SRT is here!!!!

[Dexter]

Maybe you should go join clubrsx, your attitude would fit right in, which actually makes me wobder why you didn't buy a RSX? Did you know that in JD power initial quality the Neon rates MUCH higher than the protege? Right your car isn't a Protege thought, its a MSP, the Ferrari of sport compacts...

having owned 3 proteges and driven 2 neons i can call bulls*** on the JD power initial qulaity of the Neon.

 

[buster]

Car and Driver (on TV) said that if you want to go fast in a straight line, and beat virtually every car you come up against in the daily "stop light drag race", get the SRT-4, but if you want something that you can actually live with and enjoy driving, get the Mazdaspeed Protege.

They also made mention that the exhaust on the SRT-4 is so loud that it might draw complaints from neighbors in most neighborhoods. And the "functional hood scoop" is indeed functional, if the function was to blow air on the valve cover .

MSP = refined all-around sports sedan, daily driver
SRT-4 = sport compact drag car, take it to the track Friday night

Wow....
The SRT4 is not far off the handling of the MSP, do your research and you will see. The scoop draws air over the the turbo AND has a second route that blows air directly into the airbox if you choose to set it up that way. The MSP is still a Protege and refinment has never been it strong suit. I suppose that clunks, squeaks, rattles, and a malfunctioning $500 deck are all good examples.
I think over and over I have showed a tremendous amount of respect for people on this forum and the MSP, and this is what I get in return...(rant)

 

[buster]

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=3671

 

[Dexter]

http://www.thecarconnection.com/index.asp?article=3671

i dont even see protege on that list

...go get the SRT then...

 

[Sir Nuke]

Power fronts, the rears only open half way(child safe) so they decided not to have power rears.



Interesting, so you have sat in a 03 production vehicle? And by that you can say it is an all round better car?

yes...at the auto show....and I am speaking of the fit and finish of the interior.....the SRT is faster in the straight line with out a doubt.....but that is not something that is very important to me.....if you just get a good look at its interior......it looks cheap!

 

[Newf]

well, according to that JD Power nonsense, the Neon rates higher then some BMW's , and Benz's as well as Preludes, High end toyota's etc etc etc.

So, I'm not really taking that thing serious

 

[brennan]

I don't care what you say about a dodge I have owned 2 one a neon and a intrepid all I can say is cheaply made and piles of crap all around, I have had no problem with proteges ever and I have owned 2 not including the msp, so I could care less about the srt-4 I have seen it and to me looks like total ass, it is not good looking at all, yes it has very good seats but everything else really looks like it was put together by fischer price.

Just my 02.cents

 

[JasonH]

Wow....
The SRT4 is not far off the handling of the MSP, do your research and you will see. The scoop draws air over the the turbo AND has a second route that blows air directly into the airbox if you choose to set it up that way. The MSP is still a Protege and refinment has never been it strong suit. I suppose that clunks, squeaks, rattles, and a malfunctioning $500 deck are all good examples.
I think over and over I have showed a tremendous amount of respect for people on this forum and the MSP, and this is what I get in return...(rant)

I did my research. I am only communicating what Car & Driver said about the cars. They have driven both of them so they are more qualified than you or I to make comparisons.

I've seen nothing that shows me the hood scoop does anything. If it had a setup like a Camaro SS or other car with real ram air, that would be something. As it is, it's 99% for looks and maybe 1% "functional".

You get the respect that you give. You want to have a discussion about the relative merits of each vehicle, fine. You want us to tell you the SRT-4 is a better car than the Mazdaspeed Protege? Well, this is a Protege forum, so you're probably in the wrong place.

Oh, and did you consider my reply disrespectful? If so, it's not what I intended and I doubt anybody else would have considered it that way. Maybe you have some issues of your own you need to work out.

 

[RuggedMazda]

Touchy subject!!!!

I can tell you right now that my friend is going to think
the SRT is "gold" if he gets it, he's just that kind of person.
To some poeple this csr is going to be the ''best neon ever made".

"Wow....
The SRT4 is not far off the handling of the MSP, do your research and you will see. The scoop draws air over the the turbo AND has a second route that blows air directly into the airbox if you choose to set it up that way. The MSP is still a Protege and refinment has never been it strong suit. I suppose that clunks, squeaks, rattles, and a malfunctioning $500 deck are all good examples."

Are you looking to buy the SRT, it sounds like it? Or maybe
your just saying that the car has good potential.
Handling???? Don't you think the car sits to high? Really high
in the back, from pic that I have seen.... I think it was you that
siad the handling can use some work & I agreed.....
I also hear that Modding it will be an issue...
Is the Neon still made from "RECYCLED MATERIAL"?

 

[buster]

yes...at the auto show....and I am speaking of the fit and finish of the interior.....the SRT is faster in the straight line with out a doubt.....but that is not something that is very important to me.....if you just get a good look at its interior......it looks cheap!

It is called sarcasm, there was not one production model at a car show. So you sat in a prototype. Curious, how many of you have sat in or driven a 2nd gen Neon, or R/T? I drove a MP3 before I bought my car, as well as a SIR, and a SpecV about 5 months later. I don't think there is a difference in the build quality, or fit and finish of any of these.

 

[buster]

well, according to that JD Power nonsense, the Neon rates higher then some BMW's , and Benz's as well as Preludes, High end toyota's etc etc etc.

So, I'm not really taking that thing serious

JD Power, nonsense....uh ok?

 

[buster]

I don't care what you say about a dodge I have owned 2 one a neon and a intrepid all I can say is cheaply made and piles of crap all around, I have had no problem with proteges ever and I have owned 2 not including the msp, so I could care less about the srt-4 I have seen it and to me looks like total ass, it is not good looking at all, yes it has very good seats but everything else really looks like it was put together by fischer price.

Just my 02.cents

2nd gen Neons? Looks like ass, interesting choice of words.

 

[buster]

I did my research. I am only communicating what Car & Driver said about the cars. They have driven both of them so they are more qualified than you or I to make comparisons.

I've seen nothing that shows me the hood scoop does anything. If it had a setup like a Camaro SS or other car with real ram air, that would be something. As it is, it's 99% for looks and maybe 1% "functional".

You get the respect that you give. You want to have a discussion about the relative merits of each vehicle, fine. You want us to tell you the SRT-4 is a better car than the Mazdaspeed Protege? Well, this is a Protege forum, so you're probably in the wrong place.

Oh, and did you consider my reply disrespectful? If so, it's not what I intended and I doubt anybody else would have considered it that way. Maybe you have some issues of your own you need to work out.

There are a few picture around I will try to find of the routing for the scoop, but as I said, it is functional. By respect I meant the "looks like ass", "POS" comments. I am not asking people to love it, a simple "I think it is ugly", or "I would wait and see what the quality is like" is all I meant.
No issues here, sorry to dissapoint.

 

[buster]

Re: Touchy subject!!!!

I can tell you right now that my friend is going to think
the SRT is "gold" if he gets it, he's just that kind of person.
To some poeple this csr is going to be the ''best neon ever made".

"Wow....
The SRT4 is not far off the handling of the MSP, do your research and you will see. The scoop draws air over the the turbo AND has a second route that blows air directly into the airbox if you choose to set it up that way. The MSP is still a Protege and refinment has never been it strong suit. I suppose that clunks, squeaks, rattles, and a malfunctioning $500 deck are all good examples."

Are you looking to buy the SRT, it sounds like it? Or maybe
your just saying that the car has good potential.
Handling???? Don't you think the car sits to high? Really high
in the back, from pic that I have seen.... I think it was you that
siad the handling can use some work & I agreed.....
I also hear that Modding it will be an issue...
Is the Neon still made from "RECYCLED MATERIAL"?

The SRT4 is a possibility for me. The car isn't really that high but it would benefit from a 1" drop. There will be enough out there to mod this car, Mopar has a number of products that will be out, TurboXS that does some WRX stuff has some things in the works too.

 

[slug420]

i shopped
i was in no big hurry, COULD have waited for a STI if i could afford it, so waitin for a srt4 would have been reasonable
i looked into the SRT4
im aware of how fast the SRT4 is
i know the engine has much more potential for hp gains than the msp
i know it handles just about as good as the msp
i know it has better front seats than the msp


yet i bought the MSP without ever considering spending my money on this apparently superior neon.....hmmm....

( hi. )

 

[buster]

I never tried to say the SRT is superior. Some people can't get over the Neon name, whatever. MSP deserves respect, but so does the SRT4, Spec V, SVT, etc.

 

[Dexter]

yep. well everything but the SVT Focus.
id rather have a Neon over a Ford. stupid ford...grrr

 

[LinuxRacr]

Ok, here is the link to the guy who has his SR-T in Florida. Pay close attention to the window sticker and where everything is assymbled, and the interior:



http://home.tampabay.rr.com/blackcat/My_SRT.htm

This explains the price.

 

[the_glassman]

Neon=$hitubishi=Crap
Great, its fast in the 1/4 mile, the truth is, it's a Dodge/Mitusbish product.
It's like the new DSM, replacing what the Eclispe/Talon should have been other then "days go by" eclispe.
So its a new pockect rockect, its fast, its cheap. Real cheap.
I bet they will sell millions of them, can't wait to toast some more ricers.

 

[Newf]

I for one don't mind the looks of the SRT4. At least outside. Inside is a different story. There are uglier cars out there, and it's not even as bad as the stock WRX in my opinion.

But, it's a Neon. I'm sorry, you can go on and on about 1st,2nd generation nonsense all you you want, it's a F'n Neon. It's a Dodge. Anyone that thinks that they have changed has their heads up there A$$'s. And yes, I've driven quite a few of them. Heck, I'll even go down and take an srt4 if I can, just for curiosity. To me, there are people that just are unable to tell the difference in quality between one car to another, and these are the people that are driving Neons/Sunfires/Anything GM really.

One thing about those pics above of the srt4....the engine looks slapped together....don't know why, but it just does.

Yup, it's fast, yup it'll handle ok, it does have bad tires which are easily changed, it does still have Tokico's all around, so handling should be ok to some degree with room for imporovement, you just have to ask yourself if you want a mediocre car with great acceleration or something else.

To me, it's just a toy for 2 years. If you buy it for that, fine. If you actually buy this thing for a long term car, your in for a shock.