The manual transmission-equipped Neon was the second quickest Chrysler-built car on the market when it was introduced, right after the Viper.

Powered by an all-new 2.0-liter, 16-valve, single overhead cam, multi-point fuel-injected 4-cylinder Chrysler engine mated to a 5-speed manual transmission, the Neon is capable of reaching 60 miles per hour from a standing start in just 8 seconds.

Neon, with its 2.0-liter engine, delivers best-in-class base engine output with 132 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 129 pound feet of torque at 5,000 rpm. A double overhead cam version of the same engine will be introduced on Neon in November 1994.

An important reason for the Neon's spirited performance is its power-to-weight ratio (17.7 to 1), which makes the new little car better in this regard than any of its major competitors.

Not only does Neon pack a real punch from 0-60 mph, it keeps right on going up -- moving from 50 to 70 mph in 5.1 seconds and covering the quarter mile distance from a standstill in 16.9 seconds. These results are better than all Neon's principal competitors.

With the standard 5-speed manual transaxle, its fuel economy rating is 29 miles per gallon in city driving and 38 mpg on the highway. Ratings with the optional 3-speed automatic transaxle are 27 mpg city and 33 mpg highway.

"There was no intent to bias the engine either toward horsepower or torque," observed Floyd E. Allen, executive engineer-powertrain for Chrysler's Small Car Platform Team. "We went after a good balance to achieve that fun-to-drive feeling. We wanted it all. So we worked very hard to get excellent levels of both."

Neon's 2.0-liter, 1-4 has a relatively flat torque curve, achieving 90 percent of its maximum torque output at 2,000 rpm and moving steadily upward to its peak torque at 5,000 rpm.

The engine features a distributorless ignition system and sequential fuel injection. The latter utilizes a "returnless" fuel system that eliminates the need to return unused fuel from the engine to the fuel tank.

The 2.0-liter engine was designed almost entirely on computer, using the Computer Aided Three-Dimensional Interactive Application (CATIA). Using CATIA, engineers were able to transfer data electronically to die-making sources, which helped facilitate the shorter development and tooling time objectives of Neon.

"There are very few parts on the 2.0-liter that we used from prior engines," explained Allen. "It is a new engine. The only link it has to our previous 4-cylinder engine family (2.2 and 2.5 liters) is that it shares the same bore centers. And we retained this dimension only so we could utilize some of the existing equipment on the block line," he added. "That helped us meet the investment targets."

The new engine, built at Chrysler's engine plant in Trenton, Mich., has a cast iron block and aluminum cylinder head. The cylinder block includes an innovative bedplate construction. The cylinder block above the crankshaft center line is conventional, but below the center line is a one-piece structural bedplate which integrates the main bearing caps.

"This construction gives us a significant advantage in engine noise, vibration and harshness," said Allen. "It also prepares us ... from a design standpoint ... if, in the future, we want to convert to an aluminum block construction."

The engine utilizes a thermoplastic intake manifold, the first ever on a Chrysler engine. It is lighter, less expensive than cast aluminum, and also offers a performance advantage.

"That's because the interior of the manifold runners are smoother than cast aluminum manifolds," said Allen. "This helped us achieve another horsepower or two."

The engine is relatively lightweight at 242 pounds, as well as very compact in height.

The Neon cab-forward architecture dictates a sloping hood line and therefore a very compact engine compartment," said Allen. "We had to design an engine that was extremely compact in height, as well as compact fore and aft, to accommodate those packaging constraints."

Neon engineers were able to minimize the vibration characteristics typical of 4-cylinder engines.

"To achieve this, we minimized the reciprocating mass of the pistons and connecting rods. For instance, on a relative bore size basis we have one of the lightest pistons in the industry.

"It's a relatively large bore/short stroke engine, which again is favorable from a secondary order vibration perspective. Also, the nodular iron crankshaft is fully counter-weighted for better balance, which contributes to the overall smoothness of the engine."

Transmissions and transaxles

Harnessing the power of the 2.0-liter Neon engine is a standard 5-speed manual transaxle, with an optional 3-speed automatic.

The manual transaxle is totally new, engineered and built by New Venture Gear, a partnership established several years ago between Chrysler and General Motors. The transaxle is a split-case design and, at 80 pounds, extremely lightweight.

Neon engineers spent considerable time and energy to determine just what it is about a manual shifter that makes a car truly "fun to drive," a major element of Neon's character.

"We asked consumers whether they wanted short or long throws with the shifter, light or heavy effort, a precise or soft feel going into gear,' recalled Allen. "As you might expect, there was a wide range of opinion and significant differences between the attitudes of males and females."

After building several variations, engineers again sought customer feedback to confirm that they had a shifter that most people liked.

The optional automatic transaxle has been widely used with engines on other Chrysler vehicles. It is a three-speed unit with a lock-up torque converter clutch to improve highway fuel economy. All shift controls are hydraulic, so no electronic control module is required.

"It uses many of the same components of our existing 3-speed," agreed Allen. "But because of higher engine torque levels and, more specifically, the higher rpm of Neon's 16-valve engine, a number of internal components were improved to handle those increases. Additional improvements were made which reduced gear noise.'