2002 Neon -new owner- what next?

[jahysun]

I just purchsed my first NEW car and so far I love it I dont know anything about upgrading from the stock car and would apreciate any feedback whats so ever. There dosent seem to be a whole lot on 2002 neon upgrades on the internet ( may I just dont knop where to look).
I really enterested in anything -body mod,engine upgrade, accesories, favorite web sites onthe subject etc. If any one has any thing please feal free to contact me. I am also new to the forum scene so an suggestions in that area would work too! JP

[dnkygirl]

Hum... if i'm looking at it correctly the 2002 looks just like the 2001 with exception of a few minor things. The taillights... are the same so you should be able to do altezza's. and it looks the sames as the 2001 so you might be able to do all the body kits available for the 2001. I'm no expert, i'm just looking at your car and comparing it to the older model. Here are some sites for body kits


www.pro-kits.com
www.asylumms.com
www.modernperformance.com
www.howellautomotive.com

with new cars.. .if they are body styled different from the previous version it could be a year before you see any body kits for it.

dnkygirl

[Dr. Love]

To improve engine performance your first steps should be to replace the stock air filter with a K&N air filter, install a cold air intake, and replace the spark plug wires with better ones. Those mods should be pretty cheap. Replacing the stock exhaust with one that flows better will also slightly improve performance, unless you have the R/T Neon in which case it already has a good exhaust. Lowering it by 1 inch will make it handle a little better. If you're really serious about performance you can get a turbo charger installed but that will cost you at least $3000.

Things such as the air filter and cai can be done right away, but you should wait at least 5000 miles before doing any serious engine mods. For the first 5000 miles your car is going through a brake in period. How well your car performs for the rest of its life depends on how well you treat it for the first 5000 miles. So no hard acceleration, no hard braking, no going thru curves too fast, when you turn on the engine wait 1 minute to warm up before driving, etc.