Is the Dodge Neon a collectible car? The Neon was a compact built by Chrysler from 1995 to 2005 It was branded as a Dodge, Plymouth, or Chrysler depending on where it was sold (Chrysler branding was outside of North America). The seller has a low mileage survivor from 2000 that looks to be in top shape and is reasonably priced if you need cheap wheels. Located in Wallington, New Jersey, this nice driver is available here on craigslist for just $3,400. This tip comes to us from – who else – Mitchell G.!
At the turn of the century, the Neon was everywhere as more than two million units were sold across two decades and generations. It carried the engineering of the day, a front-engine, front-wheel drive in the Chrysler PL platform. For the 2000 model year alone (who remembers Y2K?), more than 163,000 Neon’s were roaming the highways of the U.S. and Canada. This one has only traveled 47,000 miles, which averages less than 2,000 per year.
We’re told this Dodge was owned and driven by senior citizens during its lifetime. So, you might conclude it’s being offered as part of an estate sale. Except for scratches and scrapes, it presents well, especially the interior which hardly looks lived in. It has a transversely mounted inline-4 paired with an automatic transmission and the automobile runs and drives well.
This Dodge is a turn-key car wearing new tires all around. If you are looking for a second or third car that has plenty of life left, you might do worse than this Chrysler product. Supposedly there would be no issue in finding parts (if you needed them) because the product line isn’t that old. The Neon may never be collectible, but is it still okay to have one?
In 1998 a Neon was rented from Thrifty, Nitrous patched-in on the way to the drag strip.
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/users/parmega/articles/neon/
I remember going to the Chrysler Sale and buying a truckload of these in bright colors. Once on the lot, the front row looked just a bunch of Skittles. All were purchased buy twenty something females. This color is called Cinnamin Frost. Notice the power windows in front and cranks in the back? No room for motors in the back door.
Try finding p/w on any early ’70s small car – unavailable! – i never seen em even on a maverick (or mustang! until ’71!). Even though u could get p/w on a 1st gen f-body, oddly, get this – you could NOT get p/w on the bigger ’70-’73 Camaro! – until late in 1973 !
Neons, WRX’s, BMW 2002s, etc. had too tall roofs/too much side glass.Unless the driver was 7 feet tall, with so much empty space between the roof & the top of the driver’s head, IMO, that made the driver look like he was 12 yrs old. lol
JoeNY, you could get PW on a 1970 Firebird. I had a 1970 Firebird Formula with them, it also had power door locks and remote trunk release which also weren’t offered on early-70’s Camaros. As you said power windows became an option for the Camaro in 1973 when it started using the same console as the Firebird, which housed the switch.
Steve R
If Chrysler had a poster child for recalls, this car was it. It was the Chrysler equivalent to the Saturn Ion. While it’s not considered the Omnis replacement, many old folks, as evidenced here, surely traded their worn rusty one in on one. I never thought I’d see one show up here.
My Aunt’s 2001 Neon that I just parted with had the best dang COLD A/C out of my some odd dozen or so cars. It’s like the mech’s told me – take care of it and it will run for a long time. Still humming with almost 175,000 on the orginal trans in my 2002 PT – because the mech’s said keep the oil changed. I’m driving – my bought with low milage 2001 PT with about 85,000 showing – trying to catch up….yep keep those fluids changed !
These were solid, reliable cars – my mother had several – better than Chevettes and Pintos, both of which are now deemed collectible.
This one is worth the money (and more).
In what seems like a different lifetime I had two cars. An Acura NSXT and a Dodge Neon. Guess which one I drove every day? The Neon was a blast to drive, got great MPG and was a reliable as a brick. I put over 120K miles on it and only did routine maintenance. This one is a bargain, someone will get a great DD.
Collectible? No. But a good used car, probably. I always heard these were better than the subsequent Dodge Caliber.
I bought a 2004 against my better judgement. Fun little car except it ate cam positioning sensors and started to rust despite twice annual hand waxes and garage kept. What sent it to the great car graveyard was the K frame rusted in two and my left from tire went 45 degrees in the wrong way. Happened at the end of an off ramp where i had be driving 70 MPH just a minute before. The replacement was the Caliber, suffered from the same problem, the air conditioning dripped on it, poor design. The Obama administration made Chrysler recall those for that problem, the Bush people in 2004 did not. As has been said, elections have consequences.
Consequences indeed. The Car Allowance Rebate System (cash for clunkers) program likely eliminated significant numbers of future collectibles, cost taxpayers around $24,000 per vehicle sold (according to Edmunds) with little or no benefit. Terrible program all the way around.
In the mid 90s, I worked for a now defunct car rental company that was owned by Chrysler. Most of our fleet was Mopar….Sundance, Shadows, Acclaims and Spirits, with a couple of Honda Civics and Chevy Corsicas thrown in for good measure. We also got quite a few Neons, which were a lot hardier than the P cars. I had an Iris ’95 as my company car….and it had a five speed! That car was a blast to drive…..even in miserable Boston area traffic. That Neon could carve down Storrow Drive at rush hour like we were the only vehicle on the road.
Sadly, the car went to auction. If I had the cash at the time, I probably would have bought the car….it was just that much fun to have around.
I’m surprised on two things here. First that a Dodge Neon is actually on Barn Finds and second, that a number of people have fond memories of Dodge Neons. I knew a couple people who owned them. To me, it seemed it was a car relatable to a boat owners’ saying, the two happiest days are the day you bought the boat and the day you sold it.
Dodge Neons and PT Cruisers were destined for demise.
The thing I remember most about Neons is the “Hi” ad when they were first introduced.
The other thing I remember is having a friend that drove a red one and feeling embarrassed when driving around in it.
Yes “hi” was one and “yo” was the other. First thing I thought of when I saw this post.
My mom was smitten by those ads and bought a white ’95 Highline just like the featured car. Blew a head gasket just out of warranty. She wasn’t online and I was, I found out about the “secret warranty” on them. Problem was you had to have the dealer do it, pay their price and wait for reimbursement. $1500 in 1999, it hurt while Mom was floating that but the Mopar check did eventually show up.
Those cars had a lot of recalls and were regarded by mechanics as a “ “ do not buy one”. I’m surprised to see a car like this on Barn Finds .
I won one in 1995 at shea stadium , gave to my mom, she loved til 69,000 miles then head gasket, after that no problems ever, bought another used , blown head gasket, fixed , both ran to 175k , cool little cars, bright red, and blue.
My wife and I had a 2000 Plymouth Neon. Black with gray interior. We loved that car! It was fun to drive, fit our family of four and ran really well with very few problems. I did the routine maintenance and kept it clean and waxed. We replaced it with a 2008 Dodge Caliber that was also a great car for us. The Neon became my daughter’s car to go back and forth to college and after she graduated, I used it for commuting to work. Had 218,000 plus on it when the front end needed too much work to warrant the cost. The Caliber was also our daily driver for years. About 3 years ago, we gave it to my wife’s sister. Had the K frames replaced (a friend had his garage and did the work for us; total cost was about $800). At 220,000 plus miles, the motor finally gave it up. This little Neon will be a great car for someone, that’s for sure. A great first car for some high scholler!
Can’t believe this sort of crap shows up on BF. How low can we go?