My friend is looking at buying a car to get to work and back. He's got someone offering him a 98 Dodge Stratus with 125k for two grand. Is there anything he should look out for when he checks out the car? I'd be willing to go with him when he checks it out as well.
He's also got an option of a Chevy Tahoe with 166k for 3000. I personally don't think that's a better option, but i'd be interested to know what the rest of the board thinks.
I would say the Tahoe is a much better option. All my experience with Stratii has been very unpleasant
Stratus:rust under the leading edge of the hood. Rear wheel bearings, too
I had one as a fleet car. It was a hand-me-down so it was not well cared for. I had brake problems, broken motor mounts, disappearing coolant, world's dumbest battery location, Revell quality interior just to name a few complaints. It sat too low and was not pleasant to get in/out of. I was very happy to see it go at 90,000 miles and can't imagine the troubles the next poor slob who bought it might have.
I always find it best to take a moment and look around to see if any are still on the road. Unless it is an enthusiast or older car.. if none are on the road, that raises some big red flags.
personally, I see VERY few Chrysler products from the 90s and even early 2000s still on the road
run away from the stratus. tahoe is a decent automobile, but not a good idea as a dd unless your friend is an oil tycoon. go find something japanese with 4 cylinders and three pedals
there is a thought... how mechanically minded is your "friend"?
I absolutely loved mine until one day with no notice the central wiring harness decided to self destruct making the car absolutely useless.
Isn't the Status the car with battery access thru the wheel well or some stupid E36 M3 like that?
2 or 4 door? Convertible? It matters. The 2 door is a junky POS Mitsu product. The 4 door and convertible are DCX's.
2.4 or v6? The "mystery" coolant loss is normally explained by a leaking water pump and gasket, BTDT, especially if it is a 2.4.
Correct on the battery. Remove left wheel, access panel, and then remove. But this is only on the DCX products.
Additionally, the DCX product will clunk in the rear over speed bumps. Cause is the upper spring mount, which is aluminium, has rotted away. The factory then switched to a steel piece.
Cooler lines have a tendency to leak. Trans solenoid packs can get flaky. Same with input and output speed sensors.
I know I am probably missing something. Hard to remember all the problems with these cars.
Brian
Based on the title i thought this might be about the Fiat Strata.
My only thought was where did someone find one of these still on the road?
At $1k, it is doable, but $2k...
Fiat Stradas? I think there are about 4 still on the road, all owned by Fiat club members.
The '98 m/y 2.4 will likely suffer from the congenital headgasket issue common to the Neon's 2.0 (the DCX 2.0 and 2.4 are pretty much identical except for 1" longer stroke/shortblock on the 2.4). This may have been repaired already with the MLS gasket, which if properly installed should be a permanent fix.
Don't know anything about the V6 version. I assume it's the Mitsu 2.7/3.0, which will burn oil.
I think the Stratii had the 41TE electronic autobox, which does not have much of a reputation for reliability, either. The 31TH old-school hydraulic trans, however, is much sturdier (for a FWD auto, that is).
They looked cool in NATCC form!
http://www.sccabb.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=8253
jrw1621 wrote: Based on the title i thought this might be about the Fiat Strata. My only thought was where did someone find one of these still on the road?
I have been looking for one for years....
fastEddie wrote: They looked cool in NATCC form! http://www.sccabb.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=8253
Hot-linked image for further proof:
Racing versions were fast and beautiful, the road version not so much.
As previously noted, you hardly see any here on the streets anymore, and this is in the rust-free South. There are reasons for that, none of them good for a potential owner.
For the same amount of money you can get a GM W body.
They have their own issues, but parts and service is generally much better. And they are bulletproof, and firsthand experience says the 3.1 delivers the high side of 25 MPG all day long.
Ranger50 wrote: 2 or 4 door? Convertible? It matters. The 2 door is a junky POS Mitsu product. The 4 door and convertible are DCX's. 2.4 or v6? The "mystery" coolant loss is normally explained by a leaking water pump and gasket, BTDT, especially if it is a 2.4. Correct on the battery. Remove left wheel, access panel, and then remove. But this is only on the DCX products. Additionally, the DCX product will clunk in the rear over speed bumps. Cause is the upper spring mount, which is aluminium, has rotted away. The factory then switched to a steel piece. Cooler lines have a tendency to leak. Trans solenoid packs can get flaky. Same with input and output speed sensors. I know I am probably missing something. Hard to remember all the problems with these cars. Brian
He said it's a '98, so it's going to be the junky 4dr Chrysler product, with either the 2.0L, 2.4L, or 2.5L. No freakin' way I'd buy one for $2K.
I wouldn't spend $3k on a high mileage Tahoe either, but I have no interest in any Tahoe. You didn't mention what year, so I'll just advise that the '96-'00 Vortech 5.7L engines had expensive QC issues, like trucks with less than 100k randomly start knocking for no reason, and sludging problems, and all the transmissions were garbage from about '95-'03 or so.
My sister drives a Stratus! You do indeed sit very low inside, but its actually a pretty comfortable car to cruise aroud in, with good climate control. Has a "manumatic" style transmission. So funny to see this post.
My sister has had a series of Dodges; a Spirit, a Dynasty (aggh!) and now the Stratus, over the last 10 years or so. My sister is not an enthusiast, mind you, these vehicles are merely mobile smoking chambers.
How much does your friend hate himself? How much does he want to hate himself in the future?
My sister has had a series of Dodges; a Spirit, a Dynasty (aggh!) and now the Stratus,
Turbo, 5spd, 15psi?
The dynasty towed my aries TX to FL and back for GRM $2009.. no complaints. Its the one car ive held onto the longest in my life and no plans to get rid of it!
Sorry, no pics of the purple 5spd stratus i owned for a while.
As for 98 stratus's... better than a 98 contour? yes. Better than a 98 taurus? yes. Better than anything else it competed with in 98? questionable..
I mean, i personally like the cars. They've got good styling imo and pack a lot of interior and trunk room into a smallish package. If i had to say which was the best one, it would be the rarest one, the 2.0/5spd, which gets the best mileage, accelerates the fastest, and is the least likely to have transmission problems. After that, id say the 2.4/auto and the 2.5/auto are pretty comparable as far as porblems. The 2.5 has more parts to break since it is a v6, but its a very solid, reliable, but unexceptional motor. The 2.4 gives close to the same power, a little less smoothly, and might be a little easier to work on since it takes up less space in the engine bay. The 4spd auto is the same in either case.
As far as going faster.. 2.4 swap into 2.0 car is fairly easy, turbo 2.0 and 2.4, also fairly easy, and 2.5 to 3.0 is just a shortblock swap, pretty straightforward.. you can use some galant/dsm suspension pieces, too.
The 4spd auto is NOT less sturdy than the 3spd. Thats a common misconception.
I think $2k is on the high side for that car unless its REALLY nice. Id go more for the 1200-1500 range.
This dynasty has a long history of grassroots-ness. Picture circa '02
Thanks for the replies. No, he's not very mechanically minded. He'd be willing to do what he could, and learn a bit, but he doesn't want to spend much time wrenching. He needs reliable transportation. He can't drive stick.
What I'm getting from this thread seems to be that the Stratus and Tahoe are both OK cars that in this case are way overpriced.
Any other suggestions for someone who needs reliable transportation and can't drive stick? Another thing. He's a big boy. Over 6 feet, over 200lbs. He needs a big person car.
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