I have owned a Neon(05 SRT-4) and my brother owns a new Dart. Comparing the two is ridiculous. The new Dart is 10,000 times the car my Neon was. Fit,finnish,build quality are leagues above the Neon.
The new Dart is a great car,and it deserves the Dart name. It is a comfortable,economical,and reliable economy car...just like the original Dart was.
It would have been stupid,from a financial standpoint, for Dodge to make the Dart a RWD, two door, V8 powered car. They needed a compact economy car to compete with Honda,Hyundai, and Toyota. If you want RWD and a V8 buy a challenger, or Charger, or 300c or a Ram Express etc...