My wife is looking for a different car. She drives a Honda Civic. She test drove a 2004 Dodge Neon TR4 Recently. I don’t know if these are reliable cars or not. Also she was concerned about reaching the pedals as she is not a very tall person (about 5’ 2"). She also drove a Mazda 3 and liked that- although she thinks the TR4 is more appealing to the eye.
It had the second worst rating in frontal impact testing and the worst in side impact. Gas mileage is poor (22 MPG average). Reliability is not too bad, with occasional problems in the lower control arms. It received particularly poor ratings from the usual reviewers at the time it was sold. If the car is in excellent shape, it might be worth it if she really likes it. BTW, this is an SRT-4, not a TR4.
Umm, you do mean the “SRT-4” ? There’s no “TR4” unless you’re talking about classic British roadsters. The SRT-4 is the high performance variant of the Neon, it is turbocharged and very quick. It likley won’t be as reliable as a Civic or Corolla.
These cars were often trashed by their previous owners beware of examples that have been modified.
Going from a Civic to a Neon seems like a regressive step to me. I know several people who have bought Dodge (Chrysler) products in the last 16 or so years, and those cars did not age well at all. Is her Civic pretty well worn-out, or is she just tired of it? As noted by FoDaddy, many of these cars were owned by teenagers who trashed them before getting rid of them.
Mazda 3 is a far superior car.
If the Neon TR4 means SRT-4 (double check) run.
Yes- I am sorry. it was an SRT-4. What happened to the days when cars had names like Nova or Comet? All these acronyms leave me confused-LOL!!
They made a SRT4 or an R/T but not a TR4, all neons were fun to drive for a small economy car and a lot of fun to drive in the R/t. Neons should be quite inexpensive to buy but not especially reliable. The Mazda 3 is a much more polished and reliable car,and more expensive.
The SRt-4 is still a neon underneath. It’s got a lotof giddyup but the interior is going to start falling appart. The motors are pretty solid as long as you don’t plan on modifying it too much.
Don’t forget to check the fender wells for ruber bits etc, don’t want to buy a sports car that’s had the snot beat out of it.