Here's the low-down:
Headgaskets: late '98 and newer cars have the new headgasket from the
factory.
Milage: '99 and older Neons are about 2-300 lbs lighter than the '00-up,
and get better milage. DOHC and SOHC get about the same milage, but the
DOHC is faster. SOHC has more low-end torque though, some prefer this over
the extra power in the upper RPM ranges. Don't go with the automatic if you
can help it, the stick will be a lot less sluggish and get much better
milage. I have a lightly modified '98 R/T, which has a higher overdrive
than other Neons (.81 vs. .72), and got 35 MPG on the highway doing 70-75
with the AC on. City milage plummets with the AC on, or at least it seems
like it (I have no numbers).
Probably your ideal car would be a '99 Sedan with the SOHC and 5 speed
manual (sedans are lighter than coupes, so less mass to lug around = better
milage).
Check out www.neons.org, there is a lot of good info there as well!!
Travis
sold dak for neon..thank you, gas prices!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sat Jan 05 2008 - 19:13:05 EST