It was July of 2000 and my husband and I had three days to find a car. I had just received my driver's license the week before. Since the two of us know next to nothing about cars and car sales, we decided to take my mother with us to the dealership.

We went to the local Chevrolet dealer and browsed the Pre-Owned car lot. We fell in love with a Chevy Beretta, and we told the saleswoman that we would be back the next day with the down payment.

Much to our dismay, when we went back to the dealership the next day, the Beretta was gone. It had been sold that morning. We were quite unhappy. We were about to leave the dealership when the saleswoman told us about a car at one of their other lots. It was in our price range, she said, and if we would wait for about a half hour, she would go get it and bring it to us to look at.

So we waited. The saleswoman came back a half hour later with a 1996 light green Dodge Stratus. I looked at my husband and smiled. The outside of the car looked fabulous! The color was beautiful, the design was sleek and smooth. The saleswoman opened the trunk for us and showed us how roomy it was. Trunk room was an important factor for us, because our son's stroller is quite large. Then she handed me the key and told me I could take the car for a test drive.

When I got into the Stratus, I was impressed with how roomy the interior was. The driver's and passenger's seats were large and comfy, as was the back seat. The seats were covered with plush gray fabric with a flecked, multi-colored pattern. There is tons of leg room in both the front seats and the back, another key factor for us, since we make eight hour car trips from North Carolina to Pennsylvania and back quite frequently and would not want to be cramped and folded into a car with no leg room.

I started up the Stratus and drove it for a few blocks. It was a very smooth ride. I was not used to driving a sedan, but it was easy to handle and I caught on quickly. I pulled back into the parking lot at the dealership and looked at my husband. He nodded his head. The saleswoman looked at us expectantly, and I told her the car was sold.

We filled out all the necessary paperwork, paid our down payment, and the car was ours! We drove it around for awhile that night to celebrate. Two days later we made our first trip to North Carolina from Pennsylvania in our new Stratus. The trip went smoothly. The car got excellent highway gas mileage. The noise barrier was great - a plus, because if you have ever ridden in a car that you can hear highway noise in, you know how annoying it can be.

Our Stratus had 66,000 miles on it when we bought it. I was a little nervous that we would have problems with it since it already had so many miles on it. I've heard many a horror story about the head gaskets breaking and needing to be replaced. Ours hasn't given us any trouble yet (knock wood!). The only repair we've had to make to the Stratus in the nearly eight months we've owned it was to replace the right rear wheel bearing back in December, because it had been ground down somehow. Once that was replaced, the Stratus drove like a dream once again.

I would definitely recommend the 1996 Dodge Stratus to anyone looking into buying a pre-owned vehicle. It sure is well worth the money spent!
Amount Paid (US$): 7600
Condition: Used
Model Year: 1996
Model and Options: Automatic, tilt steering, cruise control, power everything