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Driving impressions: modded Neon SRT-4


Nitrousbird

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A buddy from out of town came to visit. Is back from Iraq, and has a modded 04 Neon SRT-4. I got to take it for a little spin. I've never drove a quick FWD car before, so here's my impressions:

 

- Any idiot that says it's an SRT-4, and not a Neon SRT-4, needs their head checked. It's most definately a Neon w/ some added parts

 

- Torque steer. All out off the line, 1st and 2nd gears are a bit of a handful.

 

- Lag. This car has a stock exhaust/turbo, boost cranked to 20-something. 3rd gear punch at 4000RPM took a second before you got moving. That said, it did move nicely once the boost kicked in.

 

- Handling seemed pretty decent, but I wasn't thrashing it around corners or anything.

 

- Pedal feel was good, shifter (aftermarket) was decent enough. Leg room was excellent; seemed better than my ex-g/f's 00 Neon auto, but could be in my head.

 

- The turbo sounds were pretty fun (fairly quiet BOV installed). The fact it didn't have some ricey fart can on it definately made the experience better.

 

- Seats were a hit and miss. The upper parts of the seats were comfortable w/ decent lateral support. The bottom of the seat was too damn narrow at the back of it. If it were a daily driver, I'd probably have to opt for different seats. A bigger guy would definately not enjoy those seats.

 

- Stock rear spoiler was annoying looking out the rear view.

 

Overall, a fun car. Had injectors, rail, pump, boost controller, big front mount, rims, shifter, couple other small things. I don't think I'd like to have one as my "fast" car, but would definately make a nice daily driver. Way different than driving the usual V8's I'm used to; doesn't have the low-end power and linear power band. But definately a fun car to toy around it. :)

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- Seats were a hit and miss. The upper parts of the seats were comfortable w/ decent lateral support. The bottom of the seat was too damn narrow at the back of it. If it were a daily driver, I'd probably have to opt for different seats. A bigger guy would definately not enjoy those seats.

 

Hmm, not sure I agree on that one, but the seats are definitely different than normal. I am a little biased towards my lower body (I'm 5'9" 165lbs and have a 34" waist, so I have a fairly small frame in the upper part of my body). So seats with a decent amount of side bolstering usually fit me well in the lower area but usually seem to be to wide in the top area. I though, like most seats, the lower portion fit me well enough but the top portion fit me VERY well which I've never had happen in a (stock) seat like that before. I know you are much bigger than me so I find it odd that you fit well in the upper part too. I guess they just got something right in the top part of the seat that it fits most people well and did something wrong in the lower part.

 

I've heard people (that own the car) say the SRT-4 has more of a feeling of un-steering the car when you get into boost than anything else.

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Which seats were in the car? They can come with standard SRT-4 seats or the "viper" seats.

 

Jesse, that detached feeling you hear about is due to the LSD. What year SRT-4 was this? They didn't start coming with the LSD stock until 04.

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A stock turbo SRT-4 with lag? He has something setup wrong then. That's one of the complaints about the stock turbo. People say that it spools too fast and you just bake the tires.

 

As far as the spoiler, you get used to it. I didn't like it being there when I first got it but now I don't even notice it.

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- Lag. This car has a stock exhaust/turbo, boost cranked to 20-something. 3rd gear punch at 4000RPM took a second before you got moving.

 

 

Had big front mount,

 

that there can make oodles of lag. If you goto an oversized front mount that looks sooo awesome but is unneeded at the time, it can take awhile to fill that big thing with boosted air. Thats where the lag time came from.

 

*finished rant about rediculously sized front mounts*

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The car baked the tires in 1st when launching, but that's to be expected. I don't know who makes his front mount. I know he also has a reprogrammed ECU, dunno by who. I don't think the car has seen any dyno time. That said, driveability was very stock like, and he says it gets decent mileage out of the boost.

 

Those seats were considered the "Viper" seats (which is such a stretch, as if you actually compare the 2 side-by-side, they aren't all that similar). My car has Corbeau Targa RS seats in it, so I'm used to tons of side bolstering. But it just seemed so narrow in the ass. My roomate is about my weight and a couple inches shorter, and complains of the same thing. My Formula's seats are just about perfect for me width wise; any narrower and I'd hate them.

 

Car was definately an LSD car. Overall, it was a neat experience. But I couldn't imagine trading a V8 for one.

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Those seats were considered the "Viper" seats (which is such a stretch, as if you actually compare the 2 side-by-side, they aren't all that similar).

 

Technically they are called the "Viper inspired" seats. but everyone just calls them Viper seats.

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good to see a honest point of view... I may not agree with 100% of what was said. thanks for not just bashing it. Most ppl bash srt4 with never even driving or getting to ride in one. I love mine and now that i got one my brother got one and one of my good friends just got a ACR srt. So they are worth every penny!
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