Which Would You Choose?!?

Im in a position of choosing between 2 cars. Both i found for around $13,000. One is a 1999-2000 BMW 323, the other is a 2003-2004 Dodge SRT-4. I understand they have their differences. but im just looking for opinions on which you would choose, or any information that i might not know. thnx

Bmw

Ditto. BMW.

BMW pros:
better resale
better handling
better build quality
better NVH (noise, vibration, harshness)
Rear wheel drive
200-300k mile reliability

BMW cons:
cost of repairs, but ONLY if you don't do it yourself
keeping the women out of your lap

Dodge pros:
newer car for the same money
cheaper to fix (again, only if you don't do it yourself)

Dodge cons:
lower build quality
cheapy plastic dash parts
FWD
120k mile lifespan
flimsy body

You will get a lot of negative BMW response, but chances are they've never owned one. There are tons of misconceptions about them, but I've had experience with both cars and can safely and objectively say that BMW is the hands down winner here as far as how much car you get for the money.

Gotta be BMW

My bmw has been more than a pain in the @$$ to maintain cause its costs an arm and a leg. But would I do it again? Of course. Most fun car I've owned. Havent driven the SRT but the regular neon has seriosuly unfun problems of torque steer, brake dive, and understeer.

you also didn't include that the SRT4 will probably run the 1/4 mile close to 2 seconds faster.

The SRT4 fixed alot of the regular Neon's handling problems with an LSD in '04+ models and much stiffer springs. The SRT also comes with pretty wicked factory tires while most 323's you find will have some sort of mushy touring crap that isn't much fun.

i thought it would be hard decesion, but seeing what everyonw thinks... kinda makes it look like it was no competion ;)
I like power and thats why i was thinking aout the srt4 becasue the bmw only has 170 horse. But i guess you right when comes to just about everything else. thanx for the replies.

Yup, the power is better from the Dodge. In my opinion, everything else about the BMW is better and power isn't everything.

I had a 170-horse BMW for two years and never once had the urge to add more power to it. This coming from a guy with two 400-horse engines in his stable. It was such an incredible blast to drive that I didn't care. Just my opinion...

The cost of BMW parts is on par with most of today's cars. What soaks you is if you take it to the dealer, they will charge 800% (literally) more for the parts and labor is jacked up, too. I've found that they are very easy to work on, well planned for maintenance, and certainly cheaper than most FWD cars to fix. At least if my alternator died, I didn't have to partially disassemble the transmission to get to it like with many FWD cars.

good point! I always knew that the repair costs were high, but knowing actual percentages really helps. Thnx for the reply!

Parts cost different, too depending on which counter you go to. A good example. I need a coil pack for my 325. At the dealer in Burbank/Glendale, the parts counter price was $183. The dealer in Beverly Hills wanted $236. I got it online for $36. That is an extreme example, but in general BMW parts counters have three prices listed; what they paid, what they charge retail, and what they can take and still make a reasonable profit. If you walk in and ask for a coil pack, they'll say $183. Then you say, "but I can get it online for $36!!!" Then they say, "OK, I can do it for $100." And you then have to contemplate if its worth waiting a few days of shipping to get the $36 one.

Just food for thought and its beside the point, but just something I picked up about BMWs

Bosch makes the coil, sells them to BMW Germany, they sell them to BMW America, who distributes them to BMW dealerships. The dealerships put a BMW part number on them and the chain of retail is so long that the price goes way up.

Buying online, you buy from a parts supplier who bought the parts directly from Bosch so there are only two steps in the chain.