About the 1998 Neon R/T Option

The 1998 Neon R/T was designed as a more street‑friendly alternative to the competition‑focused ACR, blending daily comfort with genuine sport performance in both coupe and sedan form. Every 1998 R/T used the 2.0L DOHC 16‑valve Magnum four‑cylinder rated at 150 hp and 133 lb‑ft of torque and came exclusively with a 5‑speed manual transmission.

R/T appearance was tightly defined: the package was only offered in four colors – PB3 Intense Blue, PR4 Flame Red, PW7 Bright White and PX8 Black – each paired with contrasting dual stripes and matching "R/T" badging. Cars received the distinctive “surfboard” rear spoiler along with specific stripe and badge combinations such as Flame Red with black stripes, Black with silver stripes, Intense Blue with white stripes and Bright White with Black or blue stripes.

Nearly all 1998 Neon R/T sedans and coupes were built at Chrysler’s Belvidere Assembly Plant; the lone exception was a single PR4 Flame Red R/T sedan built at the Toluca, Mexico plant that served as the test mule. This makes that Toluca‑built Flame Red sedan a unique outlier in the 1998 R/T production run.

Underneath, the R/T used the stiffer SDE (Sport) suspension, a quicker steering ratio and four‑wheel disc brakes, giving it sharper responses than base Neons while still stopping short of the full ACR competition setup. Inside, R/Ts featured sport bucket seats trimmed in Tango “worm tracks” fabric – either W7AZ Red Tango or M7AZ Blue Tango – with Dark Agate interiors, plus a leather‑wrapped steering wheel and leather shift knob.

While well equipped from the factory, buyers could still add or remove comfort and convenience options such as air conditioning, CD player, cruise control and a power sunroof, power windows, power locks, and ABS, allowing the 1998 Neon R/T to serve as a practical daily driver with a strong performance and styling edge.