1996 Neon Problems

[KewlYall]

For the past 6 months I have owned and driven a used 1996 Plymouth Neon, manual transmission. The car has always been tempermental, but nothing drastic. It just always made me suspicious of the car's reliability. I live in Erie PA, so for about 5 months out of the year we get really bad weather. The neon, I have noticed, does not sit on the road well at all. It slides here and there no matter how slow I drive. The service engine soon light has always turned on and off whenever it has pleased. The fuel tank is a pain, unless you pump gas very slowly into the vehicle, it will bubble back up on you. It has always made odd noises... but hey, what are you going to do? (or that is what I thought)
Well I went to work one morning during an ice-storm, came back to go to class, then only 2 hours went to my car to go back to work and it wouldn't start. As a result i missed work, and had AAA tow the car. Now it is at the garage and they suspect that the ignition is going. Due to this problem and my suspicion in the past, I researched the 1996 neon on the internet and found that other people have a lot of problems with the model.
I cannot afford something that is going to start sucking all the money out of my pocket.
SO my questions are,
is there a way to prevent all the neon's problems, like a little added care.. or am I "doomed"? should I get a different used car now? is there a used car you would recomment for a college student?
I have owned a manual '93 ford aerostar in the past, cool van, took a beating (plus I have a fondness for it since it was my first car... guzzled gas though) and a manual '89 toyota corolla station wagon (ugly ugly car, but it never let me down... except in the end when it finally died at 200,000 miles). I actually liked the ugly, rusted corolla better than the neon I have now.
So all advice and commentary is welcome.. I just want to get a little more informed before I am broke.

Thanks

[KewlYall]

I have just realized all the grammarical(sp?) errors in my last post. forgive me.

[Easy E]

Well my take is once the car hits the problem stage, it will only get worse. Probally get rid of the car and try to find a nice Japanese Car, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, with about 100k miles on it that has been taken care of. They should have a good 100k of life left in them.

About your Toyota 200k not bad kinda low but hey it was a good car. I ran my Nissan to 220k miles(86 Maxima), started getting problems so I got rid of it. So that is proof Japanese cars are like tanks.

Thats my 2 cents.

[Neilstrate]

For the past 6 months I have owned and driven a used 1996 Plymouth Neon, manual transmission. The car has always been tempermental, but nothing drastic. It just always made me suspicious of the car's reliability. I live in Erie PA, so for about 5 months out of the year we get really bad weather. The neon, I have noticed, does not sit on the road well at all. It slides here and there no matter how slow I drive. The service engine soon light has always turned on and off whenever it has pleased. The fuel tank is a pain, unless you pump gas very slowly into the vehicle, it will bubble back up on you. It has always made odd noises... but hey, what are you going to do? (or that is what I thought)
Well I went to work one morning during an ice-storm, came back to go to class, then only 2 hours went to my car to go back to work and it wouldn't start. As a result i missed work, and had AAA tow the car. Now it is at the garage and they suspect that the ignition is going. Due to this problem and my suspicion in the past, I researched the 1996 neon on the internet and found that other people have a lot of problems with the model.
I cannot afford something that is going to start sucking all the money out of my pocket.
SO my questions are,
is there a way to prevent all the neon's problems, like a little added care.. or am I "doomed"? should I get a different used car now? is there a used car you would recomment for a college student?
I have owned a manual '93 ford aerostar in the past, cool van, took a beating (plus I have a fondness for it since it was my first car... guzzled gas though) and a manual '89 toyota corolla station wagon (ugly ugly car, but it never let me down... except in the end when it finally died at 200,000 miles). I actually liked the ugly, rusted corolla better than the neon I have now.
So all advice and commentary is welcome.. I just want to get a little more informed before I am broke.

Thanks

Neons are problematic in general --i'd get out whille i can and shop--a used Mercury tracer is an excellent deal-equal in reliability/durability to the Japanese models and very likely to be less expensive.[The Tracer is a recommended used car --- Consumer Reports]I owned one and loved it,was more comfy than a yoda and drove like a sports car.

[Slanter]

While I am the forum's Chrysler nut in residence, in this case I would advise you to ditch this Neon. It's possible the car might be cured with a better alignment and some thorough electrical inspection. Or they might not, and you'd be out quite a few bucks and still stuck with your problem. It is quite likely you could be in for far too much of a nusiance for anyone to accept in a practical daily driver.

I would second Neilstrate's recommendation of a Ford Escort or Mercury Tracer. They share their underpinnings with the Mazda Protege, and combine excellent reliability with the typical American subcompact's complete inability to hold any resale value - making them used car bargains. A Nissan Sentra or Toyota Corolla wouldn't be such a bad idea either. Civics aren't bad reliabilitywise but they hold their resale value so disgustingly well that you can get better used car deals elsewhere.

[lilviper]

do yourself a favor if you own any year neon ..including the king (SRT-4) go to neons.org/forums while you have had yours for 6 months im going on 7 years with little to no problems with mine.. mostly due to the fact that that site.. the people for the most part are awsome and will answer your neon specific questions and i own a factory service manual.. when it comes to these cars it literally is your best friend.. they are inexpensive to own and go like a raped ape.. as long as you dont own a sohc automatic.. that is.. for most of your questions dont listen to the anti-neon skeptics.. go to neons.org/faq
keep the car, it will serve you well..

[lilviper]

While I am the forum's Chrysler nut in residence, Civics aren't bad reliabilitywise but they hold their resale value so disgustingly well that you can get better used car deals elsewhere.

please anything but that POS every person and their dead dogs own a civic.. not only are they slow and a genearal pain in the butt to fix everyone else owns one.. be origional STAY AMERICAN.. we need jobs too.. if you have to buy japanese at least buy one made here