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Dodge had already built the lightweight ACR or "American Club Racer" version of the Neon, which featured a tuned suspension system aimed at the autocross crowd (with later models adding goodies like Koni adjustable shock absorbers), and the car had developed a reputation for nimble handling.
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It wasn't an altogether unreasonable request. The mission Gale put before his team, which included Marques McCammon, Dave Chyz, and Marc Musial, was simple: take the lowly, but popular, Dodge Neon sedan and do whatever it took to make it competitive with import performance rivals like the Honda Civic Si and the Nissan Sentra SE-R. Tom Gale, the design exec directly responsible for both the Viper and the earlier Dodge Stealth, was inspired by the energy of street culture embodied at the show, and realized that if Chrysler could tap into that wave of enthusiasm it would probably find itself awash in profit. At the time, Chrysler was looking for ways to expand its performance car offerings past the Viper, which was well-suited as a halo model but priced out of reach of the majority of customers. The genesis of the SRT-4 project can be traced all the way back to the SEMA show in the late-'90s. Despite the phenomenal potential of the platform, surprising levels of factory speed support almost from day one and an incredibly low purchase price-especially now on the used market-the turbocharged version of Mopar's entry-level offering still "can't get no respect" from performance fans outside of a small, dedicated cadre of Neon lovers. In the world of sport compact cars, the Dodge Neon SRT-4 can lay perhaps the greatest claim to being the heir apparent to late comedian Rodney Dangerfield. Overlooked Performance: 2003-2005 Dodge Neon SRT-4