I picked up a 2003 Dodge SX 2.0 Neon about a month back to drive as my winter car. A few of my friends have owned these cars and although they certainly are no V8, they are pretty quick for a 4 cylinder. Not the case with my car, it is the slowest Neon I have ever driven. It can't even hold speed in 4th gear with my foot to the floor on a moderate hill. I know it has a small exhaust leak on the flex joint and I'm going to change the air filter, plugs and coils to see if that makes a difference. Any other ideas on regaining some of my horse power is appreciated. The car has a 5-speed manual transmission, is base model and has slightly oversized winter tires.

 

Start with a general tune up. Make sure the brakes are not dragging. Depending on mileage, new O2 sensors might help.

 

Only 134,000 on the car I just put on new brakes and adjusted them, but it was slow before that as well. I'll give them another check just to make sure everthing is good though.

 

I would do a compression test.