her in the uk a dodge avenger 2.0 se sells for ?15000 brand new,but unfortunately us brits are not keen on american cars,so they have sold very few here.so dodge dealers are selling them off with a 50 percent discount!!!thats only ?7500,which in my opinion is a bargain for a relatively large (by uk standards) 2 litre family car.as i know nothing about these cars,id like some feedback please about reliability, durability…etc… please!!
Are You Taking Me Round The Bend ?
Does about $13000 U.S. sound right for the price? How much, in pounds, can you buy a popular British car for, just for comparison? What about warranty service and parts availibilty?
A have driven Dodges for the past couple of decades. We currently have 3 in our family and a couple of Pontiacs and a Chevrolet. I have had excellent results with the Dodges. My trusty old 97 Intrepid 3.5L, 214hp, V-6 is passing through 226,000 miles (363000 kilometers) with not much other than routine maintenance and there isn’t much of that required. The only caveat is that I don’t trust the Dodge 2.7L engine. They had problems with those that has supposedly been worked out.
in the uk a ford mondeo 2.0 litre is ?17,000!!!so i think the dodge is an absolute bargain for ?7500!!!we pay more than that for a 1.2 litre ford fiesta!the dodge comes with a 3 year warranty,and although the dealers are few and far between,theres 1 only a mile from where i live!nobody is buying new cars in the uk at the moment,because of the so called credit crunch, so new cars are getting cheaper by the day,plus petrol is coming down in price,its “only” ?4.50 a gallon now,thats $7.65 a gallon to you!the only thing is a 2.0litre engine in the dodge might be a bit underpowered,in quite a heavy car.
I think the sticking point with American cars in much of the world is that whole fuel mileage thing. I just looked it up and here in the states the smallest engine they offer is the 2.7, and it’s rated at 24 miles per (non-imperial) gallon for combined city and highway driving which over here is considered pretty darn good, but can be a tough sell in a place with really expensive fuel. There may also be a problem with the parts and service supply chain because now that Daimler-Benz and Chrysler have split up, Chrysler does’t really do much business in Europe these days and combined with the fact that Chrysler in general isn’t in very good financial shape who knows if they’re is still going to be in Europe (or anywhere) in a few years?
However, since you say it comes with a 2.0L engine that’s not one available here, it could be that a lot of what’s being sold as a “Dodge Avenger” in the UK is not in fact a Chrysler product at all. For example a long time the car sold as the Avenger here was in reality a re-badged Mitsubishi. There’s not much we over here can say about a car that’s likely completely different over there!
EDIT: Some researching shows that the 2.0L engine offered in European Avengers is a Volkswagen Turbo-Diesel. So the Avenger may be a good way to get a good VW power train in a largeish car for cheap!
its available with the vw 2.0 tdi diesel engine also,but i was looking at the 2.0 petrol version,which is available only in europe,and the avenger is the same car as the u.s one,just with diffrent specications,ie theres no v6 option at the moment.i like the styling,it looks like a charger!!i can get the diesel version for ?9995,which is cheap,when you consider the vw passatt with the same engine is ?17,000!!but the 2.0 petrol avenger version is only ?7500,so i dont think its worth paying more for a diesel,especially when i only do 5,000 miles per year.
2008 was the first year for the Avenger. US cars tend to still have a few bugs in them for the first year or two after introduction. Here’s a review compared to other cars:
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2008/dodge/avenger/100856389/ratings_jdpower.html
The ‘True Cost to Own’ feature estimates that the repairs will be about 15% more than an equivalent Camry and about 10% less than a Jetta.
To quote Consumer Reports, the leading consumer-oriented publication in the US, the Avenger’s 2.4 and 2.7 litre engines are “noisy and unrefined” and the 4-speed automatic transmission was “not very responsive”. Apparently, the 6-speed transmission was good.
They also said that the optional 3.5 litre engine was “punchy and refined, but can’t mask the car’s flaws”. The flaws that were cited included:
“A stiff and unsettled ride with pronounced suspension noise
Handling is ungainly, but is ultimately secure.
The styling compromises rear seat access and visibility.”
CR did not have reliability data or owner satisfaction data for this model, due to its recent introduction. Additionally, they noted an overall mpg rating of 20 mpg.
My 95 Dodge Stratus (five speed manual) in which the Avenger replaced has 160K on it with the with original clutch.
VDCdriver,
From the info I have gathered the 2 Liter petrol comes with a manual gear box only. Consumer Reports I doubt has tested this engine drive train combination
in the uk it is a 6 speed manual,ive been reading reviews by top gear here in the uk,and its not very good!!but the car was tested at ?15000,but now i can get one for half that,so i still think its good value!!the only trouble is,i think it will be too big to park at work,where we have individual parking garages,so i might keep saving up for a vauxhall astra,which is called saturn astra in the u s, i believe,which is smaller,has excellent build quality and is great to drive.many thanks to everybody for your advice!!
If your point is that there was a car named the Avenger before, I know that. It ceased production in 2000.
We get Top Gear on BBC America. Great show!
No, I was only making a statement to the OP that the New Avenger was the replacement model for the U.S. Stratus. my previous post was not directed to your post. Sorry for the confusion.