Comments: 1-15, 16
I have had this car for about 6 months now and so far nothing has gone wrong.
This car is amazing. Especially for the price. I paid under $20,000 for a bran new 04 yellow srt-4. For some of you who know about srt-4, yellow is very rare in 2004. It has more horse power than the 03's and has limited slip. As far as the trany, I love it. The gears slide nicley into place and my clutch has a very good feel to it. As far as after market mods, the list goes on forever. I have a pretty good set up right now and run high 12's. When the winter comes up I will be storing it though. (sports cars do not like the snow) If you are one who wants to smoke most v8's off the line or at top end, go with the srt-4.
What are you running in your srt to run mid 12's? Stock, mine runs 13.94, not bad for first trip to the track for a girl, but that's about what most people pull with stock. A buddy of mine has stage two and he's only running low 13's.???
Don't do the MOPAR upgrades, I mean they are good, but overpriced. If you are going to upgrade the SRT-4 you want to start off with some sort of cold air intake, I suggest the K&N Typhoon its made speciffically for the SRT-4 and adds up to 20 hp. Since the waste gate is week on the turbo you may want another waste gate, if you want to run more than 15 psi this is a good idea. The stock exhust on the car produces a good sound, but with racing downpipes and aftermarket exhust you can put more hp to the wheels. Other good things to add are intercoolers, new fuel injectors and a fuel management system, and def a boost controller. The total price for this would be about 3G, but it would be well worth it, easily get into the 12s.
I can't wait to see how positive the reviews are on these Neon's when they have 30,000+ miles on them. Based on past cars... Dodge has never really built a turbo engine that lasts very long (ever see a Omni GLH or a Spirit RT around anymore? or within the last 12 years for that matter?). In fact, I see many Dodge vehicles, even the non-turbo engines burning oil by the time they are just a couple of years old. Cheap price usually means quality is lacking somewhere... or everywhere. You get what you pay for... especially in the car business. Good luck!!
"... Dodge has never really built a turbo engine that lasts very long (ever see a Omni GLH or a Spirit RT around anymore? or within the last 12 years for that matter?)."
First off, yes. Quite a few Omni's can be seen at drag-strips running 10's, then driving home. I've heard of a few spirits running well over 300hp..some 400 depending on the extent of the mods. I could go into this further, but this space is for the SRT-4. Visit www.turbododge.com for more info on the old dodges.
I only test drove the SRT-4, but I'm waiting to hear about financing for a used '04. Much like my '86 Laser turbo it provided a lot of excitement and felt like the afterburners were lit once you got out of turbo lag.
Well, I meant Omni's and Spirits on the road... Who know's what it costs to keep them on the track, but I am sure most aren't running their original engines by now as they probably blew up many years ago. Like I said, I have seen way too many Chrysler engines failing at young ages with 30,000 or less miles on them. My dad had a TC3 back in the Omni days and it was burning oil at 15K miles and he changed the oil when it got dirty which was about every 1,500 miles (obsessive). I just would rather put my money into a proven car that has more longevity than the Neon does. I'll stick with the WRX...
Do the SRT-4's have a lot of space in them because I'm changing for a 98 eclipse to an SRT-4 and I just want to know is there more room in those?...like leg room and stuff like that?
The Srt-4 has plenty of space. It is basically a normal neon with power and handling.
I can't be sure the SRT-4 will not fall apart in the future, but the major reason you don't see the Spirit R/T anymore had nothing to do with quality. They only made it for 1 year and so there aren't too many of them around. They were too heavy to really take advantage of their power so they didn't sell. They weren't very "sporty" cars despite making good HP. The non-turbo Spirits seem to run without fail regardless of condition and abuse though. The Omni hasn't been made since 86 so I wouldn't be suprised that there aren't too many running around seeing as it hasn't been made in almost 20 years. Again, I can't speak for srt-4 quality, but the other cars are not gone because they were bad or unreliable cars. They either were only made for a year (Spirit RT) or they are old enough to have long since lost factory support. (Omni GLH)
I agree...you're talking about cars that are 15-20 years old...hell, I drive a 1990 Bonneville SSE as my daily driver, and I don't see too many of them around anymore either. Why? It's fifteen frickin years old, that's why lol. Omnis and Spirits were good cars back in the day, but they just lack the factory support to keep them going, and as for the aftermarket...well, if you're a shadetree mechanic and know what you're doing, you can make them very fast for very cheap with junkyard parts, but they aren't good looking cars in my opinion, and are just straight up too old for people to be interested. Any modern, well designed engine should last you quite a while. The SRT-4 should be no exception... but I guess we'll see.
For the tard who thinks the srt4s won't hold up after 30k, do your homework noob. the clever engineers at dodge discovered a thing called forged aluminum. the bottom ends are actually built to handle boost. the only reason the omni never took off was cause there was no market for a car like that at the time, nor was there many produced. thanks to the evolution of electronics and simple mechanics, car manufacturers can now achieve good fuel economy, power, and LONGEVITY out these low displacement engines. I have heard stories where people have already gotten 100k+ out of their srts and they are still running strong-even with mopar upgrades. and just in case something should happen to your srt4, dodge has a wonderful thing that's kinda new... its called an extended warranty. as long as you keep the boost at a rational pressure, an srt4 should last 100k or more. if you figure it dollars/hp, the srt4 isn't a bad deal. so throw up your white flag and join the srt4 clan...we'd love to have ya.
"I can't wait to see how positive the reviews are on these Neon's when they have 30,000+ miles on them. Based on past cars... Dodge has never really built a turbo engine that lasts very long (ever see a Omni GLH or a Spirit RT around anymore? or within the last 12 years for that matter?). In fact, I see many Dodge vehicles, even the non-turbo engines burning oil by the time they are just a couple of years old. Cheap price usually means quality is lacking somewhere... or everywhere. You get what you pay for... especially in the car business. Good luck!!"
Wonder Why There Are So Few Omni GHLs? I own one with 130,000 miles on it and it is one of under 5,000 made in its year. Haven't seen another one yet in the area I live since my friend sold his in '91.
Here is my Dodge Omni GLH Turbo:
http://www.turbosedan.com/omni/DSC01198.JPG
I deliver pizza in it every night. Has about 217k miles on it now.
I have a 2.2 Dodge engine. It has been terrifically durable. These engines were never actually meant to be turbos, but they handled it quite well. Besides needing a head gasket every so often, it's been great.
Hey, Il be getting a new car soon and I've been looking into an SRT-4, why am I hearing that the car after 30thousand miles on it, goes bad, I've never driven one, but I just don't want to get a car that's not going to last me for a little while, the only thing id do to it is maybe a cold air intake, exhaust, who nows...!?
I owned an 88 Dodge Daytona Turbo. I got it for free and it had about 220000 when it finally died. Stock motor, no upgrades or rebuilds. Before it died, it would still spin the tires coming out of second gear in the automatic. I beat the crap out of this car, and look how long it lasted... Seemed durable to me... My uncle owns an '03 srt-4 all stock. I can't believe how fact this car is. I had it up to 140 and it was still going hard. If you look on ebay now you can pick up a nice srt for about 12000.That is an extremely good deal considering what you get.