This Neon glows when it comes to performance

The 2004 Dodge Neon SRT-4 sedan is a talented kid from the wrong side of the tracks. It runs and handles better than many costlier sports cars. But what it has in driving competence it lacks in class.

That is a good and bad thing.

The SRT-4’s mission is to provide maximum performance -- speed, gear transitions and handling -- at a minimum price. With a turbocharged, 230-horsepower four-cylinder engine stuffed inside a body weighing 2,900 pounds -- all of it at a base price of less than $21,000 -- it does that and more.

But if you’re looking for sophistication, look elsewhere. This is a sleeves-rolled-up, weekend hell-raising, track-running kind of a car.

The SRT-4’s only concessions to urbanity are its wonderfully bolstered front seats. The side bolsters are high enough to keep very big adult bodies in place in quick turns -- assuming those bodies are properly belted.

The people for whom the SRT-4 is built are performance hedonists. They eschew fancy interior trim in pursuit of the slightest gain in miles per hour or the smallest advantage in handling.

The people at DaimlerChrysler Corp.’s Chrysler Group Performance Vehicle Operations unit, which produces the SRT-4, know this. So do the people at Nissan Motor Co., who make the 175-horsepower Sentra SE-R Spec V; the folks at Subaru, who turn out the incredibly fast, 300-horsepower Subaru Impreza WRX STi; and the people at Mitsubishi Motors Corp., who developed the 271-horsepower Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.

Those little cars are aimed at the fast-and-furious crowd -- people who delight in buying relatively cheap runners and beating the heck out of substantially more expensive, more prestigious European models.

Overall, the SRT-4 offers an excellent ride and acceleration. Very good handling could be better if its ground clearance was lowered from the current 6.1 inches to about 4.5 inches. The car wallows a bit, certainly more than the Evolution, at high speeds. Dodge wanted the SRT-4 to have a decent street ride as well as good track performance, whereas Mitsubishi didn’t make that compromise. And the interior is cheap -- borderline tacky -- but nobody buys the SRT-4 for the carpeting.

The SRT-4 is equipped with a turbocharged 2.4-liter in-line four-cylinder engine that develops 230 horsepower at 5,300 revolutions per minute and 250 foot-pounds of torque at 2,200 rpm. The engine is linked to a five-speed manual transmission.

It seats five people. But pity the person who gets stuck in the middle of the rear seat. The luggage capacity is 13.1 cubic feet. The fuel capacity is 12.5 gallons; premium unleaded gasoline is recommended. I averaged 26 miles per gallon in city and highway driving. And there are standard anti-lock four-wheel disc brakes, with optional side air bags.

The car’s base price is $20,450. Price as tested is $21,690, including $695 in options and a $545 destination charge.

There is a seductive giddiness to the SRT-4. Everything about the car -- from its scooped hood to its flying rear spoiler -- shouts a desire to run.

You are sitting at a red light in your electric-blue SRT-4 minding your own business. Your engine is idling, sending partially burned fuel through the exhaust system, where it completes combustion in pop-pop, gurgle-roar noises reminiscent of sounds from NASCAR and Grand Prix race cars.

Then someone in a Porsche Boxster pulls up next to you with body language that says he’s richer, he’s better and he’s going to put you in your place.

So when the light turns green, you pop the SRT-4 into first gear, for which it has little tolerance, and then quickly drop it into second and speed past the Boxster.

I was reared with affection for the underdog, the improbable victor. The front-wheel-drive SRT-4, with its Wal-Mart interior and fire-breathing performance -- zero to 60 mph in 5.6 seconds, and lots and lots of torque -- speaks to my cultural bias.

I just can’t help myself.

The SRT-4 is one of the best pocket-rocket deals on the market.