Faults:

Actually, this car has now 198,000, and I have not had the head gasket issues. I am now changing the main oil seal as it has blown out, and was thinking of doing the head gasket as well, however, I don't have leaking. Is it worth even doing if it's not leaking?

General Comments:

Overall, I have liked the car, only issue is this oil seal problem. Other than, it was a bear to remove the engine.

Faults:

The car always ran well. I did change the brakes often, but I live in a city and drive in stop and go traffic every day. The only other problem was the hood started to rust.

General Comments:

The car handled really well. I never had problems if the weather was poor or really windy, because the car handled well on the road.

The gas mileage of the car is something I looked for. Even with 120K on it, I would still get over 30 miles per gallon and if I were behind a truck or camper, I could almost get 38 MPG.

The car was comfortable and spacious. Passengers in the back seat never complained about not having enough legroom and the trunk is bigger and deeper than any other car I have seen. I took the car on a 2 week 6000 mile road trip and never had any problems.

The only reason I decided to get rid of my car was it was already 10 years old, and I do a lot of road trips. All the parts on the car were original and I wanted to have a new car for the first time in my life. The car never died on me during the 5 1/2 years I had it, and anyone who drove my car said they really liked it. When looking for a new car, if the Stratus had looked the same as the one I had previously, I would have bought another. I have bought another Dodge since the Stratus because it was a reliable, cost effective, and fun car to drive. Also it was very easy to change the oil on this car.

Faults:

I have had to replace the brakes, rotors, knuckles, R tie rod, lower arm control, both belts, l upper arm control, in 2 years of ownership. Total of about 1,500.

I have had many problems with this car, and I hope I don't have much more, but that's what cars do.

The after market parts I have installed are making up for the cost of repairs.

General Comments:

This car has after market parts, cold air intake, cooling sensor, after market chip, and new headers, so yeah it's a little faster.

Faults:

Head gasket began to leak oil at about 125,000 miles. Replaced gasket, serpentine belt and of course coolant and oil change.

Water pump failed at 133,000 miles. Replaced serpentine belt damaged when the pump bearing failed.

Transmission: clutch serviced about 105,000 replaced throwout bearing, replaced automatic adjuster, resurfaced the clutch face.

Rear window defroster lower half works, upper half is out.

Inner tie rod joints replaced about 131,000 miles.

Normal maintenance, brakes, tires, shifter boot, plugs and wires, one battery since I bought it.

General Comments:

The 2.0 litre, same as I had in my old Dodge Omni with 3-speed automatic has 138,000+ miles on it. I use high-mileage oil when I change the oil every 3K miles. Once I got the clutch fixed it continued to run great. I have driven this car from Nashville to Dallas and back getting as high as 40 mpg on the highway, 31 city. It starts right up in cold weather, burns about 1/2 qt of oil every 1000 miles now, and runs great. I've had it up to 90+ mph with no trouble and it will pull a light trailer. Plenty of trunk space, leg room, and the stock stereo sounds good for my taste with a new AM/FM/CD/MP3 player.