2001 Dodge Neon SE from North America - Comments

I bought this car in August - so I wasn't using the defrost. But 4 months after buying this car I found myself needing the defrost when the weather started to get colder. Whenever I used the defrost, the entire car would fill up with exhaust. At first, I didn't realize this was a huge problem, but after a couple weeks, I couldn't take it anymore and took it in to the dealership.

3 months later (about 26,000 miles) I had to get my rotars turned. Normally, rotars are turned at around 60,000 miles.

Exactly 1 year after buying the car, it rained pretty hard for a few days while I was in Kansas City - I left my car back home. When I got back, the inside of the car was filled with about 4 inches of water. The trunk was soaking wet, too. I left some books and papers in my trunk - which ended up being unsalvageable. Even thought I didn't see any windows left down, I thought that's probably what happened. So I got it all cleaned up the next day. However, it rained pretty good a few weeks later... I finally got smart, looked up this problem online, and took it in to the dealership as soon as possible.

As far as comfort goes... this car pretty nice for short drives. However, on long road trips...it's very uncomfortable. I find my back hurting after a 3 hour drive. (...and I'm a 22 year old male)

I'd say the only really good thing about this car is that it's reasonably inexpensive and it looks pretty nice. I wanted something 4-door (to give rides & stuff), but kinda sporty looking. Hey... for under 10K, you can't find much.

I'm looking to get a new car soon and have been thinking about the Mazda6. There's 2 rules when buying a car:

1) Never buy a BRAND NEW car. (a year old at the very most)

2) Always do some research online (in some of the forums) to see if people like the car you are planning to buy. This has proved to be VERY VERY helpful in narrowing down my next car!

I have an 01 neon, but it is a manual transmission. With just a few upgrades it made my car sweet. there is especially no interior problems, what was wrong did you buy a car that got wrecked and/or did not get maintained? I have 50,000 have had no problems and my car is still under warranty.

I have a 2001 Neon SE also, with approx. 31K miles on it. I even purchased the extended warranty as protection. All the time I've owned the car it has stood uncovered exposed to all the elements of nature. Until this past weekend, when I opened the door after a heavy rainfall and found a lot of water collected on the driver side floor. After investigating the problem myself I found that the water is leaking in from above the break pedal through the body. There is no rust or even any drain holes for this water to get in. I've maintained this car regularly including washes. It's immaculate in condition, except for this water leak. It turns out that this is not covered under the extended warranty and the bumper to bumper expired back in Dec. '03.

Any suggestions on how to get this problem repaired by Dodge without any charges for me?

Thank you.

I just purchased a 01 neon se hope it works for me. Got it just for gas mileage. Wife has 03 mazda 6 great car don't believe you'll get it for less than 10k.

Dear Mr. Water Leak-

A car is an appliance that occasionally needs to be repaired. This means that you might need to put some money into it. Don't look for a free handout from Dodge unless it's a widespread problem. Most likely you just have some leaves clogging a drain hole or something and it won't be an expensive fix. Just deal with it and move on.

I have to disagree with the other comments. My 2001 Neon SE has been great. It is at 131000+miles. It has been very dependable. I had refused to by another dodge since 1987 I owned a hunk of junk charger 1987. It is the luck of draw when purchasing a vehicle. Both of my dodges were brand new.