You’re All Little Freaks For The Dodge Stratus R/T Coupe

I recently published what I thought would be a fairly innocuous blog about seeing a picture of a Dodge Stratus R/T Coupe at the 2026 New York International Auto Show and being stunned about its presence at the event. Sure, I ribbed the mostly forgotten “sports” coupe a bit in my story, but from the responses I got in return, you’d think I told each individual reader that their mother and their first born child deserved to be eaten by a pack of dogs. Never in my life if as a Car Take Guy have been met with such a fervent defense of a car that was barely okay when it came out 23 years ago.

I was accused of hating cars, punching down and being weird, to name a few things — all of which would have maybe been fair if the Stratus R/T Coupe wasn’t a giant heap of junk. As it turns out, you guys are just a bunch of little freaks for this moderately priced Japanese-American coupe from the turn of the millennium.

Since I so clearly struck a chord with you people, I decided it would be best if I made amends with the Stratus Coupe community, and that’s why I’ve decided to highlight some of my favorite comments of passion about the Stratus Coupe, along with over a dozen photos of the car for you to do with as you please. Just make sure no one is around, you nasty ass dogs.

I hope we can go forward in the spirit of peace and harmony, and if we can’t, I hope your insurance is good enough to get you the proper medical care you need to deal with Stratus R/T Coupe Derangement Syndrome.

This take could not be more wrong.

The Stratus Coupe is a blessing upon this world and is quite a well-built, affordable, handsome car. Easily attainable Sporty Coupes are not something that really exist outside of the used market today, so those that remain should not be disparaged.

I have enjoyed every mile and moment spent with my 176K mile (a testament to its build quality) 2003 Stratus Coupe that I have daily driven for the past 11 years. They came with a fun V6, 2 doors, a manual transmission and were affordable 20+ years ago (and are even more so today). You’d think a cheap, fun (manual transmission) car like the Stratus Coupe would be appreciated for what it is.

Let’s celebrate cars, not tear them down.

Submitted by: Stephen Walter Gossin

Hey man, it’s really ugly.

Say what you will about the car, but it looked OK, and it makes me miss the time we could pick from a bunch of sporty coupes from a bunch of different manufacturers.

Submitted by: GreenN_Gold

Manual and two doors doesn’t mean sporty.

“Jalopnik Hates Cars”

The Stratus wasn’t that bad, I liked it when it came out, and it’s still part of their history. Just like the Mustang II is part of Ford History…and the K cars saved the company. My brother and I have been making fun of the Plymouth Reliant and Dodge Aries for decades 

Submitted by: RustyJunkyardClassicFanatic

I don’t hate cars. I don’t even hate this car. It just sucks ass.

I dunno, man…it was a good-looking, affordable two-door with an American nameplate (even if it really wasn’t very American, and we all miss the earlier versions of the Eclipse, Talon and Laser, cuz what’s wrong with Mitsubishi bones, I ask you?), an available 5-speed manual and a V6. I would have thought that such a combination would have been unavailable, but the Neutral Drop guys got their hands on one and beat the holy Jesus out of it. It was actually difficult to watch it scream its guts out right before it got sent to The Crusher. Where can somebody find something like that now, outside of the Mustang? These sure weren’t meant to be collectors’ items, but I don’t think they were the automotive Kryptonite this article makes them out to be.

Submitted by: ChironRocket3

It makes sense that there’s nothing like this car out now… because it was bad. Bad cars don’t usually stick around.

Wow. Talk about punching down. It was a decent car, not great, but a decent car for its day. I always thought of this car and it’s Avenger predecessor as a stretched out Eclipse for those who want a comfy ride and more legroom. Nothing more.

Submitted by: Autobot

Won’t somebody think of Daimler-Chrysler and Stellantis? The former of which contributed the the financial ruin of the late 2000s and the latter of which is like two seconds away from dropping a color called “These Colors Don’t Run, They Reload Red.”

The Stratus Coupe was fine. We put like 300k miles on our 2nd gen. Worse thing it ever did was start drinking a quart of oil every 3,000 miles, but could you blame it? As long as you left 4ft in front of you at the stop line you could even tell when lights changed from red to green. What’s to hate on here?

Submitted by: Hesse Shaffer

Everything is to hate on.

So i had to look up “jump scare” and I do not think its the right phrase for the headline.

“Dodge Stratus RT art shows up at the NY Auto Show”, “Dodge Stratus RT on display at the NY Auto Show”

TMI– I lost my virginity in a gen 1 Stratus Sedan 

Submitted by: Pilot Zulu

Dawg, respectfully, what?

This ire seems a little misplaced- wasn’t this a DiamondStar (Mitsubishi/Chrysler joint venture) product? I thought C/D and R/T both liked it as a reasonably priced, reliable GT(ish) coupe. I know i kinda liked them and would have loved one with a manual.

Submitted by: Sunrfire

That’s actually such a good point, the magazines have never done any insane thing once in their entire runs. Never, ever. Not once.

Weird thing to write an entire article about.. lol

Submitted by: Someone Else

Wild that they paid me to do it, too.

The Stratus was a modern day Supra..built by another brand but still loved. No one hated the Stratus. Bringing current stellantis hate into the 2000s is a bad move.

Submitted by: EPTDY

This has me concerned, brother.

Weird take. The stratus coupe was a nice looking, decent handling coupe with okay performance that can now be had on the cheap even in good condition and usually isn’t painful to own. Everything jalops should like. Hell, when it was new road and track rated it ahead of the mustang got of the time. I would argue they’re undervalued.

Also, the manumatic feature on the auto was a bit fun.

Submitted by: beege222

I’m not so sure.