2002 Dodge Neon SE from North America - Comments

Needed new battery.

Had some minor interior panel rattles.

I bought my 02 neon in about a year ago and it has exceeded my expectations. I found one dirt cheap with a lot of miles and expected more to go wrong with it. So far, it has held up well. So well, in fact I sold my 99 grand am and kept this little sucker.

At 73000 miles, needed its first new car battery and I have a system in mine!

It did have some slightly annoying rattles when I got it, but a little foam under the dash panels fixed that.

Performance-wise, it is a typical four cylinder. It actually isn't too bad for a a subcompact. I drove a 190 HP grandam four three and half years before this and its not too much slower. It is comparable to any Honda accord 4 cylinder model.

Since I got mine, I have installed cruise on it and a spoiler. The wiring seems airtight and the car itself is fairly easy to work on. At 70000 miles I had the timing belt replaced (~300$) as a PRECAUTION.

Car is cheap to maintain and has wonderful brakes. They tend to squeal when they get wet more-so than others, but they stop the car on a dime. Parts are easy to find for it and there are a lot of resources for fixing / upgrading this car.

Idling can be slightly rough (nothing scary) but a good fuel injector cleaning helps a lot.

For a car that I paid 4000$ for with high mileage, this car has done well. It is my first experience with dodge and so far has impressed me.

Yea I have a 5-speed, 2002 dodge neon also, I installed an AEM cold-air intake, magnaflow exhaust, and a pacesetter short-shifter. I also have 2 12" KICKER subs with a ROCKFORD FOSGATE amp, and I can still blow any Honda off the road I want to. You said parts were easy to find and I was wondering if anybody could give me some good sites for the neon.

Thanks.

I would've agreed with you about one week ago. Today I was going to the store and heard a high whining sound and my 02 Neon started to slip gears. It's an automatic with 54,500 miles on it. First, I assumed it needed transmission fluid. As I was trying to get home, it didn't want to go at all. I've had the car 7 months and have only put 6,000 miles on it. I should have known that American made cars are crap. I normally have driven Nissan or Honda. They were great to me until I sold them.