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.
Full article:
http://www.sportcompactcarweb.com/fe.../0302scc_neon/
To all the haters: :fawk: