Opinion on Dodge Neon?

K

Kay

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My friend is selling me his dodge neon.. I haven't heard much about them. He said there's nothing wrong with it (which I believe him, he's one of my closest friends).

How reliable are they?
What usually goes wrong with them?
Anything I should keep an eye out for?

Any info helps.. Personal experiences are welcome as well!
 
Neons are ok cars. They seem to have got a bad rap due to being a cheaper car. But if you take care of any car it will last a long time. I had a friend that had one and never had any problems. Depending on the miles I would buy it if it is in good condition. Take car of the car always changing the oil and air filter. Keeping the tires properly filled. The car should be fine.
 
I have two 1998 Neons. Both have well over 100,000 miles on them. One is approaching 180,000. The other, 150,000. Neither car has ever left me stranded for any reason. I have performed normal maintenance on both. I have owned one since new, the other for almost a year. They are by no means flawless cars, but there is nothing fundamentally wrong with them. In fact, they were so popular that they stayed in production for ten years. Hundreds of thousands were built. It is very important to change the timing belt and water pump at about 100,000 miles. The water pump is driven by the timing belt, so if the water pump fails, the belt breaks and the engine will incur serious damage, as will many cars with "interference motors". Another common problem is the gauges. They will intermittently act up. A simple resoldering of the circuit board will fix it. There are web tutorials all over. I drive my car nearly 1,500 miles a month. I would not hesitate to drive either one of my Neons cross country. Both mine get about 30 miles per gallon combined highway and city. There is no shortage of both new and used parts for them. Junkyard Neons are plentiful. I find lots of them. Most of them are wrecked. Some have been abused. All of them have in excess of 140,000 miles on them, some with over 200,000. Neons are very easy to work on. The most major problem I had with one of mine was a rear main seal, which happened at 140,000 miles, probably because the previous owner didn't change the oil often enough. There is no shortage of information on the web. I visit Neons.org a lot. Like any car, there are good ones and there are lemons, including a Dodge Caravan I owned that I wanted to drive over a cliff. My 2005 Honda Odyssey has had more problems than both my Neons combined, with less than half the miles. I would recommend a Neon before I would recommend a Honda. And here's a fun fact. The five megajunkyards I go to in southern California have more GM and Ford vehicles than any other make. You can listen to who you want to here on Yahoo Answers, but I strongly suggest that you listen to owners like me who have real world experience, rather than people who wouldn't know a Neon if it bit them in the butt.
 
Dodge Neons are garbage. Reliable is not in their vocabulary, anything from the front headlights to the back bumper can potentially be catastrophic, and you should keep your eye out for a better car than that.

I'm not being a sarcastic, trolling douche. I'm serious. Go to any junkyard. You'll see rows of Neons slowly being cannibalized for their worthless parts. These cars are nothing but trouble.
 
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