2004 Dodge Neon SRT4: Forgotten Sport Compact Found on Bring a Trailer
With just 51K miles, this Dodge escaped the fate of so many Y2K-era sport compacts.
front three quarter view of silver sedan parked in lot with office building in background.
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The humble Neon, sold as both a Dodge and a Plymouth, was originally designed to be cheap and cheerful, but this later model was a little more serious.
The Neon SRT4 got a hearty helping of turbocharged power, and its performance is still credible today.
Most got used up, but not this one, which has been in the care of a single family since new.
In the 1980s, Chrysler turned to none other than Carroll Shelby to breathe some performance into the company’s mass-market products. Boy howdy, did he. Cars like the Omni GLHS and Daytona GLHS punched above their weight with tire-smokin’ fun—albeit the front tires rather than the rears of a Shelby Mustang. In the early 2000s, Dodge resurrected the spirit of these hopped-up compacts with a boosted-to-hell economy sedan.
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The Dodge Neon SRT4 was cheap speed when new—and even cheaper and faster when bought used and modified. Many of these apex predator sport compacts did not survive their third or fourth owner with a lead right foot and access to the Summit Racing catalogue. This 2004 example, by contrast, is a single-owner car with just 51K miles on the odometer, and it’s up for sale on Bring a Trailer.
In factory unmodified form, this little front-driver would run a quarter-mile in the high 13-second range, and it snarfed down curvy backroads. It was the Costco hot dog of cars, meatily satisfying but light on the wallet.
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Under the scooped hood of this little silver sedan is a 2.4-liter four-cylinder with a Mitsubishi-sourced turbocharger providing boost. With a generously-sized intercooler keeping air temperatures down, the SRT4 was rated for 230 horsepower and 245 pound-feet of torque. Power is sent to the ground through a five-speed manual with a limited-slip differential.
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This car is a bit dad-spec, as it was bought new by the seller’s father. It thus came with the more relaxed front seats, rather than the torso-hugging units that Dodge said were Viper-inspired. You’re far better off buying an SRT4 from a mature owner rather than someone who can quote every Vin Diesel line from The Fast and the Furious, and this car looks to have been well cared for and not abused.
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Quite frankly, it might be the ideal time for Dodge to take a look through its back catalog and see if it’s maybe time again for some turbocharged four-cylinder nuttery at bargain-basement pricing.
Tested: 2003 Neon SRT-4 Is a Budget Thrill Ride
2003 High-Performance Compact Comparison
This low-mileage SRT4 is an example of a time when Dodge still embraced cheap speed. There’s not much luxury on offer here, nor an interior filled with fancy appointments. Just four-door economy filled with Go Like Hell S’more fury. Shelby would approve.
The auction ends on August 20.
From the C/D Archive
Tested: 2003 Neon SRT-4 Is a Budget Thrill Ride
Tested: 1994 Dodge Neon
Dodge Neon vs. VW Jetta, Nissan Sentra, Subaru Impreza, Mazda Protegé
Lettermark
Brendan McAleer
Contributing Editor
Brendan McAleer is a freelance writer and photographer based in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He grew up splitting his knuckles on British automobiles, came of age in the golden era of Japanese sport-compact performance, and began writing about cars and people in 2008. His particular interest is the intersection between humanity and machinery, whether it is the racing career of Walter Cronkite or Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s half-century obsession with the Citroën 2CV. He has taught both of his young daughters how to shift a manual transmission and is grateful for the excuse they provide to be perpetually buying Hot Wheels.
