In my family now, we've had 3 Neons. My mother bought a 96 Automatic Sport; I bought a 95 Manual sedan. Later after we both were rid of those cars, my wife had one when I met her (a 95), which we unfortunately still have.

The first Neon, my mothers, was a sleek looking emerald green Sport. Automatic, tinted windows, power locks, CD player. Also a very comfortable ride. Then there was a recall on the transmission about a "Transmission Drain Line" (or so was stated). They took the car in, and "Fixed it". When she got the car back, every shift the transmission made was a lurch. No soft shifts. After 30 visits to the shop (literally counted up to 37 total visits in 9 months), no one fixed it (or could). They wouldn't simply replace the transmission. The wheel bearings went out as well. All of that along with fenders coming loose, and console electrical problems. She sold the car as soon as she could (after no one would fix it).

My Neon was blue. Manual 5-speed. Quick car. I liked it, and never had trouble with it (at the time). Sold it anyway for something cheaper.

My wife’s Neon is another Blue, but automatic. It shifts horribly. The paint on the roof fell off (and I primered it), the console has electrical problems (no speedometer now, cant fix it without a new cluster it seems). It gets horrible gas mileage (about 20gpm). I need to replace the cat since the computer decided to ignore the rear O2 sensor and ran rich for months. In the winter this car doesn't like to steer, instead it has to "warm up" the power steering pump it seems, because on cold mornings you have to pull out and force the wheel to move before the power steering kicks in.

Unfortunately, she bought this car before I met her, or I would have warned her. She bought the car for $9,000, and 2 years later it's worth $5,000 if it was in MINT condition, which it's not. It has no paint on the roof (and some chipping off on the doors); the interior is falling apart too. The whole car rattles worse than my first car, a '79 Datsun B210. It goes out of alignment if you kick the tires just right, and the ABS brake system doesn't work well, no matter how hard you push the pedal (and keep it there of coarse) to the floor.