well, from experience with a cobalt ss, i had one for 2 years, never had a single problem with it, whatsoever, and it always ran strong. not to mention, they look so much better then the neon, seriously. it looks more intimidating(as much as a little car can) and its not so round and gay lookin. ive never drove a neon, my wife has a regular one, one of our neighbors has a srt-4, and he has had alot of problems with parts breakin on it, that could be cuz he tears the **** outta it all the time tho. and even tho the srts are supposed to have more power, i never had and problem beating them with my ss. driver error most likely, but that just means the srt 4 clan are lousy drivers lol. id stick with gm. u get a better vehicle, and more familiarity.