I don't know, even though the SRT-4 is as quick as fawk (5.4 seconds to 60mph....a CLK500 does that for nearly $60,000), I want some refinement dammit.

Maybe I'm getting old (shuttup), but having an engine strapped to a frame isn't as fun as it used to be.

 

There are other things I'd rather buy than to drop $60,000 on a CLK 500. A nice Infiniti G35 coupe and take the rest of the cash and dump it in real estate.

 

There's a difference between quality and reliability. Chrysler has improving reliability. For example, VW's have interiors that are top-quality, they're very nice materials, but their reliability sucks ass. The A4 platform mates (Jetta/Golf/GTi) constantly have window regulators that fail.

Here's a little anecdote: One of my friends, on the day he went and picked up his Jetta, the dealer told him the only way he could get out was to roll down the window and open it from the outside, cause the inside handle broke and it'd be a week before they could get a new one. When I pick up a car, I want it to be perfect.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say would probabily be best summed in this analogy thing:
VW will give you a nice, chrome door handle that feels nice but doesn't work... Chrysler will give you a nice, silver painted door handle that feels a little cheaper but works.

I'll take the cheap but works, please.

BTW: What happened to the Waving Smilie?

 

My mom drives a '96 Chrysler Town & Country. I will use it as my assessment of Chrysler quality. The interior plastics are in some places cheesy, and the thing rattles a bit. But nothing really breaks. Only thing that has gone bad is a fuel level sending unit. The gas guage worked fine but the low fuel level light would blink and make a dinging noise incessantly. My mom told me about the problem and I said "sounds like a bad fuel guage sending unit." Took it to the dealer, they decided to replace the ECU under warranty. Problem didn't go away so they replaced the sending unit and voila, problem solved. The dealer service is sometimes a bit stupid but nothing in comparison to some of the horror stories I've heard about certain European brands.

I'm gonna try to get a 4.0 GPA next semester and if I succeed, see if I can't convince the folks to plunk down the 20 large for an SRT-4.

 

This car doesn't matter to me. For a few grand more, I can have the AWD, quality, and superior safety of a Subaru WRX. Not to mention more perstige. I understand that SRT-4 owners aren't looking for perstige, but I just don't get the appeal, especially when the WRX is sooooo close price-wise.

 

A few more grand ends up being a lot of money, especially if you're young. For example...

When I bought my LS last year, I had $4500 down. I still had to borrow $15,800 and had a payment of $325.14 for 60 months.

Buying a WRX without ANY options is $24,720. That would turn out to 414.84 for 60 months.

A few grand makes a difference.

 

Very true, but many people are reporting that WRXs can be purchased for thousands below sticker.

 

The neon SRT-4 sounds and looks really good. and this is an honest opinion coming from a honda owner...

...but i'm never going to buy it because i know i'm going to mod it (why else would you buy this car?) and it's going to blow up (which is NOT covered under warranty) and i'm going to spend money fixing the POS after i blow the gaskets off and a couple turbos later, i'll be in the poorhouse.

 

What's to say the same won't happen to this car? The WRX held up to sticker for a while, but now you can get them cheap. Dodge is all about rebates & ish, same thing will happen here.

 

Mopar will offer Stage I, Stage II, and Stage II performance kits, getting the engine all the way up to 300hp (all under warranty). You might think it would get hot with the turbo and all that, but Dodge thought ahead, their PVO people actually are pretty smart, and added two more holes to the front fascia to allow for more air flow from modifications. Look at the pictures of the production SRT-4 and the preproduction one, they're there. Now that is a smart idea, thunmbs up to them. :thumbup: