I dont know if I made a wise choice the other day...I picked up a 1995 Dodge Neon. The guy wanted $2000 for it, I got him down to $1200. I looked it over really well, and it seems to be in pretty good shape, its black, barely any rust, which is surprising for the '95 neon. However, it does need a new head gasket (but, what else is new for neons :rolleyes: ) I took it for a boot, its sounds nice, runs well...but here's the negative...its got 180,000kms on it! Am I insane or did I make a wise buy, let me know..good or bad...

Thanks

Wise buy, neons are sturdy cars once the head gasket is done on them. Theyre pretty fast for a stock 4 banger too, faster than most civics.

180000 is a lot of miles for any car. It depends on what has allready been fixed, replaced or whatever. There COULD be a lot more, bigger problems coming up. If it hasn't been driven very hard it could be a good buy, but if people beat it up, its likely to have a lot more problems.

As far as I know the vehicle was owned by only one guy, an older man. And I live in northern ontario, he said he made frequent trips to the US...If its mostly highway driving, is that really alot better on the car... Im assuming an older man wasnt out racing or beating up his car. He also has a 2002 neon, which is a good sign, he obviously enjoyed this one enough to want another... So Im picking it up on Friday (payday) Ill let you all know how it goes. For now Id like to hear more about whether its a good buy or not... Thanks

Find out if the timing belt, tensioner and water pump were ever changed. If not, I would recommend doing that along with the headgasket asap. Even though the owner manual says you can change the belt every 105,000 miles, I personally like to do it every 60,000, and always replace the water pump with it. The manual conveniently leaves this out :rolleyes: Since the engine has to be torn down to do the headgasket you can do everything else while you are at it.

Awesome thanks for the tips...I doubt the timing belt, tension, and water pump were ever changed... aprox. how much will that cost...I get free labour...:D , so just parts...
I just got the car today... It feels nice knowing that Ive got a little more reliable vehicle...my previous vehicle was an '88 Eagle Premier aka. money pit.

Originally posted by joedirt76
Awesome thanks for the tips...I doubt the timing belt, tension, and water pump were ever changed... aprox. how much will that cost...I get free labour...:D , so just parts...
I just got the car today... It feels nice knowing that Ive got a little more reliable vehicle...my previous vehicle was an '88 Eagle Premier aka. money pit.

Well I changed my hg, timing belt, timing belt tensioner, water pump, and a few other misc seals and gaskets (the HG kit comes with all sorts of goodies) oh and make sure you get new head bolts too.

I paid about $650 for my parts thru the dealer and that was with a discount too. I ended up spending $1000 on the whole job (my fiance and I did the work) but the estra $350 was buying extra tools, misc parts, oil, coolant, pizza and beer. I rented a few tools too and got money back for those and a few other parts I ended up not needing.

Free labor = big pimpin' :D