXT and its all decked out with the spoiler rims and fog lamps. she likes it and hasint had a proplem with it. but they are very cheap it only has front power windows and lock the back are not.

If you think a Neon is unrefined...

[SuchANiceGirl06]

I had a rental '05 Neon base model and it got the worst highway gas mileage I've ever seen. I drove from Detroit to Indianapolis, Indiana with a full tank of gas. I forget the mileage the car had on it, but I do remember it was pretty much brand new at the time. It's about 350 miles from Detroit to Indianapolis on the highway and I had to fill it back up LESS THAN 300 miles into the drive. I drove a 4-cyl '93 Ford Probe the same distance a year earlier and got to my destination with 1/4 tank to spare. Just from that one experience, I would never purchace a Chrysler (Mitsubishi/Hyundai/whoever else helped design it) 4-cyl car.

[cs1992]

For what it's worth, someone can kill this thread. The Neon is no longer a consideration. There's quite possibly a Mazda Protege in my future now.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by SuchANiceGirl06

I had a rental '05 Neon base model and it got the worst highway gas mileage I've ever seen. I drove from Detroit to Indianapolis, Indiana with a full tank of gas. I forget the mileage the car had on it, but I do remember it was pretty much brand new at the time. It's about 350 miles from Detroit to Indianapolis on the highway and I had to fill it back up LESS THAN 300 miles into the drive. I drove a 4-cyl '93 Ford Probe the same distance a year earlier and got to my destination with 1/4 tank to spare. Just from that one experience, I would never purchace a Chrysler (Mitsubishi/Hyundai/whoever else helped design it) 4-cyl car.

So, you're saying you measure a vehicle's gas mileage by the number of miles you can drive on a tank???????

Neons have TINY GAS TANKS, but they do GET GOOD MILEAGE. I hope you catch the difference.

(My own Neon averaged 42.3 mpg on a Sherbrooke/Chicago round trip last summer... you call that bad mileage? I certainly don't!)

For the record, my old 3500 Dodge Ram and my little VW Rabbit Diesel both got ~400 miles per tank. I guess you'd say they get the same kind of mileage?

News for you: the Dodge cost $120 to fill up for these 400 miles... the Rabbit, around $30.

[Smaart Aas Saabr]

$30 on the Rabbit? Maybe 10 years ago... when we were all complaining about 58 cents/L gasoline...

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Smaart Aas Saabr

$30 on the Rabbit? Maybe 10 years ago... when we were all complaining about 58 cents/L gasoline...

Well, that was back when I had the car, yes.