Good morning, and welcome to another action-packed Shitbox Showdown! Today’s cars are, well, they’re cars. That’s for sure. And we’re going to discuss them, even though they’re the sort of cars no one ever discusses. But first, how did yesterday’s coupes do? Let’s find out:
Yowza. Almost no love for the little blue Crossfire, huh? Oh well. I still like it.
I’ll tell you what, though: If you all like boring white cars, have I got a treat in store for you! Today’s contenders are scenery, background vehicles in their own stories, generic cars used in advertisements to sell oil filters. Nobody ever thinks about these two, and that includes the people who own them. But in a way, that makes them perfect for flying under the radar. Not flying very fast, mind you, but with great stealth. Let’s take a look.
2005 Hyundai Accent GLS – $2,990
Engine/drivetrain: 1.6 liter overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Sacramento, CA
Odometer reading: 158,000 miles
Runs/drives? Yep
In the beginning, in the US at least, there was the Excel. And Americans looked upon it and saw that it was… not good. But they bought it anyway. The Excel begat the Accent, and it was marginally better. At least it held together until the payments were up. The Accent wasn’t infamous for being wretched like its predecessor; in fact, it wasn’t known for anything, really. If you thought about it at all, you probably though of it as the store-brand version of a Tercel.
And really, that wasn’t far off: the Accent felt generic as well, with a basic little four-cylinder engine powering the front wheels through either (in this case) a five-speed stick or (if you absolutely insisted) a four-speed automatic. It made adequate power, got decent fuel economy, and didn’t break down too often. The Hyundai Accent has been for sale for a quarter century in various forms and has not once managed to distinguish itself in any way. You have to admire that sort of consistency.
This Accent is in good condition, wearing its 158,000 miles with dignity. It’s a pretty fancy model too, with air conditioning and a CD player. It still has crank windows, though, and that’s fine for a car like this. Power windows are just one more thing to break.
Unfortunately, it’s not the “good” bodystyle; Accents were available (and popular) as a three-door hatchback, with a surprising amount of cargo space. This one fell victim to the Great Small Car Sedanification that occurred in the 1990s and 2000s, when hatchbacks started to be seen as “cheap” and small car buyers in America somehow got conned into buying less practical three-box sedans like this. But what’s done is done, and this car’s first owner chose the wrong style, and we’re stuck with it.
2005 Dodge Stratus SXT – $3,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.4 liter dual overhead cam inline 4, four-speed automatic, FWD
Location: Sacramento, CA
Odometer reading: 150,000 miles
Runs/drives? Sure does
The Chrysler “cloud cars,” successors to the long-running but much-maligned K cars, were likewise ubiquitous, and largely forgettable. In fact, you may have been handed the keys to one of these without even realizing it; the Dodge Stratus was a common rental car in its day. This very car could have ferried you anonymously to a convention in Des Moines and you wouldn’t have even noticed.
This Stratus is powered by the same 2.4 liter four that has propelled a million PT Cruisers. It works fine, and holds up pretty well. It sends what power it has to an Ultradrive four-speed automatic; these had a bad reputation early on, but by 2005 the kinks were fairly well ironed out, as long as they were properly maintained.
Speaking of well-maintained, this Stratus looks pretty damn good for 150,000 miles. I mean, it’s all freshly Armor-Alled and vacuumed and waxed, but that stuff can only go so far. Something weird might be going on with the power window switches, and there is a hole worn in the carpet, but other than that it doesn’t look abused or neglected.
The seller says it runs well, everything works, it just passed a smog test, and it has new tires. You could do a lot worse for basic transportation. It’s not exciting, or luxurious, but it’s not unpleasant either. It’s just a decent midsized four-door sedan.
I’ve always been of the opinion that it doesn’t matter what you drive, or how you drive it. What matters is where you go, and with whom, and the memories and stories you create along the way. These cars may be boring, but take one on a trip to the Grand Canyon and it will show up in the background of your photos twenty years from now, and you’ll remember stopping in that rest stop with all the creepy scorpion paperweights for sale, or cranking up the stereo and singing along to that silly B-52s song. Or whatever. The point is, if you can’t have fun with a “boring” car, you’re not trying hard enough. So which one will it be?
(Image credits: Craigslist sellers)
I fell asleep trying to look, so I just can’t do this one.
Accent. I’ve been over my hatred of the Stratus here. Even though this is the second gen and not the same car, it’s honestly probably worse.
These old Accents tend to last way longer than anyone would expect. There’s still a number of them clinging to life around here. Can’t say the same for any Stratus.
I’ve been a Hyundai technician and a Chrysler technician in my career. Accent all damned day. It’s going to need less work, less often, and only takes a handful of tools to do ANYTHING on.
The Accent is a better car
This gen Stratus is a looker, in my opinion. The Cerberus build quality is questionable, but since this one has made it to 150k and looks fairly maintained, I think it’s worth the price.
But I would still take the Accent because I’m really missing owning a manual today.
I’ve owned both of these.
Guess which one broke down.
I’ll take the not-chrysler.
You can call me the Breeze, but let’s get Cirrus here: the Stratus was the worst looking of the Cloud Cars. Also, I know it’s called Armor “All”, but dunking the engine bay in a vat of the stuff isn’t a good look. Did they also pour it all over the paint? Anyway, mid-2000’s Dodge vs. Hyundai is a bit of a crap shoot, but I think the Hyundai is definitely the play here. In an almost 20 year old car, manual windows and manual transmissions are your friend.
I currently WFH, previously had a 100 mile round trip daily commute. Whenever I evaluate rides like these, I envision myself still doing that kind of driving. All things mechanical being relatively equal, which one would I most like to spend that kind of time in? I’d go with the Stratus here. The longer wheelbase would make for a better ride, MPG would be similar for highway, and frankly it’s got a more comfortable interior. Might be one of the few here that thinks this way, but Chrysler interiors of the mid 90’s-early/mid 2000s weren’t terrible (they fell off significantly thereafter).
Nothing sells a car better than soaking the entire engine bay in tire shine… Anyway. both of these cars are pure yuck.
Really in this market, I could take either one. I went with the Stratus this time.
Accent. The Stratus was a penalty box when new, which I know first-hand when I friend picked one up back when these crap boxes were new. I logged a few miles behind the wheel myself, and it just wasn’t in any way, shape, or form a good car. Another friend had a horribly neglected and abused 2000 Corolla that was easily 10x more pleasant to drive, and those things are not exactly known for the driving dynamics.
Fun fact: The oil pan on the Stratus is just at the correct height that the little triangle-shaped mini medians that some municipalities install to separate turn lanes will sheer the pan clean off without even touching the frame or other components on the car. My friend with the Stratus discovered this before his car even had 300 miles on it.
Those triangle-shaped mini-medians are called “pork chops”, and you’re not supposed to hit them with your car.
Not only did the friend have poor tastes in automobiles, but he was a terrible driver. He totaled the Stratus before it hit 1000 miles by failing to turn on a dirt road and knocking over two trees and then launching the car into the air by using the trees as a ramp. Nice guy, horrible spacial awareness.
I voted for the Accent, but honestly this comes down to an inspection to see which has been better maintained. Both of these cars were pretty good as long as they were maintained. Both were susceptible to neglect. Pull the dipstick to see if it has caked-on crud or staining. Stick your finger in the tailpipe to see if it comes out black. Look for signs of oil leaks. Plug a cheap OBDII scanner in to see how recently the CEL was reset.
All things being equal, I’ll take the stick shift. Boring cars with a stick shift are less boring.
I’ll chose a Dodge over a Hyundai any day of the week.
Most people probably chose the Lexus because it’s a Lexus, but also because they likely don’t want to pay 600+ dollars for a damn key fob for a Chrysler product.
I had a 99 accent that i beat on for 130K and had no problems with it.
So opposite of 99 problems ha ha
In a choice like this, I think it comes down to the car for which you can find a good local mechanic. They are both approaching the maximum number of cycles their parts were engineered to survive. That is to say: shit’s about to start wearing out …no matter how well it was maintained. So it’s
nickel and dime time$5 & $10 time.For example the engineer choosing the plastic bushings in the door hinges had to keep costs down and this is done be selecting materials that will survive X number of door openings and closing and no more. One cent per bushing saved. Now, do this for the entire car. Designing to survive 150,000 miles seems reasonable. Any more than that is a bonus.
“I DRIVE A DODGE STRATUS!!!” The Will Ferrell SNL skit alone makes me want it, but not enough to turn down a 5-speed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANE8j5ay_UU
My dad drove a Dodge Stratus when that skit came out. We were all delighted.
Almost thought the Hyundai simply because it was not an ugly hatch and of course manual trans. But it is still an ugly Hyundai and the Smog pass paperwork in California is a good thing at 150K on the clock. I would want to be sure the Ball joint recall was performed on this car though before driving to Vegas or Des Moines.
Being a sedan and not a hatch is a mark against it. Hatchbacks make better storage sheds after they die.
The Stratus looks better but I remember how god awful they were to drive and how the interior rattled. I’m not saying that the Accent is much better but it’s not a Stratus and that’s enough for me. Accent it is.
I went Stratus purely because it’s bigger. Like the old NBA drafting saw, if you can’t choose between two players, take the bigger one.
You can fix everything wrong with either car fairly cheaply, but you can’t make the Accent bigger (at least not easily).
Kind of my thinking too. Normally I might favor the manual contestant over the auto one, but between these, I’ll at least take more space.
In today’s world of boring, white four banger four doors, one stands out as being slightly less boring. The Stratus. I know one of the fellow Autopian writers here has a soft spot for them, and I do too. There’s space inside, the 2.4 is pretty solid, the transmission is…fine…and at least it looks like more than an abandoned bar of soap left behind in a dorm shower stall.
These are both more than acceptable by the standards of this column. I went with the Accent solely because I can wring every last horse out of it with the manual.
Boring, white, meh’ist of the meh cars…the one with the manual transmission please.
At least the white would stand out in the sea of gray these days. Other than that, 5 speed wins with a blah 4 banger. Accent I guess.
Did the US not get the 5-door hatch for the Accent? *That* is the good body style. The hatch is decently big (like a little Saab), but with the rear windows not opening, you’re really dependent on good A/C (guess what my hatch didn’t have!), and I don’t know how much I trust the A/C on an aging economy car to work well. As well, if it’s the factory CD player, you might get someone else’s free CD out of the deal, we’ve had two of these in my family, and both eventually just wouldn’t eject the CD (first one had an aftermarket unit swapped in, and I ended up just listening to the same CD over and over in the second if if I didn’t care for terrestrial radio). Also, middling fuel economy with the automatic, I’d be lucky to see 25mpg in mixed driving.
I’ve done my time in Accents, gimme the Stratus.
We did, along with its corporate sibling the 5-door Kia Rio hatch. The interior often doesn’t age well, but mechanically they’re pretty good – especially with the manual.
I don’t think it was until the following generation (after this example) that the Rio and Accent were shared platforms. The merger of the companies only ocurred a year before each design debuted globally.
Also while Kia always offered a 5-door Rio, the Accent hatch was only a 3-door here until the 2012 model when they dropped a 3-door hatch entirely from the model and stuck with a 5-door, at which point we did receive it.
Not in this generation, 3-door hatchback and 4-door sedan only.
If I have to be bored out of my skull, at least give me a manual transmission….
At least the price is right.