WARNING! ESSAY FOLLOWS: Since everyone is entitiled to their own opinion, here's mine: An SRT-4 is what it is and depending on what you want, it delivers well but only on a few points. People downplay the ability of the car by immaturely claiming it's "just" a Neon. I drive a 2001 Neon R/T. To my own fault, I didn't tighten the lugs well enough and the whole thing came apart up at Azusa Mountains. Put her back together, getting new axles soon as my old ones CV joints were torn up by my repeated hard launches, and it runs fine. Fun even. I had mine decked out with Leather and traction control and all the crap Dodge had to offer in 2001. Yeah it's not your normal Neon, so my experience is probably skewed. I agree with a couple things: rear seat sucks, interior quality sucks. But to make a point here, how many of us use the rear seats on our Supra's and can honestly say they're that much better? I've sat in the back of mine and I'd rather ride in the back of my Neon where at least some leg and head room exists. Chrysler quality for years meant the car broke down on you every chance it got. This is just my personal experience, but let me tally the times my car has broken on it's own (not counting the wheel thing). Once, a belt tensioner seized and I drove home without power steering. Fixed it in one day, and got timing belt changed. That was at 110K miles. I bought it at 80K. It has 130K on it now. I've driven it hard, I've driven it to its limits constantly. I've beaten on it, driven it into the ground, and it still faithfully starts up and drives like nothing was wrong every morning. I can say the Supra has failed to start MANY times. The Supra has blown gaskets and alternators and left me stranded more times than I can count. In my eyes, the Supra has let me down more than any other car I've ever owned. Why do I still own one? I'm willing to forgive its faults because I love her so. It's like a tempermental child. The Neon on the other hand, is like my obedient dog, willing and eager to do what I ask of it. If you think the Neon was a joke ever since its inception, I'm not laughing. Neons have competed in SCCA races ever since its inception, and have taken numerous class championships. That's not really much to laugh about. Today the SRT-4 ACR is one of the fastest in its class. The SRT-4 remains one of best bang for the buck deals out there. Is the motor bulletproof? Take a .45 to it and see if you want, but you should always take care of your car. I admitedlly don't take care of my Neon as well as I did the Supra. I thought, "hey, it's a Neon, who cares?". I apparently do care. Care enough to do basic maintenence. Going back to the SRT-4, in terms of speed, they should not be taken lightly. They are true 150mph cars and get there pretty quick for "just a Neon". Interior-wise they still are lacking compared to practically everything. With the same motor powering my Brother's 2003 Pt Cruiser GT, his bone-stock wagonoid has bested many fart-can Civics and the like and even matched up pretty even with my friend's Turbo Civic. It all comes down to what you want. You can build your Supra to be as fast or faster than the SRT-4 down the street. But you can also build an SRT-4 to be as fast or faster than most of the Supra's on this board. If all you have to downtalk on the SRT-4/Neon is the interior and questionable quality, you should seriously reconsider what you think is a bad car. The Supra has a great interior..... for 1986. Nowadays it's about as good as a Neon. By this standard it would be a bad car. Is it fair to be comparing a newer car to a car 10 years older? Well, is it fair to state that a car simply sucks based on rumors and own personal opinion without ever having driven and/or owned one? Yes, I am defending the Neon and by the same token the SRT-4 it begat because I own a Neon and am damn well pleased by it. I take no shame in it since I can clearly identify what the car is designed for, yet I was pleased to know it's capabilites go beyond what most college girls use the car for. Yeah, most Neon owner's are college-age girls. You are not being a traitor to this board by liking the SRT-4. It seems to me you like power, which SRT's have plenty of. Last time I checked, people on this board liked power. As for styling, that's all pure opinion. I like mine. Still, I have reservations on the car, like it's Front Wheel Drive:icon_evil , the interior still isn't like the Infiniti G35 coupe parked in my driveway (girlfriend's), and the rarely used rear seat is about as comfortable as a Chris Bangle designed lounger. One can downtalk on ANY car ever MADE. But you should also point out its strengths. Is my opinion valid since I have never owned every car made? That's up to you, since I admit I have no personal experience with every car ever. Downtalking a car you know very little about without highlighting its strengths is an injustice to all people who value your opinion. An injustice to all car-dom would be to claim the SRT-4 was the best car ever built. No car can ever universally claim that title. EVER. Still, this all means nothing if you STILL believe it's just a Neon, which I am sure some of you still do.
. The only real reason im even thinking about it, is im constantly taking friends around and the supra has no back seats lets be honest about it lol.
