I’m also of the opinion that Chrysler got overly ambitious with its heady expansion in the 1990s, and that quality suffered because of that. When the Neon came out, Toyota and Honda execs were seriously nervous–until they got a closer look at it, I assume. My son Ed’s GF had a 2000 Neon: Its hatch leaked, the engine burned oil, and it just exuded cheapness all around. But painting every Neon into a corner doesn’t always work; as with any other nameplate, there are always some Neons out there like this one, which is featured at allpar’s 200k club, to prove that one can rack up a half-million miles.
Headline disclaimer: At the time this was posted, in 2009, the Neon was owned by a father-and-son team of Neon-philes and had 446,000 miles on it. Without an update, I can only assume it’s hit the 500,000 mark by now unless they got rid of it, but then again, you never know. Needless to say, the paper-based head gasket has been replaced, and a few other minor issues attended to. It affirms what has been proven time and time again: that in the capable hands of knowledgeable folks who know how to take care of a car properly, a modern car with high mileage is no longer the miracle it once was.
Thats the exact Neon I want. It’d be nice to know what happened to the car. It seems like it would be difficult to part with a car that had that much TLC given to it
A young guy who lives in the apartment house across the street from my house has had several Neons in the last couple of years. He must buy and sell them. Everyone he’s had has been some sort of souped up version. Spoilers, plastic hoods , huge tires, loud mufflers, racing stripes etc. He even replaced bucket seats with some racing type seats. His buddies all have equally ridiculous Neons.
His Neons are the loudest cars I’ve heard in a long time. It’s really funny, seeing him burn rubber on my street. One day, he pulled out of an intersection, as though he was trying to break a 0-60 record.
The whole scenario reminded me of some of the hot rod magazine covers from the 60’s. All he needs is the Beach Boys blaring from the radio.
These days the thump from the blaring stereo would be BOOM BOOM POW
Build quality and longevity are not the same.
My ’06 F-150 is certainly not the best built vehicle I’ve ever owned, not even close. However, it has been the most reliable vehicle I’ve ever owned.
Aside from the looks, which are fine so long as you are wearing a skirt, I really liked a lot about the old Neons. It’s one of the very few small cars a 6’4″ guy like me could be reasonably comfortable in, it peformed well, and it had great visibility. It’s too bad Chrysler cheaped out on it.
Yeah, my ’01 PT Cruiser has been incredibly reliable; 117K so far. It also drives like it weighs about 1000 pounds more than it does, and has the turning radius of a school bus.
My daughter has not been quite as lucky with her ’05 PT. The crankshaft ate a thrust washer, the crank walked forward and pushed the front oil seal out of the front cover. New short block at 47,000 miles. To their credit, Chrysler covered most of the out-of-warranty repair.
My boss at the time (1995) had a Nitro Yellow Neon coupe.
+1
Never owned one; but rented two at different times. Once for a week’s use. I was impressed, frankly; it was unobtrusive, nothing standing out, but so are the Japanese brands. It was roomy. I could see out of it. A girly car, yes, but an entry-level car that really WAS made in America; ALL made in America. Not a Japanese design or Korean engine or other shortcut.
Chrysler, in its last days, had serious problems in cost-cutting engineering techniques making it into final product. But, that said…I have to wonder how much of today’s contempt for cars like the Neon are simply a snobbish rejection of its low PRICE.
Not all vehicles sold under the Star of Stuttgart are bulletproof…or practical…or even desirable; and less so as contempt rises for Daimler’s increasingly-senile customer base. The later Chrysler Experiment showed how far out of touch are the Teutonic masters of marketing when moved from their protected bubble of a clientele. Or how much money they can lose when left to their own contempt and arrogance for their competitors, other nations, foreign (to them) workers, and less-prosperous markets. But…that’s the way the Mercedes Benz.
Not all cars should aspire to perfection in quality; not all customers can afford it or want to pay for it.
The Chrysler-badged Neon (and Chrysler-badged Voyager) marked Chrysler’s return to the New Zealand market – after exiting in the early 80s when they ran out of Australian Valiants and Eurpoean Talbot Alpines – and boy was I excited at the prospect! And then the Neon arrived and I sat in one. Excitement over. Boy was that thing cheap on the inside, and only a 3-speed auto? Shame really, as it looked quite distinctive (in a good way) at the time.The Neon quickly fizzled out, but once the 300C turned up here, Chrysler’s fortunes improved no end.
“a modern car with high mileage is no longer the miracle it once was.”
Now that is a solid truth.
Now that I’m finally settling into my new home I started looking for extended cab F-150s (87-96) to replace the Ram that I felt was too big for my needs at the time.
Even the newest of the old trucks has 250k+ on it. Regardless of the engine.
Here around Houston at least, it’s amazing to see how many of those F-150s are still on the road, and looking extremely good. One of the straight-six standard-transmission examples from my family made it up to 268k before it got handed down to a 17-year old who immediately ruined it. Great trucks, and good-looking too, without this annoying overwrought machismo.
Since Chrysler did seem to sell lots of these, I decided to try and see how many of them I could spot while driving around the last day or so, see if many are left. The CC effect made this easy. Just to make it interesting I also watched out for what I figure would have been it’s primary competition, the J-body also produced from 1995-2005 the same as the Neon. The results were a surprise, last night I saw 8 Neons of both generations as opposed to 15 of the J-Body including one convertible. On a side note, that can’t be a very common car. Today was way more in favor of the J-body than last night at 24 of them to 2 neons. Apparently Neons only come out at night. I looked at production numbers for each and most years they aren’t that far off, so apparently the buyer looking for a small american car in those years got a longer lasting car from the J-body, this is to say nothing of it’s own deficiencies.
In my travels, I’ve noticed they’re slowly disappearing…as commodity-cars do after a decade or so. I seldom see Neons anymore, and almost never the Gen1s.
They were inexpensive cars, sold to people who couldn’t afford better…and such people tend not to be meticulous with care. And when something major lets go, often the owner lacks money or will to repair it.
These Neon got a bad rap in OZ when they showed up non sporty not economical not very well made they sat in showrooms with the equaly underdone Jeep. Back in NZ there are quite a few Jeeps still trundling about but surviving Neons are rare so maybe those writers were correct Neons at twice the price of a Hyundai but only half the car.