ok upfront i myself would go w/ mazda.

but i can't believe no one's told you this yet ..


2004 RAlli//Art Lancer

 

When in doubt, test drive.

You could also make a pro/con list.

Or we could make it simple and ask what is most important to you?

Straight line acceleration? SRT4

Handling? MSP


Me? I'd take handling over HP any day.

Cabo

 

I would rather have better handling. Turning at high speeds is much more fun than going really fast in a straight line. I'm still a college student so I'll probably end up getting a Civic HX. I think those are the ones with the more fuel efficient VTEC. Oh well, its better than bugging friends for rides I suppose.

 

I'll add if you want to go fast in a straight line, then don't get either. Get a mid-nineties Firebird or Camaro or Mustang which have to be ridiculously cheap now and will do fine to go fast straight. Lots of mods available, rear wheel drive, lots of reasons. If you're buying a car, it's for handling. I'd also argue it's a whole lot harder to get better hadnling out of a car than better performance. The Protege will be much more fun.
-N

 

I think your mom should get the Protege and give you the Eclipse!

 

I test drove both cars. And I decided to order an 04 silver srt-4. The 04's have an lsd and better tires. So I would guess it will slalom around 70 mph. And yes I know its a neon on drugs but isn't an evo a lancer on drugs.The mazdaspeed protege felt slow the whole time. The srt-4 u could feel the torque the whole time. And yes a stock srt-4 can beat a stock evo from a roll. I belong to www.srtforums.com. B/c as u know evo owners once u get to 80 your top end just is not their. Go race a new cobra that also runs a 13.0 sec 1/4 mile and they beat u b/c they have lots of top end.
I would rather have an evo any day over an srt-4 but for the money its the best car available.

 

Can u guyz stop *****ing. they are both great cars. The SRT-4 best car for 20k. The EVO best car for 30k. I'm sure your car is more reliable than a srt-4, but I doubt If my srt-4 repair bills will equal 10 grand. I believe the srt-4 has more potential b/c it has bigger displacement and u can't replace displacement. Yeah the shift knob sucks so buy a new one for $100. My buddy has a silver evo and hes on this forum just don't know his name. And yes when I get mine I'm taking the wing off. I respect evo's very much. But some of u evo owners need to get your head out of your *** and stop believing this is god's gift to man b/c it is not. There are better cars than the srt-4 and a evo so everybody just grow up ok cool.

 

Well I would get the SRT even if handeling is a concern, it actually handles pretty good, and trust me... The horse power advantge will more than make up for the slight handleing diadvantage (almost none). I saw some people saying the SRT has a 50hp advantage, and although that is impressive it's also not correct. The SRT will dyno at anywhere between 215 - 225 wheel HP where the Mazda only puts down nearly 150whp, So your looking at around 75hp. Oh yes and that's simply the stock numbers, I didn't read through the whole thread so i appolgize if this is a repost, but Mopar offers a total of 4 staged "turbo" upgrades. Stage 1 is available now raising the whp to 240 and wtq to 260. And although some dis-agree these upgrades do NOT void your 7/70 powertrain warrentee (i asked the dealer). Also if your still considering the handeling... they are also offeering 3 coilover suspension upgrades. More upgrades are on the way from PVO as well.

Another way to look at it is this, both cars cost about 20k, so would it cost more to add 75whp to the M.S.P., or make make the SRT handle as good as the MSP? I think the answer is clear if we look at some test results from motortrend.

SRT-4
0-60 5.4
0-100 13.5
1/4@mph 13.9@101.9
braking dist 112ft
slalom speed 66.6
skidpad .86g

MSP
0-60 6.8
0-100 18.5
1/4@mph 15.1@92.5
braking dist 115ft
slalom speed 69.3
skidpad .87g

hrmm... .01g and less than 3mph between them in handeling, while the srt kicks butt everywhere els... but you decide.

 

Hell yeah we respect the EVO! well most do... I was looking into both cars but the mitsu dealer upped the evo to about 35k (ouch!) sorry but I'm also in the process of building a house so the extra $$ left over helps alot.... but I will always respect ANY respectable EVO driver. I think of the EVO as the SRT's cousin that's always been a little bit cooler... and gets all the chix

 

Since price is an issue, don't forget to check your insurance rates for each car.

I agree the Mazda looks better, but SRT-4 looks mean too. SRT-4 is faster and sounds like it will be cheaper to modify while having more aftermarket parts.

 

Come check out the top end on my evo some time...
Stock USDM evo top end is restricted by exhaust, boost dump, and extremely rich A/F = VERY easy fix. SRT4 has no mufflers... exhaust is MUCH less restrictive stock. Still... you made the right choice, with the exception of silver! Why Silver man!!!? That Neon would look tite in black, slammed, with a body kit + tint. O and get rid of those hiddius stock wheels ASAP!

 

I've read reviews on both cars. Nothing bad at all to say on the SRT-4. They said the car is simply 'Amazing". And also the handling got great reviews as well. Like someone else stated, you can always address the handling issue. I think the MSP is alright, but common, the SRT-4 is awesome. The front is sweet looking, I agree with the back being kinda ugly, but it's nothing a body-kit can't fix. The MSP however had some downflaws. Don't remember them exactly but do a search on it through the web.

Also the reason why any stage upgrade for an SRT-4 doesn't void your warrenty is because Mopar sponsers the car for upgrades and has a deal with Dodge.

Plus the 04's have a LSD standard and I think they are throwing in a little more horse as well. Plus the fact that it has more torque than HP is always a plus.

Any people: Please stop saying "It might be fast, but it's still a neon". That's so damn annoying. Don't be hating the car is awesome for the money and people are pissed cause finally a domestic car is tearing most imports up!

 

Srt-4 all the way, cant beat the powa for cash ratio. Handling is alot better via LSD. Srt-4 on the 04 models are feartued saying they got 230 hp to the wheels now , because of bigger injectors than on the o3.

 

P.S. the stage mods do void your warrenty I have checked that out with 3 different dealers, cause if so i would buy that car in a heartbeat.

 

Strange....I took two different SRT-4's from a roll. Different days, different cars, different drivers. One was stock I assume while the other was modified at least slightly (tons of graphics from parts and 2 different speed shop banners on the car as well as the audible blow off valve). Both of the SRT-4's instigated the races. The first one lined up next to me and gave me the thumbs up and pointing toward the road ahead of us......I responded with the same. He then started counting down on his fingers, when he got to "1" we both dropped the hammer and took off. He seemed to have good acceleration from a 60 MPH roll, but anything after 80 MPH and I was pulling pretty hard on him. I stayed in 4th up until around 100 then shifted into 5th and coasted till he caught up. Once again, I got the thumbs up. The second car wasn't as polite to me. He wanted to run in the same manner, except he downshifted and rolled before truely waiting till we were both aligned. I just left it in 5th and romped on it. Since this roll started from 80 MPH, I was already pretty spooled up. I was able to pull back on him in 5th...It almost scared me, especially since my car is still at stock HP and torque levels...... To really screw with him, I downshifted into 4th when I was beside him again. I didn't get the chance to catch the reaction on his face, I was too busy putting him in the rear view. Oh, mine is still stock.

Evo is not a Lancer on drugs. If the SRT-4 had all wheel drive, or you could say that. The two are cousins, not brothers. I am glad to see the LSD make its way into the SRT-4 though.

I like the SRT-4 a lot, especially for $20,000. If I wasn't such a die hard 4G63/AWD fan, I would have possibly bought an SRT-4. Of course, mine wouldn't have the dual pipes or the huge wing. Those dual pipes are restrictive because of all the turbulance (ask David Buschur if you don't beleive me).

Between the two, I would have to pick the SRT-4 over the MAzda. To me, it looks like Mazda really ripped off the Evo styling. Sometimes, I'll see a Protege and think it is an Evo, until it gets closer. Since it looks like a rip off, maybe they could call it Protege.mp3?

Either way, have fun with what you buy and what you drive.

Josh