This will be my first and last thread. Thought I would tell my story of the great clean one owner 2000 Dodge Neon. I bought the car brand new in 1999 and got a full 18 yrs out of her. The experts say don't ever buy the first model of anything but they were proved wrong yet again. This car had a manual transmission, 4-wheel disc brakes, 5 disc cd player. I put a receiver hitch on it first thing to haul bikes but I did pull a utility trailer across country one time with it. Then I put a roof rack on it. Sometimes we had bikes on the roof and sometimes we put a big off road basket for luggage on the roof. One thing I really liked about this car was when it was fully loaded it never squatted in the back like some cars do. We always used studded snow tires in the winter since the car was horrible in the snow. It drove like an AWD with the studded snow tires.

So the car had a few clutches put in it over the years (do to the wife and kids of course). The kids learned to drive stick in it. The fuel pump went out fairly early on but after that it was never changed again. Timing belt around 120,000 miles. One a/c compressor and the second one gave up the ghost at the end. I did all four injectors myself at around 220,000 miles. I never once had the valve cover or oil pan off of the engine. I used 15W40 engine oil (for trucks) since I am a diesel mechanic. The oil was changed about every 3500 miles and the oil filter was done every other oil change (or longer). The last couple of years on the engine I didn't change the oil but only added since it was burning some oil and leaking some oil. LOL. I changed the oil in the manual transmission once and the transmission was working fine at 280,000 miles. Changed the struts a couple of times I believe but no suspension work. Replaced the shifter cables once. Had the original water pump and alternator. I believe the alternator was a Bosch so that explains the long life.

Had the original rear brake rotors but the pads had to be changed a few times because the anti -rattle clips would rust off. Original CV joints but they were clicking at the end. The check engine light was on for many years even though we have emissions tests where I live. The catalytic converter kept setting codes but I always cleared the codes and then drove until it until it was safe for emission testing. It always passed! Whenever I replaced the spark plugs I only used factory OEM. (ie: inexpensive) Most of the 280,000 miles were city miles so it might as well of had 350,000 miles. My kids used it all through high school and it was a daily commuter too college right up until the end. If I wasn't lazy I could have put a clutch in it and kept it going. If my wife and kids didn't drive it I think it would have lasted much longer. LOL. It finally gave up the clear coat the last couple of years.

Anyway, I turned it into the junk yard and received $200 cash. The junk yard was shocked and amazed that I had the original title and that it was a one owner vehicle. They said that was extremely rare. Cheers, thanks for reading.

 

Great story!!! We're still on our 2000 the wife inherited from her Mom back in 09. I helped her Mom come by it from a local 5star Dodge Dealer back in 01, with about 27K on it then. It had been a Hertz rental, bought by the Dealer at auction for his wife to drive, it looked brand new, so hadn't been beat on.
My wife is short tripping it to death around town but like yours was, its like the energizer bunny, it just keeps going & going!!!! I keep the scheduled maintenance up to date with good quality fluids & parts.
Just replaced the battery again last week, we typically only get about 4 years out of one, as it isn't driven long enough to put the start up current fully back in, so the battery sits at a low SOC most of the time, not good for its long term health, even though I top it up with my smart charger when I can catch it out of service long enough!!!!.