Whew...
Not that this is relevant or anything, but I went and drove a Black Neon SRT-4 this weekend at Wilson Dodge here in Jackson, MS.
They had 2 cars in stock, Black and Yellow. The Black must have been their demo, since it had about 200 miles on it already. They had it in a line with a bunch of other regular neons, so I got to compare them pretty easily. The Srt's interior is much nicer, both the seats and the general feel for all the guages and everything.
I drove it with the salesman a total of about 40 miles, both on the interstate and a really curvy frontage road that I take my P5 on every day on the way home from work. The car, in all honestly, is really impressive. It handled really well, and even though it was my first time driving it, I felt comfortable pushing it as hard as I push my P5 in the curves... It's easy to drive fast once you are moving, but sort of a challenge from a stop. I've never driven an MP3 so I can't make a comparison there... In slower curves, where you have a chance to put the power down to exit, it will spin the inboard wheel pretty damn hard, with is pretty annoying. It handles really well though, not quite as crisp or accurate as the P5 (Mainly the steering feel) but really well none the less.
From a dead stop, I tried a pretty hard clutch dump at about 2500RPM's, nothing but wheel-spin, a little hop, and then a scary amount of torque steer till about 4500RPM's or so. (I think mainly because of the tires slipping the whole way there.) It pulls like a fiend though, especially through 2nd and 3rd gears in the higher RPM ranges. You can hear the turbo clearly, as well as the exhaust. At highway speeds, the exhaust drones pretty loudly, but I am sure with a little more insulation in the trunk, it wouldn't be much of a bother. It's pretty damn fast though, probably a hell of a lot faster than most people realize. In 4th gear & 5th gear, starting at about 80MPH, I went up to ~110MPH in no time at all... The salesman was even egging me on, that boost s*** is addictive.
It revved nice and smooth, even at high RPM's, something I've never experienced from a dodge product. (Referring to the only smaller dodges I've driven other than the Laser, and eclipse: Plymouth Duster Turbo, Avenger 4cyl, and an Lebaron convt.)
Anyways, I liked the interior pretty well. It is fairly nice, easy to read, and has some really comfortable/supportive seats. They seem to wrap around you really tight in the lumbar region and sit really well, good stuff. The steering wheel felt sort of awkward at first (bulky feeling), but I got accustomed to it pretty quick.
Overall, I would say that for the money, that car kicks ass. They were asking MSRP at Wilson, and that was even if I ordered one... The fit and finish seemed ok... I don't like the wing, but other than that the car looks decent. But for the Power to $ ratio, that thing is gonna be hard to beat. I think this car will help to raise the horsepower bar for all the other companies that make sport compact, and while I wouldn't buy the neon, I'm glad they brought it out. Anyways, if you got any questions about the car let me know.... if I can remember I'll be glad to contribute. Hell, if I could find a MSP to drive around here at a dealership, I would love to be able to compare the two... maybe one day.
