So I'm currently bidding on a 2006 Dodge Stratus SXT. It has 100,000 miles on it with the V-6, it was a detective's car so I am assuming the car was serviced. I would like to know what you guys think about these cars, any thing to look out for etc....

 

Maintenance. The 2.7 can be a great motor in the right hands, sadly most do not end up in good hands.

 

I bought a 2006 Dodge Stratus SXT with the 2.7 liter engine, and 30K miles on it. The car has been a great car. It gets good gas mileage, has some get-up-and-go, rides smooth with the right kind of tires, handles well, good factory sound, good ac.

At 99k miles the car overheated due to a wrinkle in the water jacket on the (I think) left side cylinder head gasket. Most of the auto parts stores I went to were out of the (I think) left side head gasket but had plenty of the right side head gaskets... hmmm....

I chose to fix the car myself because I have worked on my own vehicles for almost 30 years. I made the mistake of taking the cams and secondary timing chains off piece by piece instead of in sets and I have spent months trying to get this engine timed right ever since. This was my own fault and not anyone else's. I went to several auto parts stores and could not find a manual for this car so I rolled up my sleeves and tried it anyway. It's a mistake I will not make again.

I would think twice about buying any vehicle with 100k miles on it. At this stage of the cars life parts may start needing to be replaced and it could get expensive. The ones I would be most concerned about with this particular car:
water pump
oil pump (changed or at least cleaned)
head gaskets
timing chain
cam raceways

The reason I mention some of these parts is because you have to do the same steps to replace one as you do some of the others so you might as well do them all at the same time and save yourself some trouble. If you do the work yourself it could take considerable time depending on your mechanical aptitude. If you plan to have it done at a shop it could get expensive. A mechanic told me the labor book said to charge either six or nine hours labor to replace the water pump, I cannot recall which but this price I recall was $900.00.

I mention the cam raceways because when I was putting mine back on the engine some of the bolts snapped off with little torque applied. I had the bolts in straight and was using a 1/4 inch drive ratchet to gently tighten them down and one of the raceways cracked while I was torquing it down to the specified foot/lbs using 1/2 inch drive torque wrench.

I hope this helps in some kind of way. Good luck!

 

Same respects a car with over 100k that has been maintained well will most likely have already had most issues fixed so it will be good for many miles.

My 06 is sitting at 117k right now. I had to replace my suspension at 100k due to the crappy roads around here. I have maintained mine very well, full-syn oil every 3k, trans fluid every 15k, and have had little issues (mind you I pound the snot out of my car). I average between 28-34 mpg with my 2.7 auto. The ride is superb, especially for a lowered vehicle.

Only real issue I've had is warping the brake rotors (bout every 3-6 months), but I solved this by upgrading to cross-drilled/slotted rotors.