Dodge SRT-4 and my 240SX

[4cefed]

Hi all. I just bought an SRT-4 and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it. Plenty of horesepower and room for improvement. It can haul the family, and it's almost worth having one just so you can use the line: "Nice WRX, my neon is faster."

So I've been driving it around for a week and then I got back in my 240 and remembered how fun it is. It may be outgunned, but I get an ear to ear smile every time I drop the hammer in the Nissan. Besides, it's hard to powerslide a FWD. AND... I'm sure in a few years the Dodge will disintegrate and be just like all the other barely drivable turbo dodges in my yard, but the Nissan should keep going.

[Tino]

woohoo another one for new england!

[MainEvent212]

you must die...

[-HyJynX-]

neon faster then a WRX...? lol

[[Zero-S]]

bah srt4...hope it doesn't break on you like my neon did. (Shi...mine was the expresso with the R/T engine so don't even think I had a cheap one).

[-HyJynX-]

:nono most domestics :nono

[Cold_Zero]

Hi all. I just bought an SRT-4 and I have to say I'm pretty happy with it. Plenty of horesepower and room for improvement. It can haul the family, and it's almost worth having one just so you can use the line: "Nice WRX, my neon is faster."

So I've been driving it around for a week and then I got back in my 240 and remembered how fun it is. It may be outgunned, but I get an ear to ear smile every time I drop the hammer in the Nissan. Besides, it's hard to powerslide a FWD. AND... I'm sure in a few years the Dodge will disintegrate and be just like all the other barely drivable turbo dodges in my yard, but the Nissan should keep going.

Lets see where do I start? It’s good that there are rivalries in the car industry again. STi vs. EVO... I have seen the SRT-4 in person and I have been very impressed. The thing will get up and scoot. It really is designed to go quickly in the straight line and Dodge is marketing the car to people that feel that is very important.

What do you mean by room for improvement? Untapped power potential or things that Dodge forgot to include, like a limited slip differential? I would make sure you are careful who you say "Nice WRX, my neon is faster" to, since a lot of WRX’s are now being modified. The first comment out of my mouth, if some a SRT-4 owner runs his mouth about my WRX will be... "Can you run full boost in the snow and make SUV's look stupid as your pulling away from them?" (Last winter I thought I was Tommi Makinen). But the term "faster" is a relative term. Faster on wet pavement, standing water, snow, gravel, grass or off the beaten path? Faster in the curves or out on the highway? Faster when it’s sitting in the Dodge Service Center waiting to be rebuilt because the oil pump went out at 40kmi and there is sludge in the engine (don’t ask how I know)? Personally I would take a totally stock Nissan 240 that will go over 200k mi easily then a suspect Dodge that if it makes it to 100k mi you will have paid for the car twice after rebuilding most of its vital systems.

I hope that the new SRT-4 owners enjoy their new purchases and I also hope that it will last long for them. Bring back the car wars since most of us where not old enough to remember or enjoy the muscle car era.

[Jesda]

GM, Buick and Cadillac especially, are tops for reliability and dependability.

[BadMojo]

Add RWD, a LSD and some major exterior restyling and I'd be all over the SRT-4. I just can't get around the way the Neon looks on the outside.

Just out of curiousity, what other turbo Dodges have you owned?

[MaineExport]

Nice work 4cefed!!! Back into the turbo Dodge cars again!!!

So are you gonna run it in the hill climbs or what? When is the next event anyway... I might make it for one this year after all. My buddy Rob (yellow GTI) keeps bugging me to bring down the 240 and give it a go.

haha... on a side note... sounds like some of the haters in this thread have boost envy... or maybe STOCK horsepower envy.

[Jesda]

The next Neon is basically going to be a rebadged Mitsu Lancer. I hate the look of the Lancer; its so lifeless and bland. At least the Neon has an aggressive stance.

-jesda

[f1seb]

Lets see where do I start? It’s good that there are rivalries in the car industry again. STi vs. EVO... I have seen the SRT-4 in person and I have been very impressed. The thing will get up and scoot. It really is designed to go quickly in the straight line and Dodge is marketing the car to people that feel that is very important.

What do you mean by room for improvement? Untapped power potential or things that Dodge forgot to include, like a limited slip differential? I would make sure you are careful who you say "Nice WRX, my neon is faster" to, since a lot of WRX’s are now being modified. The first comment out of my mouth, if some a SRT-4 owner runs his mouth about my WRX will be... "Can you run full boost in the snow and make SUV's look stupid as your pulling away from them?" (Last winter I thought I was Tommi Makinen). But the term "faster" is a relative term. Faster on wet pavement, standing water, snow, gravel, grass or off the beaten path? Faster in the curves or out on the highway? Faster when it’s sitting in the Dodge Service Center waiting to be rebuilt because the oil pump went out at 40kmi and there is sludge in the engine (don’t ask how I know)? Personally I would take a totally stock Nissan 240 that will go over 200k mi easily then a suspect Dodge that if it makes it to 100k mi you will have paid for the car twice after rebuilding most of its vital systems.

I hope that the new SRT-4 owners enjoy their new purchases and I also hope that it will last long for them. Bring back the car wars since most of us where not old enough to remember or enjoy the muscle car era.

Yeah but you actually going to wait for snow I mean you gotta wait like months depending what time of the year it is, by that time he could be already home. Anyways you actually would have the balls to take out a nice car like the wrx into gravel? There is no dispute on if the car can take it cause it can but the paint getting chipped and stuff maybe hitting a rock and messing up your suspension. I think the neon looks kinda ugly and thats what I thought about the wrx cause it reminded me at first of the neon. But Dodge did what they wanted and made a car for less then 20k that is fast, now I'm pretty sure that they didnt go all out on those parts and probably there will be a good number of breakdowns and failed parts....whats the warranty on one of those??

[Former_240_s14]

Nice work 4cefed!!! Back into the turbo Dodge cars again!!!

So are you gonna run it in the hill climbs or what? When is the next event anyway... I might make it for one this year after all. My buddy Rob (yellow GTI) keeps bugging me to bring down the 240 and give it a go.

haha... on a side note... sounds like some of the haters in this thread have boost envy... or maybe STOCK horsepower envy.

I gotta stick up for bud, he has no boost envy, he owns a WRX and it is PIMP!

[MaineExport]

I gotta stick up for bud, he has no boost envy, he owns a WRX and it is PIMP!

Yeah... I wasn't really talking about Cold-Zero... although he does seem sore about the fact that, by all typical industry standard measurements, the SRT-4 IS IN FACT faster than his WRX!! stock vs. stock

I am by no means a fan of the new Neon... there have been many threads about this car and I've always said I think it's ugly and it will likely have reliability issues. The poblem is... no one has had one long enough to prove otherwise. Every other Neon I've ever seen has had MAJOR problems from the get-go. Hopefully this one will be an exception to the Neon rule.

But, the SRT-4 is a fast car right out of the box... that is impressive and I think they have raised the bar for the competition. I'm glad to see 4cefed picked one up. If anyone here has a wealth of experience with Dodge products (especially turbo'd ones) it's him... I'm sure he knows exactly what he's gotten into.

[MaineExport]

....whats the warranty on one of those??

I believe it's the typical Dodge 7 year 70,000 mile jobby.

[MainEvent212]

yea, but i've heard of blown turbos before 40k

[MasterMan]

yeah go on the neon forums, some ppl had the clutches go out b4 7,000 miles (or around there)... congrats on ur new buy, if your happy with it then more power to u.. for me tho i would never buy a neon.. no matter how fast it goes it still looks ugly as hell and to me, it still is a "get around town" car... my dads wife owned a neon it was the worst pice of S ever.. but maby they improved on the SRT-4

[4cefed]

Yeah yeah... neons are a piece of sh*t. That's why I still can't believe I bought one. It has a 7 year 70k mile powertrain warranty, and I got an extended bumper to bumper warranty to 5 year 60k mile.

I'm not worried so much about the powertrain. That 2.4 turbo has been around for almost 10 years in Mexico. From the research I've done, it looks like Dodge built another battle-tank engine. I have no worries whatsoever about hurting the engine or trans. The stock HP numbers are a little low. People are dynoing them stock at ~220 HP and ~245 TQ at the WHEELS. They have a simple factory upgrade kit which consists of fuel injectors and a computer, with that, the numbers move to about 240 HP and 265 TQ at the wheels. True, it doesn't have an LSD, but I've been dealing with open diffs in high horse FWDs for a while so I'm used to it.

Zero: I was talking stock for stock the SRT-4 is faster than the WRX, and I have my Audi 90 quattro for embarassing the SUVs. It might not be able to hang with the WRX, but it's almost as fun.

Maine: Thanks for backing me up. I don't think I'll hillclimb it for a while since my race car is about as fast.

And remember, when my crappy domestic is broken, I'll just have more fun in the 240SX.

[Cold_Zero]

I have plenty of love for the Audi quarttors. I think they are a good car. It looks like with the winters you get in Vermont, you are covered. Drive the SRT-4 in the summer and the Audi in the winter.

Dodge has been in the 4 cylinder turbo game for a long time now. I am sure they have worked out bugs and problems that may have been present in the previous versions. As I have said, over all I am impressed with the SRT-4 and yeah a little bit sore about it. I am sure that the WRX will get bumped up in numbers in '05. There is so much to do to the WRX to make it go faster that I am really not worried.

And why would you take a WRX off road? Because you can. I know plenty of guys that off road on dirt roads in Southern Indiana and have a blast doing it. Most of the roads are either gravel or dirt. Makes for a fun (non competition) rally.

[The Riot Hero]

i dont think there will be any kind of reliabilty problems at all with that car. the motor is WAAAYYYY over built the transmission is twice as strong as the A568 used in the spirit r/ts some daytonas and minivans. and i dont think anyone has ever busted an A568 from sheer power. the axles ont he srt4 are also beefed bigtime.

chrysler went all out, the whole car is overkill, how they managed to do it for under 20k? who knows.

BTW, i used to have a spirit r/t that would smoke modified corvettes, nothing liek having a red 4 door dodge spirit fly pas tyou when you have the pedal to the floor in your Z06

ahh turbo dodges are sweet.

[BadMojo]

yeah go on the neon forums, some ppl had the clutches go out b4 7,000 miles (or around there)

I'd be willing to bet that most of those were from driver abuse.

I might have to test drive the SRT-4. I really don't want to go back FWD, but the performance numbers are compelling. Both the WRX and SRT-4 are in my price range. I'll most likely wait until next year to buy a new car (have to wait to see how some job-related stuff turns out), but it doesn't hurt to do some research now.

As fun as the car may be to drive, I don't know if I'll ever be able to get over the styling. I absolutely *hate* the way the Neon looks. I think the bug-eyed headlights and the "basket handle" rear spoiler seal the deal for me.

I also think separating the SRT-4 from the rest of the Neon line (in styling & name) would attract a lot of buyers scared off by the Neon stigma.

It will be interesting to see how the other auto manufacturers react to the SRT-4. I'd love to see a competitive Nissan Sentra Spec-V...

[marknfx]

*good job dodge*

u guys can bag on the SRT-4 all u want its a badass car for the money.

Its good to finally see the domestic jump into the game ... but now its time for them to play catch up with the imports, and when they do all hell will break lose. I've seen some of GM proto type since i live in michigan and i work with alot of big name companies. All the big 3 are going after the same market (compact cars) since the price of gas isn't gonna be dropping anytime soon look for the big 3 to come out with some crazy cars at prices everyone can afford.

[Altiman94]

Just so you know.. the R/t engine is the 2.0 DOHC. It was absolultey no different from the Sport, or the expresso engines for that matter. The only performacne difference was different gearing the transmission.

[MasterMan]

i think they should of come up with a new look and use that engine.. like.. something along the lines of an NSX look or somthing.. just somthing new.. why use the same old neon body on their "preformance" car.. but thats just what i think.. i dunno

[4cefed]

It's funny. I looked at a new WRX when they got here and I couldn't get over the styling. I thought the older body (GC8?) was sweet. I said to myself: "I can't buy this thing, it looks like a neon!" Later the look grew on me, and I still think the regular neons look like crap. I like the look of the SRT-4 only slightly better just from the hood scoop, and the big FMIC glaring at you in the fascia. And as stupid as the "basket handle" looks, I can't really think of a spoiler that would look good on it.

Dodge made a last-ditch effort to try and separate the neon and the SRT-4 by marketing it as "not a neon." There are a couple people that are P*SSED OFF on the SRT forum. They are in total denial that the thing is a neon and get ripped whe people tell them they bought a neon.

Cold_Zero: I took a hard look at the WRX and I backed away for a couple reasons. It's about $26k to get one, and if you pay that much, why not get an EVO for $30k? Two of my frineds have '01 2.5 RSs and they have had lots of problems. Clutch issues, wheel bearing problems, 5th gear problems... I know the WRX has a different trans, but it still worried me. And insurance is ludicrus on the things. Half the people that own them think they are playing a live version of GT3 and crash them into everything. I think the WRX is basically a better car than the SRT-4 on many levels, but it's just more than what I wanted to pay. I like subies a lot, and I'll keep my eye on them.

[BadMojo]

So, 4cefed...can you give us more of your impressions of the SRT-4? A mini review, perhaps?

Is torque steer an issue with that much power in a FWD car?

[KoukiS14]

neon faster then a WRX...? lol

It is.

[4cefed]

In a nutshell, it's way more fun than you should have for less than $20k. I don't know if I'm used to a certain level of torque steer, or if it just isn't a factor. Dodge used the equal length CV axles again as they have in past turbo cars. So really , there isn't a noticeable ammount.

It's broken in finally so I've been beating on it the past couple days. It pulls real well and more importantly FEELS like a turbo car. At around 3.5 - 4k on the tach the thing surges ahead and you find redline quicker than you expect. I took a blast up to 140mph and didn't find the speed gov. yet. I'm ordering the first upgrade kit soon, and I'm sure I'll be real happy with that.

I still love my Nissan though. The neon is commuter they made quick, but the 240 was a sportscar from the beginning.

[nlzmo400r]

it was hard for me to believe at first, but i have not accepted that the srt-4 is faster than the wrx in teh 1/4 ,and i give props to dodge for biulding a quick lil car so cheap, sure it wont last long, but for what it is, not bad at all, job wel done, but theres always going to be that wrx driver that knows his car so well, and how to get every last hp out of it that he's going to beat the srt-4s everytime

[nlzmo400r]

It is.

]all depending on driver of course, but 9/1o times, yes