But for some people, 230 horsepower, zero to 60 mph in the low- to mid-five-second range, and a price tag under $21,000 just isn't good enough. Some folks want to burn more wheat—and there's more power coming to them from Mopar, with its new lineup of post-production parts specifically engineered for the SRT-4.
The parts coalesce into several different option packages and since they've been developed by Mopar, they're far better than most stuff in the realm of failed-engineers-gone-tuners. The car we tested was equipped with the Stage 2 upgrade kit with its Turbo Toys. Coming in at $1599, the kit bumps the standard Neon SRT-4's horsepower to 280 (if you're using 100 octane fuel, 265 if you're not). Features include a multi-mode intercooler-sprayer system, a high-octane mode, and Dial-A-Boost—a system that allows the driver to determine exactly how much boost they're interested in using at any given time. The dial goes from zero to three, with three kicking out the most power, and zero being lame. Incidentally, the intercooler sprayer (which is intended to prevent the intercooler from becoming heat-soaked, which would reduce power) on the Stage 2 model that we were driving dribbled liquid like that septuagenarian standing next to us at the Bill Knapp's urinal who kept looking over at us. Our test car also included a feel-good, short-throw shifter and gnarly-looking BFG KD Performance tires wrapped around 17-inch Stratus R/T alloy wheels. The Stage 2 setup also buys you beefed-up coil-over front and rear suspensions, with stiff Mopar bushings in the back and thicker anti-roll bars front and rear. And if our seventh-grade math skills aren't failing us, all the performance parts on our test car will set you back about $5900.
The car is scary fast. Chrysler thinks it should be able to pull just around five seconds flat to 60 mph. The "scary" modifier is applicable thanks to the vicious amount of torque-steer caused by 280-plus lb-ft pulling a front-wheel-drive car that weighs roughly 2900 pounds. And its bark is every bit as loud as its bite. Imagine putting a pressure-zone microphone into a bowl of Rice Krispies and pumping it through a 3000-watt amplifier. That's what the exhaust notes (the plural is intentional) sound like. And that's inside the car. From the outside, this muffler-less car sounds angry even from a long way off. It's hard to believe this thing is street legal.
Coming in at around $26,000 and vaporizing competitors such as the Nissan Sentra SE-R, this car provides incredible bang for the buck. You're on your own as far as getting banged, though. And unfortunately, with the turbo upgrade, you might find yourself in a compromising position. First of all, you have to install the parts yourself or pay someone else to get dirty. Dodge dealers will not do it for you. Once the work is done, your powertrain warranty is void, so, if anything breaks, you're paying for it. Should that happen, you'll exceed the price of a Mitsubishi Evo RS. Don't forget the speeding tickets. Oh, and good luck with the insurance. So much for the great value.