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15/10/2007
By EWAN KENNEDY
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Chrysler Neon is an American small-medium car with a distinctive oval-headlight treatment and a stubby bonnet by courtesy of a cab-forward design. It wasn’t really a success in this country but is a tough little machine and a good one at the right price can provide economical motoring.
 The Neon has sufficient space for four adults if those in front can give up a bit of their legroom. But tall people may find themselves cramped for space, even in the front seat. Try if for size if the likely travellers are much more than average in size. Only a four-door sedan was imported to Australia, two-door sedans are sold in the States but we don’t know of any having been imported to Australia.
Ride comfort is quite good, though rough Aussie roads can catch out the suspension at times. Around the suburbs it’s generally more than acceptable.
Handling is on the soft side, though not as bad as that in larger American cars. The steering is over light for Australian drivers’ tastes, is slightly vague in the straight-ahead position and doesn’t provide a great deal of feedback. Keen drivers need not apply, but the person simply looking for sensible transport is unlikely to be fazed by the Neon's characteristics.
Chrysler introduced the Neon at a premium price, anticipating that buyers would see it as sitting higher in the image stakes than Japanese cars of the same size. They were wrong and initial sales were slow. Despite a substantial price drop towards the end of 1998, the damage had been done and the car never recovered from its bad start.
Neon is powered by a 2.0-litre engine. Most of its competitors at the time it was launched had 1.6 or 1.8-litre units. Though it’s torquey enough and generally gets the job done the engine just doesn’t have the punch you might expect.
In automatic transmission form the engine was further hampered by the transmission only having three ratios, a backward feature normally only found in much cheaper cars. To compensate for the lack of the fourth ratio in the automatic the importers offered the self-shifter for the same price as the manual. The manual gearbox had the usual five speeds that we have now come to expect in all cars in this class.
 The new Neon model of 2001 was launched in Australia in April of that year and finally had a four-speed automatic transmission, but it was a case of too little too late and the Neon was quietly withdrawn from our market midway through 2002. The last of these may not have hit the streets until the start of 2003, but we wary of one that is on sale at a 2003 price as it may drop back to being a 2002 (because of its build plate) when you come to trade-in or resell.
Neon has a reasonable amount of underbody space and is a relatively simple design, so an experienced home mechanic can do most servicing and repairs. Spare parts prices are generally reasonable and we have heard of no real complaints about parts availability.
Insurance is normally towards the lower end of the scale, but for some reason there seems to be a bigger than average range from top to bottom premiums so it will pay to do some serious shopping around.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
Build quality in the Neon is not quite as good as that of the imported Japanese models but that shows more in poor joins in the body and cabin than in any real unreliability problems.
Listen for squeaks and rattles when driving on rough roads due to parts that are too close together and therefore rubbing or clashing.
Look for damage to the seats and carpet. Check for fading in the dashboard top and rear shelf, a sign that a car has spent most of its time outdoors.
Watch out for current body damage or for signs of the Neon having been repaired after a crash. Ripples in the panels when viewed end on are a sign of body repairs, also check for paint that doesn't match properly and for tiny paint droplets on areas which shouldn’t be painted.
Check out the car yourself to the best of your ability, but it’s always wise to have a professional do the final inspection.
An engine that has been driven hard to get good performance may be starting to smoke from the exhaust. It’s generally at its worst when the car is accelerated hard after the engine has been idling for a minute or so.
A manual gearbox that has done a lot of work will protest by baulking and becoming noisy on fast changes down from third to second gear.
CAR BUYING TIP
Orphans, cars which have come and gone before their time, often sell for less. If you can find a good mechanic and a source of spare parts one of them can make an excellent buy. |
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