Sport Compact Car's 2003 Car of the Year.

[Polygon]

I don't know how many of you read this magazine, but I find it interesting. Well this month they decided to do a yearly award. Any sport compact can be eligible, but they stated that they have to impress them in quite a few different categories, this year, that car was the 2003 Dodge Neon SRT-4. Here is the article from the web site:

Sport Compact Car Of The Year Award:
2003 Dodge Neon SRT-4
Dodge unveiled the turbocharged SRT-4 at the Los Angeles Auto Show last year, the theme of the press conference was urban decay.

By Scott Oldham
Photography: Les Bidrawn, Josh Jacquot

To a hip hop soundtrack, graffiti artists in baggy clothes tagged a brick wall, as the Daimler Chrysler brass told the assembled press that the SRT-4 has everything the kids want. They just stopped short of calling it fresh and fly. We left shaking our heads. We remember thinking Dodge still didn't get it. We even shook off the claim that the turbocharged 2003 Dodge Neon SRT-4 would be the quickest car you could buy in America for less than $20,000, accelerating from 0 to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds. No way, we thought.

Then some of the Dodge engineers began driving a red SRT-4 prototype with a huge, front-mount intercooler in SCCA ProRally events. Almost immediately they found success, winning their class, Group 5, several times. Then we began to hear the car's turbocharged 2.4-liter four-cylinder was making some serious power on the company's dynos, and the SRT-4 was going to be the real deal. We got interested. Maybe we were wrong. Maybe Dodge does get it. Months of phone calls later and a yellow SRT-4 prototype was at our office for the car's first road test ever in any magazine anywhere in the world.

Turns out we were right about being wrong. Dead wrong. Dodge does get it, but the SRT-4 does not accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 5.9 seconds. It does it in 5.8 seconds. That's right, 5.8 seconds. It also puts 223 hp and 250 lb-ft of torque to its front wheels, stops from 60 mph in 119 feet and snakes through a 700-foot slalom at a very fast 69 mph.

That means the SRT-4 runs head to head with the new Nissan 350Z and the Subaru WRX, while leaving the new Mini Cooper S and the Acura RSX Type-S in the dust.

Dodge did it right. From its engine to its chassis, the SRT-4 is ready to rule. And we really like the way it looks. That front mount intercooler, big hood scoop and 17-inch wheels and tires have transformed the once homely Neon into a machine with real attitude.

In our first full road test of the car in the December 2002 issue we said the new SRT-4 redefines the collective concept of fast, raw and American and proves without question that Dodge is playing hardball.

One month later, in the January 2003 issue we put the SRT-4 up against seven other cars in a comparison test to find the best car for under $20,000. The SRT-4 finished a decisive first, outgunning the Mini Cooper S, Nissan Sentra SE-R, Hyundai Tiburon, Honda Civic Si, Volkswagen GTI, Ford SVT Focus and MazdaSpeed Protegé. Bottom line. It blew us away.

Then there's the price. Dodge did what it said, and priced the SRT-4 at less than $20 grand. That means it really is the quickest car you can buy for the money, which makes it, without argument, the greatest performance car buy of the year.

And that is why we have chosen the 2003 Dodge Neon SRT-4 as the 2003 Sport Compact Car of the Year.

By the way, the web site is: http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/

[Amish_kid]

whoa fukkin A
too bad its Fwd it would have been nicer if it would have been Rwd or even Awd:jump:
one can dream can't they?

[Jay!]

Thread linked to Automotive News Desk forum. Good post, Polygon!

[Neutrino]

Originally posted by Amish_kid
whoa fukkin A
too bad its Fwd it would have been nicer if it would have been Rwd or even Awd:jump:
one can dream can't they?

RWD-Razor

Originally posted by jay@af
Thread linked to Automotive News Desk forum. Good post, Polygon!

I'll give him a cookie when i'll see him.

[DemonZX]

Who woulda thunk it?! Neon!

[Polygon]

Originally posted by Neutrino



I'll give him a cookie when i'll see him.

You'd better, and there better not be any damn rasins in it!!!!

[DemonZX]

what about some milk to wash it down with. If your going to give the man a treat at least hook his ass up!

[Layla's Keeper]

Ahh. The spirit of the GLH lives on. Congrats to the whole of Daimler Chrysler. Now they just need a certain Texas chicken farmer to go through it. How about a Neon GLH-S? Black and silver with blistered fenders, lip rear spoiler as opposed to the big hoop, and they absolutely MUST make a coupe or 2door hatch out of it. Smaller, lighter, and eeevvviiilll.

Hmm. Maybe they can scrounge up some leftover Stealth or LanEvo AWD setups. AWD WRC Turbo Shelby Neon GLH hatchbacks or coupes! ULTRA MEGA SUPER STELLAR!

[Fliquer]

They could'nt have made it rwd because then it would be TOO GOOD!

[YellowMaranello]

Well, I really don't like Neons.... But 0-60 in 5.8.... :licker:

[NSX]

Sounds pretty good right now...but we'll have to wait and see down the road how reliable it is.

[Neutrino]

Originally posted by NSX
Sounds pretty good right now...but we'll have to wait and see down the road how reliable it is.

Oh come one not another dometics are non reliable post. The thing is if the owner of that srt-4 will be a dick and treat the car like crap and not cool the turbo etc. it will have the same fate as all the turbo cars: early death

[NSX]

Originally posted by Neutrino
Oh come one not another dometics are non reliable post.

Nah, I have faith in domestics. My '98 Windstar is runnig fine and critics say they have $h!tlo@d$ of transmission problems...maybe b/c I take care of it.

I'm just saying b/c its a new engine designation...I'd say the same thing about Kia's Sorento...its a new car [5 door wagon?] and it still has to prove itself.

[GreatOne01]

What do euro's call our domestics? Imports?

[NSX]

Originally posted by GreatOne01
What do euro's call our domestics? Imports?

hehe..I guess

But usually its 'THe Big 3'...although technically, its more like 2 now with Benz involved.