My tastes are rather simple. I want a sharp handling, DOHC V6, manual shift sedan for around $25,000. A few fairly affordable V6 manual sedans are available from the import brands: Nissan’s Maxima and Altima, Mazda’s upcoming 6, VW’s Jetta and Passat, and Hyundai’s Sonata. From American brands, however, there is only one, and that one only very recently. Halfway through the 2002 model year Dodge decided that if the imports could sell sedans with manual transmissions, maybe there was some demand for them after all, and made a five-speed standard on the new performance-oriented R/T model of its midsize Stratus sedan.

However, Dodge isn’t trying too hard with this car. I’ve yet to see advertising for this powertrain, and it took me half a year to find a dealer with one in stock. And this is Detroit, with Dodge dealers everywhere. The first dealer I stopped into didn’t even know a manual was available in the car. Then the other day I decided to perform a search on the Internet at Autotrader.com, and found one Stratus R/T sedan with a manual about fifteen miles away from my house. I’ve been wanting to drive this car badly, so I made the trip.

Dodge Stratus Reliability

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Background

I’ve always been a big fan of the styling of the original 1995 Chrysler JA cars, the Dodge Stratus and Chrysler Cirrus. With these cars, Chrysler’s stylists integrated a very low cowl and short overhangs into a unique, flowing shape that somehow managed to contain a lot of space for passengers. But styling isn’t everything, and I never really enjoyed driving these cars. The Mitsubishi six, the most powerful engine available, always felt much weaker than its 168 horsepower rating. It was also quite buzzy for a six. Probably for these reasons, Mitsubishi never put this engine in its own Galant, though it originally planned to. There were rumors that a more powerful Chrysler 2.7 liter would soon replace the Mitsubishi lump, but this didn’t happen. The driving position also didn’t do much for me. Though I liked the low cowl, the dash was just way too deep, an artifact of the “cab-forward” design. These cars never really caught on with the public. I think the clean styling might have actually hurt, as it led many people to perceive the car as smaller, and thus cheaper, than it was. Consequently, most began their lives as rental cars.

For 2001, Chrysler redesigned the JAs. In an effort to minimize confusion, they now share names with otherwise unrelated coupes based on the Mitsubishi Eclipse (itself based on the Galant sedan). Both Dodge models (coupe and sedan) are now named “Stratus” (“Avenger” is gone). All three Chrysler models (coupe, convertible, and sedan) are now named “Sebring” (“Cirrus” is gone). These redesigns are little more than re-skins. The underlying chassis remain fundamentally the same. For the sedans, the major change has been in length, which it up nearly five inches. This seems to have no impact on passenger and cargo volume, which remains nearly the same as what it was before.

In terms of uplevel engines, the coupes get a Mitsubishi 3.0 liter SOHC 24v V6, while the sedan and convertible get that long-promised Chrysler 2.7 liter DOHC V6 out of the Intrepid and Concorde. The output of both sixes peaks at an even 200 horsepower, but the smaller six makes a bit less power through the midrange. The Chrysler ads have been keying on this number, but 200 horsepower isn’t what it used to be. Honda, Toyota, and Ford all sell mid-sized sedans with 200 horse sixes. So the new engines merely make these cars competitive, they don’t give them an edge.

Styling and accommodations

The new sheetmetal is not a beautiful as the old. It’s more trendy and busy, less classic and restrained. That said, its newfound edges do lend the car a more substantial, more sophisticated appearance, one more likely to command respect in the mid-sized marketplace. Though I liked the look of the old car, the average buyer thought it looked small and plain and was just flat-out unimpressed. The new front end incorporates substantially larger headlamps, which should improve on the weak units in the old car. The rear is styled to look like the larger Intrepid, not a bad way to go.

There is little styling to be found in the interior. As in 㣴s Chryslers, the dash moves in a straight line from one door to the other, with nary a curve or interesting detail to please the eye. To accentuate this lack of style, a large plank of plastic faux carbon fiber extends just about the whole way across. (Other models have fake wood, which looks even worse.) The gauges even in the base car have white faces, but they only manage to further cheapen the appearance of the interior as a whole because the execution lacks refinement. The gauges in the Chrysler version are much more attractive.

Many of the plastics seem too cheap even for a car of this price. The hard shiny, rough black plastic around the white gauges and climate control knobs looks especially cheap to my eye. Something about it suggests a cheap toy. The boot around the manual shifter is a vinyl accordion type thing, much like those that graced Chryslers two decades ago. Please, at least imitation leather here. Finally, the door panels even on the top-of-the-line R/T are the same one-piece slightly padded vinyl units found in the base Stratus. For a single piece I guess they’re marginal, but a fabric/leather insert would be much nicer. Overall, the interior has the ambiance of an economy car.

The leather interior helps a bit here. This adds leather to the steering wheel, shifter (maybe only with the automatic), and seating surfaces. A couple of the panels in the leather seats are suede. Looks good, richer looking and feeling than last year's all-leather seats. As the leather seats include an adjustable lumbar support and cost only $600, this one’s a no-brainer unless you really, really hate leather.

The driving position is a bit better than before. The new interior styling does make the dash look less deep. On the downside, the new dash is taller and more massively styled than the old, so the cockpit feels less airy. With the standard manual seat, seat height is non-adjustable and is very high. Actually, it's a bit too high, as the headliner intruded a bit into my vision and the heavily raked A-pillars were a bit close for comfort. While this affords a great view over the dash, I’d prefer to sit somewhat lower. The way to fix this is get the optional power seat. I sat in a model so equipped, and with the seat lowered I was much happier. I still wouldn’t mind if the A-pillars were a bit more upright, but they are one of the key features of Chrysler’s styling, so I’m not counting on this happening even with the next go-round.

The cloth seats in the car I drove were fairly comfortable. However, they were a far cry from sport seats. In turns they compressed under my shifting weight, so lateral support was inadequate. I sat in but did not drive a car with the leather seats. These felt firmer, both under my rear and in the side bolsters. Again, the leather is a no-brainer. Much better would be true sport seats, an odd omission in an R/T-badged vehicle. A clear sign that Chrysler put the bare minimum of effort into this performance model.

The rear seat is very roomy, but not comfortable. The cushion is low to the floor, so thigh support is inadequate for anyone with medium to long legs. Luckily, there’s so much legroom that you can get thigh support by stretching your legs way out in front of you. There is no such cure for the overly reclined backrest. The center of the seat is flat and broad enough for a third person to be only a bit less comfortable than the other two.

Plenty of storage is available inside the car. The trunk has an average amount of space for this class, but could have a more regular shape. The trunk hinges do not intrude into the cargo area when the lid is closed. The rear seat folds in two sections for more cargo capacity.

On the road

Teamed with a manual, the 2.7 liter six makes plenty of power once the tach needle clears 3500 RPM, and really comes on cam past 5000 RPM. Power peaks at 5800. This six sounds like those in most of the competition, with a baritone neither nasty nor inspiring. Sadly, the engine did not make the sweet mechanical sounds I appreciate in some DOHC engines. I heard a faint whine the entire time the car was moving, but am not sure what this was as it did not vary with speed.

Down low the “Magnum 2.7” is a bit short on torque, especially compared to the similarly sized, also 200-horse six in the VW Jetta. The torque curves say it all. The Dodge’s torque peak is at 4,850 RPM, and the curve shown in the brochure is peaky. At 3000 RPM only about 170 ft-lbs. are available. In contrast, the Jetta engine produces 195 ft-lbs. at 3200 RPM.

Gearing is another factor. The Dodge has a five-speed, and is geared fairly tall, so it takes longer for the engine to get into its higher, narrower powerband, and falls a bit out of it with each shift. It needs a close ratio six-speed like that in the Jetta GLI. Even with its extra gear, owing to shorter gearing the Jetta turns about 10% more RPM in top gear.

To accelerate on the highway I downshifted the Dodge to third, although power in fourth was okay. Fifth is for cruising. After enduring 3500 RPM at 80 in my own car, a V6 Ford Contour, 3100 at 80 in the Dodge felt quite relaxing. Road and wind noise were also moderate on the highway (no luxury car, but at least up to the family sedan average), making for a decent long-distance car. Fuel economy should also benefit from the tall gearing.

Bottom line: Although many people judge a car by its horsepower, peak power is only a small part of the story. For the whole story, you must look at the entire torque curve, gearing, and the car’s weight. As it is, the Stratus R/T is quite fast when floored and shifted at the redline (which causes the tires to chirp going from first to second), but it doesn’t feel especially energetic in normal driving.

Oh, one more thing about the transmission: like the seats, the shifter needs to be re-worked. Another sign they didn’t spend much time on this package, the shifter was sloppy in between gears and very notchy going into gears. Though it at least it lacked the floppy feeling of some of the Japanese competition, it still felt cheap and insubstantial. Maybe they did get the thing from an 㥝 Omni?

Despite the Honda-like double-wishbone suspension front and rear, the only such suspension in an affordable Big 3 sedan, I was disappointed by the handling of the 2001 Stratus SE I drove last year. Some people think they can tell a lot from the suspension specs, but this car proved otherwise. Why spend the extra money for double wishbone suspensions front and rear and then not do whatever else it takes to make the Stratus sedan the best handling car in its class? They might as well have used struts like Chrysler’s other sedans and just about every other car these days. Heck, BMW does.

However, that car was equipped with pedestrian 15” rubber. For the R/T the steering and suspension have both been returned, and the tires are 215/50VR17 Michelin HX MXM4s on gorgeous five-spoke alloys. Here Dodge’s work for the R/T paid off, as the handling is much improved over the base car. Though I’d like a bit more steering feel, more feedback was present than in the base car, responses were sharper, and the effort was about right. On the highway the R/T’s steering might even be a tad too quick. The chassis is very balanced for a front driver in turns, with only a bit of understeer when pushed hard. The tires stick, even though they aren’t especially wide this is quality rubber. Torque steer is nearly absent, with just a brief twitch in the steering from time to time. I always felt very much in control of the car, and even had a bit of fun tossing it around the curves of a nearby industrial park.

Even with such low-profile tires the car’s ride was surprisingly composed. Sure, it’s no luxury car, but I was expecting to have to grit my teeth over the frost heaves. As it is, each road imperfection imparts a fairly loud thump to the tires, but these are more heard than felt.

The four-wheel discs with ABS are up to the job, not weak but not especially strong either. I would have preferred a somewhat firmer pedal with more detailed feedback. I do not believe the R/T’s rotors and calipers differ from those on the standard car.

Pricing

For quick, up-to-date new car pricing, and especially user-specified price comparisons, check out the website I created: www.truedelta.com. Why yet another vehicle pricing website? Well, I personally lacked the patience to keep using the others. They were too slow and required too much effort, especially when trying to compare prices. So I taught myself some programming and created a site where there is no need to dig through option packages, prerequisites, and the like one by one -- the TrueDelta algorithm figures these out for you in one swift pass.

The Stratus R/T I drove had only one option, side airbags, and stickered for only $22,640, not bad considering the DOHC six, ABS, and 17” alloys, even if a non-R/T V6 Stratus SE like I drove last year can be had for roughly three grand less. Add leather, power driver’s seat, sunroof, and the uplevel stereo with CD changer, and the price rises to $24,615. (Interestingly, the R/T with automatic costs the same amount.)

Edmunds suggests that the dealer discount should be about $1500, as demand for these cars is not strong. The rebate is $2000, for a selling price of a loaded R/T around $21,000.

I would expect depreciation on the Stratus R/T to be high, because the standard car does not hold its value to begin with and few people will be willing to pay much of a premium for the R/T used. On the flip side, this could be a great buy as a used car.

Compared to similar imports, the Dodge is three to five thousand dollars less out the door. The only way you’re going to get a V6/manual sedan cheaper is from Hyundai, but that car makes no pretense of being a performance sedan. So if money up-front is an issue (but depreciation is not), then the Dodge might very well be the best choice.

Last words

The Stratus R/T sedan could use another pass through Chrysler’s product development group. Currently it’s a half-baked effort at a sports sedan. The chassis and engine are most of the way there and the car looks the part, at least on the outside, but the seats, shifter, and interior ambiance need work. I've given it four stars, but one of those is for even bothering to offer a manual transmission in a sporty, moderately-priced, mid-size sedan. This is really a three star car, but I want to lend Dodge some encouragement.

After all, this is the only choice in affordable domestic sedans with a V6 and manual transmission, and for people who refuse to buy an import brand is an acceptable way to go. (Assuming that such people can overlook the fact that Chrysler is now German owned; at least the people who styled and engineered the car were American.) For others, the price makes it tempting. I myself can think of little serious competition in this price range—yet. The Nissan Altima is more powerful, but handles worse and has similar interior and shifter issues. The VW Jetta GLI, though it has a torquier engine and much nicer interior, is a much smaller car on a less composed chassis. The similarly sized Passat is much more expensive, and handles even worse than the Jetta. Through such a process of elimination, I must place my hope in a car that’s still a few months away, the Mazda 6. If that car disappoints as the Nissan has, the Dodge might not look so bad. In that case, I’ll just have to drive my Ford Contour until the wheels fall off—or the next baby proves one too many for the back seat. Please, can’t someone make a great all-around, reasonably roomy V6 sports sedan for $25,000? I’m begging, okay?

Dodge might claim that sales remain poor, and that this experiment is therefore a failure. But this isn't a valid test. Provide a fully developed car, aggressively market it to enthusiasts, and then we'll talk.

Update 6-2005: For 2005 the manual is no longer offered with the V6.

To learn more about my reliability research and sign up to participate in it, or to perform thorough up-to-date new car price comparisons, visit www.truedelta.com. A link to this website and alphabetized links to my other vehicle reviews can be found on my profile page.

Amount Paid (US$): 22640
Model Year: 2002
Model and Options: R/T manual, side airbags