2003 Dodge Neon from North America - Comments

I bought a 96 Dodge Neon in February of this year. I only paid $150.00 and the body looked quite nice for $150.00. Since I didn't have much money, I thought this car would be good for me since I would be doing most of the repairs.

Since then, I fixed the brake lines, changed the 4 struts. I had to change the electrical gages in the dashboard. I changed both front calipers and axles. The car leaks inside the trunk, in the back seat floor and front driver floor. I recently had to change the gas tank.

Now the gas leaks around the fuel pump. I changed the seal and it still leaks. I changed the starter and the alternator. I know these parts are just parts that needs to be changed once in a while with older vehicles, but I find that I can hardly keep up with this one.

I've driven a 1988 Pontiac Tempest for over 4 yrs. The car was given to me for free. It needed repairs now and then but not every week. I would fix something, then it would go for months before I would have to fix something else. I've had 2 Chryslers before that and I could never get them to run right. Anybody that wants to learn how to fix a car and wants a crash course and also wants to learn the hands on way, buy yourself a Dodge and in one year, you will know everything about cars. The only good thing about Dodge is that if you need parts, there are lots of them at the JUNK YARD.

The only reason why I do'not like "domestics" is because of their variation on their production processes, you can hear about people doing easily 200k on their Neons and some others doing nothing but problems, and those are the results of variation (helped with driving habits and poor troubleshooting skills of service guys). The higher quality of a Toyota is the result of their tighter process variation and strict specs for their supply chain.

P.S. I'm telling "domestics" because Toyota, Honda and are made and designed by Americans also, but with other philosophy... also you can hear about some "crap Toyotas" "overpriced, etc etc" but they are less...