What is the best year for the Plymouth Neon?
No official dataset can support one universal best year. Use the table to compare complaint patterns and EPA figures, then open the shortlisted years for recall campaigns and exact specifications.
Model-year matrix
Plymouth Neon
which year?
Compare every Plymouth Neon model year the EPA recorded, 1995 to 2001. See complaint patterns, fuel economy and configurations side by side, then open any year for recall campaigns and the full dossier. Confirm against the official NHTSA recall search.
Evidence-led answer
Looking for the best Plymouth Neon year—or years to avoid?
The official records cannot honestly name a best, worst or most reliable year. Complaint totals have no sales, mileage or age denominator. They can show where more reports were filed and which components were named, giving you years to investigate more closely before checking the exact car and its VIN.
Which Plymouth Neon years should you avoid?
The records cannot justify a blanket avoid label. Years with more reports are surfaced below as research priorities, not predictions about every car from that year.
01 · More reports to inspect1995
481 indexed complaint reports; engine and engine cooling is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1995 dossier →02 · More reports to inspect1996308 indexed complaint reports; engine and engine cooling is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1996 dossier →03 · More reports to inspect1998167 indexed complaint reports; engine and engine cooling is the most-reported component label.
Open the 1998 dossier →Do not read this as an avoid list. Older and higher-selling model years usually accumulate more reports. A low count can also mean a newer, rarer or poorly matched vehicle—not a safer one.
Complaint totals are counts of owner-submitted allegations, not confirmed defects, and they carry no denominator: they are not adjusted for how many cars were sold, how old they are, how far they are driven, or how much publicity a fault received. A high-volume or older year will usually show more reports than a rare or recent one. The site does not convert these into a reliability score, because the data needed to do that honestly is not in the public record.
Direct comparison
Compare two Plymouth Neon model years.
Choose any two years. The URL keeps the pair so you can return to the same comparison. Every figure below is an observed official record or EPA estimate—not a reliability score.
2000 Plymouth Neon
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 141
- Combined EPA economy
- 24–27 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 2
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,300–2,550
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsservice brakes, hydraulic 38air bags 23engine and engine cooling 21
Open the 2000 evidence dossier →2001 Plymouth Neon
- NHTSA complaint allegations
- 49
- Combined EPA economy
- 24–26 mpg/MPGe
- EPA configurations
- 2
- Annual EPA fuel-cost estimate
- $2,350–2,550
- Fuel labels
- Regular Gasoline
Most-reported component labelsservice brakes, hydraulic 14air bags 12electrical system 9
Open the 2001 evidence dossier →Observed complaint-record difference
2001 has 92 fewer indexed complaint allegations than 2000.
This is not a rate or reliability finding. The counts have no sales, mileage, age or exposure denominator, and newer years have had less time to accumulate reports.Side by side
Plymouth Neon by year.
Complaint bars are scaled against this model’s own highest year, so they compare years with each other and with nothing else.
| Year | Complaints | Most-reported components | Combined MPG | EPA configs | Annual fuel cost | Dossier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 49 | service brakes, hydraulic 14air bags 12electrical system 9 | 24–26 | 2 | $2,350–2,550 | Dossier → |
| 2000 | 141 | service brakes, hydraulic 38air bags 23engine and engine cooling 21 | 24–27 | 2 | $2,300–2,550 | Dossier → |
| 1999 | 62 | engine and engine cooling 30electrical system 9air bags 6 | 24–28 | 2 | $2,200–2,550 | Dossier → |
| 1998 | 167 | engine and engine cooling 102air bags 19suspension 18 | 24–29 | 2 | $2,100–2,550 | Dossier → |
| 1997 | 161 | engine and engine cooling 111air bags 17power train 15 | 25–29 | 2 | $2,100–2,450 | Dossier → |
| 1996 | 308 | engine and engine cooling 187electrical system 51service brakes, hydraulic 43 | 25–28 | 2 | $2,200–2,450 | Dossier → |
| 1995 | 481 | engine and engine cooling 164service brakes, hydraulic 104steering 74 | 26–28 | 2 | $2,200–2,350 | Dossier → |
Evidence snapshot generated . “Not indexed” means NHTSA holds no complaint record matching this exact year, make and model — not that no fault occurred. Recall campaigns are not summarised here: NHTSA publishes no bulk recall dataset, and fetching them per year would take longer than the page should. Each year’s dossier shows its recalls in full, live from NHTSA.