Thoughts on a Dodge Stratus? Might buy one and want some input
 

I just found an 04 Stratus (4 cyl, 4 door, low miles) for sale at only $5500. I wanted to get some input on how they hold up. It will only be a slight upgrade if any at all over my Cutlass Supreme but I love the look of the Stratuses and it's such a good deal. I have heard a couple complaints about some around the 2001-02 years. Then again, I have read about some that are in the high 100k mileage and have had minimal problems.

Any major reason to stay away or should I check it out?

In general, Chrysler products have poor reliability records. Check into the history of the car. If it has been relatively trouble-free and well maintained you might be fine. Check the CARFAX to make sure it hasn't been wrecked. Commit youself to do all the good things to maintain the car properly, drive it sensibly, and keep it clean (cars always seem to drive nicer when they are washed and vaccumed). When something breaks or doesn't work, get it fixed. You can drive a car many miles if you follow this formula.

^^ agreed. in my experience anything made by chrysler/dodge just falls apart at the seams till eventually there's nothing left. I drove someone elses 07 caravan rental and bits of the door trim had to be pushed back in place every few hours. about 50-70k miles all the panels start to rattle and not line up, by 100k you can remove interior panels without undoing any fasteners lol. The engines last a little longer but not much.

stay away from it if you can. from my experience honda/toyota is the best.

i just helped a friend fix a chrysler cirrus, the starter is all the way under the car,and had to take out the oil filter to get it. also the battery is at the bumper so its hard to get to.

on my civic, these are easy 20 minute jobs.

There's a reason why you can find Intrepids, Concorde's, and Sebrings JUST AS DIRT CHEAP as this Stratus.... they're all built to last about 100k miles, give or take a bit.

I will say this though, whatever they built into old Chrysler Cirrus's, the 2.5L V6 was a damn good engine in my ex g/f's car. Original owner was her father, had never a single major problem w/ the car. I did replace the OEM rear calipers at 130k and one of the electric fans (the only that the A/C tells to turn on) burned up and the replacement was $325 from Chrysler or $155 from AutoZone, but at 130k those things are to be expected.

unless you buy honda/toyota then it's more like 250k :-p

Look at Consumers Reports wirteup on the Stratus as well as the frequency of repair records. To put it bluntly.

Not good at all.

If the miles are low, it may be an OK deal, but don't expect the long term reliability of a Toyots or Honda, or almost any other of the Japanese imports.

regards
gary

i have no experience w/ this vehicle but, no one has touched on its FE...

w/ a 2.4, the EPA #s are fairly pathetic. 21/28 AT, 24/32 MT. keep in mind these are the OLD estimates, which is what most GS members prolly go by even tho they can be beat.

with an aggresive driving style, the new EPA standards are incredibly poor! so, unless you like the size of this vehicle, there are much better choices!

Thanks everyone, I'm going to look elsewhere and hopefully come across a Saturn or Honda.

And yea I did look at the gas mileage estimates. That's what I meant in my original post about it being just a slight upgrade if any at all over my Cutlass Supreme (i just forgot to mention I was talking about gas mileage).

Intrepid
 

I got my wife a low mileage Intrepid but I had not done my research.
The Auto tranny started acting up and had to be repaired three times.
The last time wasn't on warranty and cost big bucks.
We 'traded' up to a 2003 Corolla. She loves it.

Check out the model repair history, before you leap.. :p