i have a '98 neon, it has only 65000 miles on it, but it has been sitting for the last 2 years and has a thrown rod, got it from a machanic friend that was sick of looking at it. He had a lady bring it in with the thrown rod thats the last he ever saw of her, the friend applied for the title on an unpaid balance claim and got it and gave it to me to do the work on it. I was digging though the glove box and found the sale reciept on it from when the lady bought it and had only bought it a month before she took it to the machanic, i'd bet she was dodging payments, it still has a 2500 tab on it but that's not my problem. It has the highline engine but that might change if its too badly boogered up to just replace the rod, it'll be fun to work on though, a lot more fun than the boring alternators, starters, belts, oil changes, and all that stuff i had been doing. My parents and sister have 2 '94 f-150s and a '98 ford van (that i despise) all of which with 200,000 miles + on them and no signifigant work ever done to them, Fixed or Repaired Daily my butt!