2003 Dodge Neon SRT-4 

This was a good time for cheap sports cars, we'll never have so much choice as the late 90s, early 2000s.

20 years later, Yes. It has become a legend

A friend of a friend has one of these when we were in highschool. It had the Mopar stage 2 upgrades and was way faster than it should have been. We'd pile 4 morons into it and tear up mountain roads instead of going to class. Good times.

This car has actually aged quite well… mine was a 2003 in Solar Yellow. 💛

I still own mine.bought new in 03. 19 years.

Almost 20 years later and it's still quicker than alot of the cars in this segment or just as quick and it handled very well.

Wow, that brought me back to the allure I had when these first came out. It was my "dream" car at 18. By 20 I had built up my own credit and bought one in 2005. Kept it for a decade and met so many great people along the way in the community. 20 years later, I have a clean 600 hp red SRT4 and I found my original e-Blue SRT4 and currently building it for the road course! I just so happen to have a channel devoted to the legends!

I realize this is an old video that can't be changed but I wish the editors would have cut off that obnoxious music while the car was on the track. Wanted to hear that nice exhaust and other track sounds.

I had an 04 SRT-4. These cars are underrated on horsepower and torque from the factory, I'm sure for insurance reasons. Great little car.

Great era in affordable performance. WRX, STI, and Evo all came out in this time.

This review got me interested in the SRT4 and my first car was a white 2005 SRT4. Stock it dyno’d 232hp and 242lb/ft. Great car, tons of memories and I learned to wrench on her. Still have her in my driveway with 130k miles on the odometer.

$19,995. Man I miss the days when prices were normal, and reflected actual new car values.

To bad they are all gone. Rusted away, blown engines,or ruined by 20yo boys thinking they could Lambo them up!

One of THE most underrated cars ever made.

I had a 2001 z28 with few mods and I raced a SRT Neon and we were neck n neck from 0 to 120. After that I pulled away but man I was impressed

When this neon came out, i was shock at how fast and affordable it was. It was faster than most sport cars.

Most of these have been driven hard, wrecked, abused and heavily modified. Good examples are most likely to go up in value if they haven’t already.

I remember these like it was yesterday

99mph trap speed wasn’t too shabby back in the day. That’s on par with an S2000 or 350Z.

The ‘00s were sort of the “curtain call” for small, affordable sport compacts. A few still survive today, but others like the Sentra SE-R, Neon SRT4 and Corolla XRS are long gone. What a shame. Post the Corolla XRS retro review next!!

I was in my mid 20s when this came out. Had basically every other sport compact except this. Now there’s a clean used one a few hours from me at a dodge dealer. So tempted to grab it.

I had an 05 Stone White. Loved that car. Absolutely a blast to drive. They were torque monsters. Yeah, it had it's limitations being FWD, but that was the price you paid to get into that kind of performance for the money. They sounded incredible for a 4 cylinder, and I honestly like(d) the looks of them. I hate that I got rid of it and I will always have a soft spot for them. I can tell you this, I hurt a lot of feelings with that car. lol

In my opinion, this is one of the best looking vehicles dodge has ever made. The regular neon is alright but with that front end and the spoiler, the R/T really looks amazing and sporty but not too aggressive at the same time.

I've been in some fast cars but nothing has scared me more than 145 mph on a one lane back road in a SRT 4, we hit a bird at 145 and it felt like the wing tearing from an airplane the way the car bucked to that side..super sketchy but a memory i'll never forget

Was this filmed recently? I love the way this video looks, feels like im back in 2005! Also gives a peaceful tone to it, nice work guys! Sweet gem of a car

I had the first red one sold at my local dealer. I loved that car. When the Mopar performance upgrades came out I had the stage 1, and later stage 2. Great car.

As a retired cop, seeing this car brings back a memory of when a father took his sons new Neon SRT for a ride and crashed it. As I arrived I asked the father if he was ok, he said “yes,but they shouldn’t classify front wheel drive cars as sports cars.” Haaa

A guy who lived by my buddy's won a new one from a radio contest. Probably the happiest guy in the ghetto with his brand new neon.

Mitsubishi did a hell of a job designing the turbocharger installation on this car. The one I drove had awesome throttle response, with no lag to speak of. This was the turbo car that made me want a turbo car. ...But I don't think they could shake off the stigma of being a Neon.

This car came out of nowhere and was killing the game. As far as the import scene goes. Serious bang for your buck.

I wasn't into the srt-4 neon but these things were quick and loved to be modded

I remember buying my 2004 electric blue in 2009 for only $7000 with 60K on it. With some bolt-ons and a tune I had it dynoed at 274hp/320tq at the wheels. I have videos of me racing it on RU-vid, SRT4 Mosport King of the Hill. It was my daily driver all year round and it was actually a very good car in the snow. I only owned it for a few years before moving on but it was a fast little car and I have many good memories.

Those Neons were very fast and were excellent track cars. It'll probably take a while for them to get the attention they deserve as a classic performance car.

When they put the limited slip in the later models, this thing really became a monster at the time.

Awesome car! I still have my 2003 Srt4, original owner . I'll never sell it that's how Awesome it is. you want that kind of power in 2022 it will cost you more than double.

Always loved these. That turbo spool and exhaust crackle from the factory always caught my ear.

These were so ferociously fast when new, I test drove a few of them , they were light and so quick they almost lost posture anytime pushed. But they were very fun! Were direct competition to 99 eclipse turbo back then 😅

Neon acr was my favorite. That thing handled great with those factory koni struts

I went to a quarter mile track back in 04 and was impressed when I saw one of these run 13s. Definitely underrated hp. Early 2000s was a great time for affordable fun.

Good times with my 05 SRT-4. It was a BEAST on the autobahn.

The Neon SRT-4 was a beast! Driving thrills in a small compact package with a manual shifter is the way to go! IMHO many sports cars now are too wide to enjoy anywhere outside of a track which is why I love this sport compact car segment along with hot hatches because you can actually enjoy the cars on regular roads without the constant fear of clipping someone or something as you drive by. I only wished Dodge would stick with their products and actually improve them over time like the Japanese. A modern-day equivalent, the Dodge Dart SRT-4 with all the bugs ironed out would have been a compelling car to have today with the rise in costs of both sports cars and gas. For this reason, I own a Honda Civic Type R and LOVE it! I am never letting that car go. With that said, I do believe Neon SRT-4's are really holding their value today. Just seems like another missed opportunity by Dodge. The had the recipe right, they just had to improve the quality.

I bought a 05 STI I remember the looks it used to get because they were pretty rare to see back then. It did 4.6 0-60 which was amazing at the time. The srt4 was a great car itself. What a bargain at 20 grand

I remember that little car when it came out! It was a little monster for it’s time!

These were underrated from the factory. Mid- low 5 seconds to 60 and low 14s were typical.

My first quick car, 2004 SRT-4. Mean sounding factory exhaust. Really enjoyed it. Hearing that turbo whine. The LSD pulled it through the corners pretty well. Wheel hop when launching was a bit annoying, but some poly mounts helped settle that down. Fun little cars, hard to find now in decent shape

These cars actually still look very sharp... Clean lines, not dated or tacky. Honestly the 90s and 2000s had some of the most timeless vehicle designs ever.

I currently have owned my 03’ Solar Yellow SRT-4 for 16 years. Although the car is no longer my daily driver I still love driving it every chance I get I’ll never sell it. It runs 10 seconds in the quarter mile and doesn’t crush the bank account to own it. Not many of these things left on the streets, She’s a true enthusiast ride!

I had two of these back in the day, an 2004 Electric Blue and a super rare 2004 Solar Yellow. Fun,cheap cars that with a couple bolt-ons would run neck-and-neck with cars double the price. Just don't expect to make a slow speed u-turn with one...the guys who owned one know what I mean :)

They were right that it didn’t become a legend, but it did be come a cult classic! I have a silver ‘05 and I love it! It still turns heads when people who know what it is see it on the road and makes me smile whenever the turbo kicks in!

This was the ultimate sport compact back in the day. Mopar offered different stage kits for them through their website. I drove one once and wish I had a job that would pay me enough for a summer dedicated car. This would have been the one. My friend had 2 different ACR cars but never an SRT4 Neon. I just can't believe I have a Dodge Grand Caravan that has close to 300 hp. Dodge really took some chances of falling flat on their face with some of their submodels, but they broke their set rules and sold to the masses. This car was a legend back in the day. Still is today.

I always liked the Neon. I still think it looks good.

I remember seeing a bunch of road tests on these; they were way quicker than shown here.

Owned mine for over 10 years and has been overall very reliable. Still drive it at least once a week and still love it.

So nostalgic. Those numbers were great then. It's so underrated. Think about it. I love Honda, but those 4 bangers only had 100-150 HP.... And they were hella popular. This boy is 215hp plus.

I owned one. Two actually, I had a PT Cruiser GT with the 5 speed as well :)

i miss my modded 2004 blue SRT-4. The turbo sound...oh my

It’s hard to believe that if it weren’t for this car the Hellcat technically would’ve never existed.

These things were monsters back in the day, and even in todays standards the performance is still respectable. Probably one of the greatest all time value cars ever.

I have one and love every time I drive it.. it puts a smile on my face with all the turbo noises

Had a white 05' Acr stage 3, what a car it was, roll race monster, hurt a lot of feelings haha!

I had a 04 SRT for 9 years. One of the best cars I ever owned. Upgraded pretty much everything on the car except for the engine internals. Upgraded the turbo 3 times. Learned so much from that car . Just before I got rid of it in 2014 was making around 360hp at the wheels. Only had 40k miles on it. Wish I kept it .

Sounds better than most cars today

I remember riding in one of these in Germany as soldier. First car I was in to top 140mph. Man I was blown away. Too bad it’s hard to find a good one today…

One of my soldiers had one that he drag raced. I saw him run an 11.8 on the dragstrip! It was modded but it was his daily driver as well. I was hooked then.

Loved mine!!! Bought through AAFES in Germany and got to do a lot of drag racing and autobahn runs - fantastic and fun car.

Exactly like mine: 2003 yellow. I stuck with the stage 1 with accompanying additions. I throughly enjoyed it. Only issue was a storm caused hydro lock while literally others cars around me had no issue. It was fixed quickly and had no other major issues for 60k-ish mile until I sold it

I cant wait to drive my SRT4 swapped 1st gen neon. Thing weighs just over a ton and is making somwhere in the mid 300s HP (Big wheel stocker, E85, stage 3 fuel pump,1000cc inj.)... its been a long little project but, by the comments, im thinking it'll put a pretty decent smile on my face.

I was hoping that Dodge would give the Dart the SRT treatment when it first came out but they never did sadly.

I still see a fair number of these SRT4s around my hometown. I didn’t much care for it at the time, but. I do care more for it now than I thought.

These old srt4s are either loved or hated....even when they were brand new....all I remember was one time being about 12 years old in 2003 riding with my brother in his 1991 Mustang 5.0 lx that was stock except maybe a very small cam upgrade and one of these revved up at him at a red light....sounded awesome with the turbo but needless to say we spanked that thing lol. We also beat an old nice condition Dodge Daytona 2.2 turbo if anyone still remembers those...

Motorweek always had pretty good predictions near the end of their reviews

I had just graduated High School when these came out and they made an immediate impact. It was clear they were very fast.

Fun fact a SRT4 was supposed to have been the car used in the 2nd fast furious movie for Brian last minute though a Mitsubishi was used.

so glad to see a hd version of this video finally! brings back so many good memories.

The best sounding factory exhaust 4 cylinder turbo of its era the 03-05 SRT-4

I definitely remember this car. Although I never owned one seen a lot on the road when they came out.

I wanted one, but most of us could not get over that it still was a neon. But no one ever hated on it though. Ppl who liked this mostly were actually Impreza/cobalt/mustang types.

3:01 What kind of shifting is that? This is Motorweek, break that stick.

Considering this was produced in the depths of the Daimler Chrysler era of near bankruptcy, this was quite a good little package!

I'd love to see the 2008 Cobalt SS episode when they went from a supercharged to a turbocharged motor.

My buddy had one of these. Awesome solidly built, actually quite reliable for Dodge! Lot's of bolt ons, intake, exhaust, fuel ect... very fun to drive. Would troll stockish Mustangs and Camaros The only problem with that car, getting it to hook, even with Goodyear Eagle tires! 😁👍

Saw probably three of these in recent weeks. Glad to see they're still running.

I had an '04 (bought brand new). I put it on a dyno after the break in period and it did 233 hp and 262 tq at the wheels. The only thing that wasn't stock on it was the oil (AMSOIL).

They finally dropped the neon video!

You know.. I randomly found myself a few months back online one night looking for either one of these or a Caliber SRT-4, then reality tapped me on the shoulder and said No.

1:42 The interior looks so clean with analog gauges and no center infotainment screen.

Bought one new in ‘04. It was hooligan fun every time you drive it.

3.5” tips!! Lol I smile every time I see these. So ridiculous but so quick. I was in a WRX at the time but I did test drive a black one. I just loved my subie though lol I sure do miss Chrysler making funky weird and interesting cars like this. For a while there they were the ones that put other concepts to shame

My mother had bought me a diecast version of the Dodge Neon SRT-4 in bright red color in 2005 for making the honor roll in school when I was in the fourth grade.

It's a good day when I see a big channel post my car.

215hp with 245 torque on a dodge that probably weighed like 2500lbs. Must have been a lot of fun.

My current car Rn gotta Love Srt4‼️

My silver ‘05 was the best DD I ever had. Good fuel economy, plenty quick, and made fun choo choo noises

very nice! I really enjoy these retro reviews, they're fantastic! Can we get the review for Cobalt SS, if there's one...?!! Thanks!

Just appreciate it for what it is, and for what it was!

Love the 97-03 cars. Just brings back memories seeing them on the road

Best wrong wheel drive car I ever owned. 14 to 60k miles, not a single issue on my 2005. At 60k, I had already replaced the lower control arms on my Caliber SRT-4, but the ride quality on that was significantly better but lacked some of the punch the Neon offered due to weight.

Neon SRT-4 is definitely a underrate fine wine！

Around 2006ish I worked with a real MOPAR head, she had a pale blue 1971ish Road Runner. It was restored(mainly just a very good repaint) but that car was very original, low mile, zero rust, not modified, never wrecked. I think it had a numbers matching 340/4 speed, maybe a 383/4 speed, can't remember but it had a hot engine option that was numbers matching. Anyways they always went to the regional and national MOPAR shows, her car was so nice and original/correct that it won a few trophies. I remember her talking about at the drag stip those turbo Neons were laying the hurt on those Viper guys, the fastest cars there were the neons, not the Vipers.

I remember when I was like 9 I sat in one of these in the showroom of our local dodge dealership Jim Cogdill Dodge. It was a yellow one just like this. A 2004 model. I thought it was so cool.