Hoss Ghoul

iTrader: (2)

This thread is pretty old...what did the guy go with?

In any event, this shouldn't even be a question. If you are comparing these two cars for purchase you clearly have issues.

A 944 Turbo(951) vs an LS1, yeah I could see debating that. A Mach1 or Cobra vs and LS1, ok, fine. But a front wheel drive economy car with a turbo and upgraded suspension vs a dedicated drag/GT car??? WTF?

02 BLK WS6

iTrader: (11)

I'd buy one for my wife. Hmmm, to bad I already bought her a car this year. Forget the SRT-4. Buy yourself an Escort if you really want to go slow.

JAvenger007

iTrader: (9)

Ya i too am interested in seeing what was actually purchased. You guys do realize this thread is many months old...It definately had its stupid moments.
Ill throw in my .02 for anyone else deciding between these two cars. (plus i wanna say SOMETHING after reading 9 pages of hoopla)

From an unbiased standpoint:
-LS1 Fbody for speed/looks/value/heritage/tried and true reliability
-Neon for ease of daily drivability, warranty support, under the radar

Heres why:
choose an 01/02 SS/WS6 for around $15K (basically best fbody with that budget) vs best SRT-4 with that budget, heres what youll get.
--01/02 fbods dyno with 310-315hp and run LOW 13s and break into 12s with just catback
--using my car as example, I took it to the track this past thurs along with my friend's H/C 02 SS and 98 LS1 (stripper). I let them drive my non-WS6 99 T/A with: LM, smooth bellows, and lid. It ran 13.0, 12.9, and 13.1. This is with an experienced driver and a very brief tune. Total cost of mods was $250. $150 for "like new" exhaust and $75 for lid. Took all of 30 min to install both.
--If your trying to just plain go fast for little money, the LS1 can honestly do that quite well. It sounded like the budget was $15K. Well that doesnt mean you can "throw in a 3 hour stage ? and youll have X amount of hp in the neon, because that costs $$$. around $1000 to $3500 from the sound of it.
--For ~15K the fbod is running 12s. vs 13s for the stock neon. As stated above, a $3K turbo package that gets 11s for the neon isnt saying much when you look at the $4K for an STS kit thatll do 10s. In defense, the rear end wont hold up, So between the cars you may as well consider if theyll even hold up to major additions of hp. Its obvious each car will run fast when built well. So its just a moot point...just of a matter of money for ultimate speed.
--For easy bolt-on power the LS1 will continue to be a better gain hp per dollar.
--I personally like the look, speed, and overall package of the neon. However, after driving WRXs and EVOs i wouldnt consider it anymore. Those two are nice well-rounded cars and sad to say theyve somewhat become the stang vs camaro contest of today. They are somewhat more refined and go fast under the same principles of the neon. I would say they look better doing it. From a design standpoint the neon is sloppy. The car was originally designed with a different purpose in mind. To make it appear clean and sporty it had to have things tacked on, which is almost always a negative turnout.
--The LS1 does honestly get the looks. As much as I would like to deny statements such as "its still a neon", its true. You may not mind or feel your dignity is being affected by a neon but it still affects the judgement that others have towards you whether you like it or not. I cant even count the number of times my LS1 has been the focal point of conversation, often times breaking the ice with clients, new friends, or just total strangers. Its somewhat of an icon and better understood by the majority. Even the clueless know what an fbod looks like and have an idea of its performance. It then in turn gives you a completely different social status. People often buy cars to boost their image. You cant deny the unfortunate truth of how people judge. If I pulled up to meet a client in a Neon vs an LS1, naturally, they would have a preconcieved idea of each vehicle and create an immediate first impression. This means ALOT, and not just in a business sense. It all just depends on what your looking for. You can stay under the radar with the Neon and enjoy carefree parking almost anywhere you go vs the LS1.
--The LS1 doesnt have any cargo space either. Whether that be for stuff or friends. Id love to open a 3rd or 4th door for friends instead of folding over a seat and having grown adults sit indian style on my nice leather.
--The LS1 seems to have a better resale value and do to its heritage will inturn become a classic in 30 years or less. They will eventually appreciate in value, making them a better investment if well-kept. Its already happening with the certain model 3rd gens (turbo T/A for ex).
--Well have to see how well SRT4s hold up after 100K miles. We all know how well the LS1/4L60E/T56 combo holds up.

--most important what you enjoy driving more. because the worst thing is driving around a $15K bucket of regrets. goodluck if you havent already purchased. I personally love my LS1 and strongly recommend it.

Hoss Ghoul

iTrader: (2)

While leaving work yesterday a lady co-worker of mine see's my car and say's "wow, that's nice, it looks like a shark" then proceeds to look at it from a few angles, checking out the wheels(17in stock) and throwing out another compliment or two.

Is a neon going to get that? Hell no.

Driving home cars in the left lane move over for me when they see me coming.

Is a neon going to get that? Hell no.

Can a neon do a proper burnout? Can a neon throw the back end out around corners? Can a neon steer with the throttle(heh, not torque steer)? Need I go on.

If you want a performance car you buy a Camaro or similar -rear- drive equivelant. If you want a quick grocery getter that can bring out your boy ricer...errr, racer, buy the neon.

Edit: And no offense to those who see an SRT4 as a fun practical second car, it makes some good sense for that, but not in a have only one vs a Camaro comparison.

ls1/srt

luckily for me i dont have to decide cuz i have both as an owner of an ls1 and an srt. i will simply just describe both and u decide from there. the ls1 bone stock would rape any bone stock srt from a dig or a roll. im my opinion the ls1 is a far superior car when it comes to high hp. but the srt saves mad gas can carry more people with ease. gets less attention from popo even with my catless exhaust. and is way more nimbler and easier to drive. but dont get me wrong in the end i would take the ls1 cuz its more of a mans car i hate front wheel drive and at times felt way too big in the srt. as i am 6'2". right now my srt is a daily work driver and the ls1 is the weekend fun filled raw hp american muscle car. got any more questions just ask me. but before i go i just want to say that u can mod an srt to 450 whp stock internals and would be running 11's with under 3 grand. so dont think it cant be done cuz u can look at the srt as a skittle as some of my fellow ls1 owners will call it and another is the underestimated car that can cause ls1 vette owners to give u this surprised face when a minorly modded turbocharged four banger just handed them their ***. as my stage 2 plus bpu mods has done, i dunno i love em both u decide.

ls1/srt

by the way ur still american with the srt dont go ricer and get a evo or an sti in the srt even with front wheel drive it still feels like american muscle. raw and sometimes the torque steer is crazy.

Nutty91RS

wow that was one long post over a pretty loaded question. I would like to know what the guy finally purchased, probably got fed up with the ammount of flack and bought a Ford Truck!!!! Since i just went through 9 pages of this I'm going to give my opinion. The neon will be a better car if you're going to be driving it in the winter (with a tire swap) it will keep you out of tickets because after all "it's a neon" you probably won't grenade the differential, and it's just less taxing to drive (I love my Camaro but laying down in the car with the loud exhaust and horrible visability gets old). The Camaro will get attention from everyone, cops included. It will be more modable and in the end will probably be the one in front at the races, and everything BUT the rear end will last. I own the 91RS with a 350TPI swap, and a 91 Honda Prelude (guess 91 was just my year). The Camaro's my toy I run a HUGE shot of nitro on it and am basically mean to it every time, it also wins races. The Honda's just my driver, it gets good gas milleage, looks modest but good, and handles just fine for road tripping. In the end I say buy the camaro, then buy an old car to drive around you'll be way happier when you hit a deer in the 1993 Civic than in the Camaro.

LSWannabe

As a rule of thumb that 15K would include lid/catback/some form of decent traction.
Stock SRT's run 14's.
If I'm going to believe this someone will have to prove it to me.
Basically stock LS1+STS kit does NOT equal 10's.
C'mon man. It's got some cargo space. Not alot though, and yes road tripping can only be done with 2 people. But you can transport 4 around town. Point A to B.
Amen brother.

Ell Ess Won

This man just made the best post ever. Case Closed.

ButchN

iTrader: (24)

What are little cars called skittles?

SporkLover

iTrader: (2)

I started out with an SRT-4... I loved and still love that car!!!!! But I should have went the Camaro route to begin with..... if there was anyway I could have both I would do it in a heartbeat.

I don't think you'll look back either way.....

Don't listen to the rice comments, although the SRT may look ricey, it actually has bite to back up the bark/looks.

Oh and compared to my current fbody.... The SRT is head and shoulders above it in the handling department, but the suspension is 5 years old.... that will be addressed soon enough.

I have yet to see an SRT run 11's for 3k.... now I have seen a stage II SRT with a ton of supporting bolt ons knock on the door of 11's (he was running a 12.2 with Nitrous and DRs)... but that was more like 4-5k, and the car was in top notch condition, owned by a SRT supporting vendor.

I'll have to add my two pennies to people noticing the Fbody more.... this is true. With the neon I attracted the attention of Honda Civic owners..... with the SS I actually had people complimenting the car at stoplights and even had a few fairly attractive girls make comments and ask for rides.... If that sort of thing does it for you... then go get the Fbody.... personally I can care less, I just loved my cars.

Another thing.... if you get the SRT, prepare to deal with the "its just a neon" statement...... it's true it is just a Neon.... but for some reason everyone says that like its an insult.

Both are fun cars... cant go wrong in my opinion

SporkLover

iTrader: (2)

He really didn't invest that much... IIRC from the SRT forums, his dad bought the car for him from Ebay with all of the mods.

Levoncmo

i dont know if this has been said before or not, but if you were limited to a budget of a certain amount, then trust me you will get much more out of the ls1 then you would out of a srt4.

rumblebox

iTrader: (9)

for me it would be a no brainer since i hate chrysler with a passion and dont like 4 cylinders and love LS1s. but ya like what ya like.

need-a-z

WTF...
That is the wrong question. Of course the Camaro!!!!

"No matter what you do or how you do it, it is still a Neon."

militant_x

iTrader: (1)

True american muscle car vs bottom of the line four door family sedan + a turbo. The chevy is the better platform for performance and looks much better.

Seriously the camaro was designed to be what it is... a beast. Its not a modded neon. I remember back in high school drivers ed had neons... talk about crap.

I realize some people (me included) are bashing the other car. I dont mean to, to me and others probably, this is definetly a no brainer. Its a question I would never have been able to even imagine someone asking.

American muscle car:

performance, history, looks, potential, collector potential

Four door family sedan + turbo:

performance hack, FWD, 4 doors, is a neon. I wanna see it do real donuts.

save up some money and get a WS6

rumblebox

iTrader: (9)

put aside performance for a second, and think about quality. as a mechanic, i can tell you first hand that neons(or any chrysler product) are total piles of worthless ****. they're pieces of crap even compared to other chryslers. lol

the camaro is a well built, reliable, solid car. not to mention the fact that the gen3 v8 is the best group of engines ever built by anybody.
that's my 2 cents.

SSilverSSurfer

iTrader: (8)

i cant believe you said LS1 or Neon! im hurt. CAMARO ALL THE WAY

bayer-z28

iTrader: (14)

NO Replacement For Displacement!!



......But the SRT-4 Wouldn't be a bad daily driver....

Iroc313

iTrader: (1)

for daily driver yeah sure but for a project car camaro all the way


although the camaro would be alot more reliable as a daily driver