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Interesting that you brought this up, Jim.
I woke up at 3 this morning, got up and began to look through old Consumer Reports mags that I've kept. I looked for specs of cars in the 1996 New Car Yearbook that I still have.
A couple of things:
Unless I go to a much larger and heavier car, I won't gain much more interior room or trunk space than the Stratus has.
The other surprise was in the comparison of the Stratus with its twin, the Chrysler Cirrus. The Stratus they tested had the 2.4 I4 like mine, and the Cirrus had the 2.5 V6.
Stratus and Cirrus both rated at EPA 29mpg highway.
However,
Stratus was 60 lb. lighter, yet got less mpg.
Cirrus observed mpg was 14/38.
Stratus was 12/36.
Extra weight of Cirrus may be at least partly due to sound insulation, which takes us back to your post, great suggestion!
Mystery is on the FE of the two. I'd guess that the V6, though a little bigger displacement, is a more efficient engine and/or the final drive ratio on the Cirrus is taller.
Noise level on the Cirrus was rated above average, Stratus was rated average.
Ray Mac
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