1998 Dodge Stratus 2.4L - Nicest Example of a Car Nobody Cares About

I'm selling this for a family friend and suspect approximately 0% of GRM will care about it, but it would make a good first car, beater car, cheap daily, etc if you want well-maintained wheels that present nice enough to others. 

1998 Dodge Stratus w/2.4L DOHC four cylinder and four-speed automatic
94,530ish miles

One-family owned since new, purchased for daughter to drive to college. Mom took it over in 2005 and has put about 2k miles/year on it since. This is the proverbial "old lady driven" car - she is mid-70s, her husband just passed unexpectedly, and I'm the "car guy" family friend who offered to help handle the fleet as she just bought a new Accord.

It's been locally-maintained since 2005 and the shop provided these records. Hasn't needed much:

• Rear tires replaced January 2021
• Front lower control arms and sway bar end links replaced November 2020
• Front tires replaced September 2020
• Emissions tested and passed June 2020 (valid for two years in VA)
• Front brake pads replaced, rotors resurfaced June 2015
• Spark plugs replaced, throttle body cleaned October 2014
• Rear brake shoes and engine thermostat replaced April 2008
• Front brake pads replaced, rotors resurfaced September 2005

PM me for more details or with questions. The car is in Arlington, VA. Asking $2,400 OBO and I am more interested in getting rid of it than squeezing every last dollar from it. More photos on Craigslist, click here.

Clean looking car, not very sporty  but a good dishwasher. 

Looks great.  I predict its gone before the weekend to a family of 4 getting $600 per person in stimulus dollars.  It will also be a great choice for that family of 4.  

Needs more btcc goodies and a Mexican turbo manifold with turbo. 

There are many equally vanilla/unsporty vehicles recieving love on this forum.  See recent thread about 2005 Malibu track car.

This car has double wishbones.  Doesn't most SRT-4 stuff bolt in?  Seems like a good starting point for a Dodge TSX  

I want to hate it but I can't.  It's cars like this that cause me to currently have 8 and have a disinterest in spending $40k for something new.

I am so glad I'm tapped out car wise, or this would be setting in my garage. Got everything to turbo and 5 speed swap setting in my basement. 

I know somebody who may be very interested in that.  Will share.

My friend seems very interested.  Can I get contact info to pass along?

Shared contact info with Duke via PM. I have someone locally (allegedly) coming to see it at noon tomorrow. Have had a few bites otherwise but nothing has panned out. Fingers crossed, I have the first of many press loans coming for review next Wednesday and really want it gone by then. I need the parking space. 

I'm not the only one thinking of this, am I?

Appleseed said:

I'm not the only one thinking of this, am I?

Nope. Still love that car, and picture it in my mind every time i see that generation stratus. 

Right coast, just a tad too far though. Shame too, I'm currently looking for a cheap DD. 

ProDarwin said:

There are many equally vanilla/unsporty vehicles recieving love on this forum.  See recent thread about 2005 Malibu track car.

 

This car has double wishbones.  Doesn't most SRT-4 stuff bolt in?  Seems like a good starting point for a Dodge TSX  

The 2.4 is a version of the same 2.4 as the SRT Neons. And the double wishbones are I think close to if not the same as 2g DSMs. 

I DRIVE A DODGE STRATUS!

Sorry about that.  I don't actually but that SNL sketch just hit me. 

Daylan C (Forum Supporter) said:

 And the double wishbones are I think close to if not the same as 2g DSMs. 

I am curious about this.  I think you are thinking of the 2 door, which is DSM based, and a totally different chassis than the 4 door car.  (WTF??)

Just talked to my friend and they're out.  Thanks, though.

In reply to ProDarwin :

I'm probably wrong.

ProDarwin said:

Daylan C (Forum Supporter) said:

 And the double wishbones are I think close to if not the same as 2g DSMs. 

I am curious about this.  I think you are thinking of the 2 door, which is DSM based, and a totally different chassis than the 4 door car.  (WTF??)

Completely correct. The 2dr is a stretched eclipse. Complete with the same Mitsubishi 2.4 and 3.0 engine options. 
Now, where it becomes confusing is that the convertible is a lengthened front door on the 4dr sedan chassis. Why? Who knows but the execs and bean counters.... I suspect there was still an open contract somewhere with Mitsubishi that needed filling....

Appleseed said:

I'm not the only one thinking of this, am I?

Did you know they created wiper linkage that allowed them to mount the wiper motor at the bottom of the engine bay, for better weight distribution!?!?

I've had 2 Stratuses, both 5spd manuals. Really decent cars in my opinion, and I sort of regret getting rid of both of them. One was even purple!! Arrrggg. 

Anyway, the original cloud cars are related to Mitsubishi, but a lot closer to the contemporary Galant (the rounded generation that everyone forgets about because it's between the Galant VR4 generation and the 0down, 0interest, 0paymentsmade, 100%trashed/scrapped/repo'd generation) than it is to the Eclipse.

Id definitely own another one in the right circumstances, but at this point I might prefer a 2.5L v6 car since i have a 3.5L version of that v6 sitting here from a Diamante i parted out, and I already have a 2.4L turbo car.

Got a deposit from someone local who's buying for her college-aged son. Supposed to come get it tomorrow. Managed to agree on a sales price above $2k which I'm happy with.

In reply to Brake_L8 (Forum Supporter) :

Win-win.  Perfect kid car.  

I havent' seen one of those that nice in a yeeeeeaaaaarrrrssss