Trouble in Neon-land

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:24 pm

Karl Shultz wrote:

How about option 4 - pay someone else to rebuild the bottom end?

Yeah, thought about that. Trouble is, getting a job like that done would probably cost me somewhere in the $1500-2000 range, which is more than the car is technically worth. Of course the car is worth more than that to me, as it'd cost me more than that to buy a complete working car. But not much more...

Arthur McDonald · **Joined:** Fri Aug 29, 2003 1:54 am **Posts:** 2052

In response to Dick Rasmussen's irritatingly reasonable response to my humble suggestion, I have two words: Grabber Orange.

After some more thought, though, I too would hate to see Carl treat a Mustang like a Neon. There are few cars that deserve such a fate, but one might be the Hyundai Elantra... Don't laugh, consider the factory warrantee:

Basic: 5 yr. / 60,000 mi.
Drivetrain: 10 yr. / 100,000 mi.
Roadside: 5 yr. / Unlimited mi.
Rust: 5 yr. / 100,000 mi.

I suggest buying a 2-year old example
http://www.edmunds.com/used/2005/hyunda ... index.html
to achieve a nice compromise between price and remaining warrantee. See? You don't have work on the car for a long time. Let the dealer do it!

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

If I were looking for a durable, good-handling, fun, economical daily driver that could also take some rallycross abuse, I'd probably be shopping for one of these -- Probably would meet your goal of being a good car for another 6-7 years with minimal hassle. Also gets great mileage.

I've always liked those. They are pretty hard to find for a gool deal though. I think they were made from 2001-2003 and you'll find prices from $4-10k

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:58 am

I suggest a 1989 Mirage Turbo!

Karl Shultz · **Posted:** Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:01 am

Granted, I know nothing of their reliability, but Carl what about a Dodge SRT-4? It'd be Neon 2.0, this time with a whole mountain of boost bolted up to it...

JamesFeinberg · **Posted:** Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:32 am

MikeWhitney wrote:

II've always liked those. They are pretty hard to find for a gool deal though. I think they were made from 2001-2003 and you'll find prices from $4-10k

What is that Mike? Subaru? Saab? Mazda?

Maybe I'm getting old but I have a hard time telling these newfangled cars apart these days.

Jim

Todd Breakey · **Posted:** Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:38 am

Looks like a Mazda Protoge 5 to me. I've always like those also.

Carl, they look REALLY good in the Mazda yellow that they made!! :lol:

Jason Mauldin · **Posted:** Fri Aug 03, 2007 12:34 pm

Todd Breakey wrote:

Looks like a Mazda Protoge 5 to me. I've always like those also.

Carl, they look REALLY good in the Mazda yellow that they made!! :lol:

I like the dark blue ones.

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Fri Aug 03, 2007 3:44 pm

Karl Shultz wrote:

Granted, I know nothing of their reliability, but Carl what about a Dodge SRT-4? It'd be Neon 2.0, this time with a whole mountain of boost bolted up to it...

I think they're reliable/durable enough, as they're semi-popular in stage rally nowadays, but IIRC they require premium gas and only get like 19MPG. Or at least I'm sure that's all I'd ever get...

Carl Fisher · **Posted:** Fri Aug 03, 2007 4:00 pm

Jason Mauldin wrote:

Todd Breakey wrote:

Looks like a Mazda Protoge 5 to me. I've always like those also.

Carl, they look REALLY good in the Mazda yellow that they made!! :lol:

I like the dark blue ones.

Yeah the Protege 5s are pretty nice. I test drove one a few years ago and thought it handled pretty well, but a little slow compared to the Neon. Of course now almost anything's fast compared to the Neon! :-)

edit: I meant "Protege 5". Fixied.

BriceJohnson · **Joined:** Thu Apr 13, 2006 7:33 am **Posts:** 2230

careful, the mazda5 is a minivan (replaced the MPV in the lineup), the Protege5 is the car we're talking about here (which was replaced by the mazda3 hatchback)

Ash Nelson · **Posted:** Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:15 pm

Man, I just spotted this thread and I'm sorry to see the Neon go, if it must.

I do vote for the Mazda though, we've been very happy with the Mazda 3, although we have yet to race it, it is an excellent daily driver with a consistant 30MPG, and with different tires I think it would handle very well off road.

That said, if you decide to have a Neon resurrection/rebuild party, I'm there!

I'm one of the fastest tool fetchers this side of our garage. :mrgreen:

ChrisSuich · **Posted:** Mon Aug 06, 2007 10:57 am

These are sad times... :cryin:

The "Just a Neon" got me hooked on RallyX. I will be sad to see it go.

It you decide to rebuild, I will help. Afterall, I'm sure I took a little off it's life expectancy. :oops:

Otherwise, let us know when and where the funeral will be.

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