I bought my 1995 Plymouth Neon Highline Sedan) in my third year of high school, it was very affordable and my '85 Dodge Aries wouldn't be lasting much longer. I bought this car because it looks and performs great compared to other compact sedans and coupes, has good safety features and the roominess is amazing. There is the base model which has the basics. (Not worth your time unless your idea of features includes four tires and a steering wheel.) If you want nice features you should at least get the Highline edition which includes very comfy seats and a split fold down rear seat. The Expresso edition includes foglights, and the R/T edition includes foglights, racing stripes and a faster 150 hp engine.

From the outside you wouldn't believe that I have 6 inches above my head when I'm in the driver's seat, (I'm 5'10"), or that using the split fold down rear seat I've fit my friend's 5 piece drum set in this car. I'm able to fit three people plus me in the car, four with a little bit of uncomfortableness. Headroom is never a problem though. I've also found that the interior is designed excellently, you fit comfortably into the seat, never feeling like you slide around when taking turns, and everything is in reach, but unlike the newer Chevrolet Cavalier, you don't feel stuck in a cockpit surrounded by dashboard.

How about performance? It has nice pickup compared to other's in it's class such as the Chevrolet Cavalier, Honda Civic and Ford Escort. Also like the Hondas, a wide line of performance and styling products are available from aftermarket companies.

The drive is smooth, you don't notice any problems that can't be fixed my new shocks, etc. Because of the frameless door windows, the windows can get out of alignment by people pushing on the window to close the door, this causes extra windnoise when driving at high speeds. A temporary fix is to roll down an inch or two and then roll up the window before getting on the highway. A permanant fix involves taking the interior door dash off and adjusting some screws which some people can do for themselves. Then again you can just make sure you don't push on the window when closing the door. Handling is great and the wheel always turns smoothly and isn't too loose. I get 25-30 MPG.

There are, however, a few goofs that I don't like about the Neon. Oddly, these problems are sometimes fixed in same year models, other times they are fixed in later models or in the higher edition models. The cup holders aren't big, I find that sometimes even a 20 oz. bottle of soda is hard to insert. I took out the ashtray on mine since I have no use for it, and it interferes with the cup holders. There also aren't any lights on the sunvisor mirrors, in the glove box or in the trunk. (This is sometimes fixed in higher and later models.) In early models there was a technical service bulletin about blown headgaskets, I've had this happen to my car and it appears to be the only problem with Neons. For the most part it only happens once or not at all, and shouldn't happen to the Neons on the used car lot today.

If you want a car that rides like a feather, has room for everything, doesn't hurt the wallet and has nice aftermarket products, definitely check out the Neon.