Her and His Reviews
June 2012
2012 Dodge Avenger SXT
There are always two sides to everything, right? Well, the truth is there are many more than that!
To keep our car reviews innovative and well-rounded, we are providing you with not just one, but two points of view on the same exact vehicle –
Her and His perspectives.
Her: Anne Fleming, Car Buying Advocate,women-drivers.com
His: Don Hammonds, Writer, AutomobileJournal.com
| HER | HIS |
|---|---|
| Price | |
| MSRP: $23,995, list price $25,400 as tested | MSRP: $23,995, list price $25,400 as tested |
| Performance | |
| This is a power pack of a car �?? and does a good job trying to keep up to the Dodge big brother Challenger. With 283 horses, the 3.6 liter V-6 engine packs it in but doesn't produce very good fuel efficiency. | The 283 horsepower 3.6 liter V-8 is at the top of the pack for family size intermediate sedans, the field that the Avenger competes in. The car also is helped by much better handling and road manners |
| Fuel Economy | |
| 19 city and 29 highway. | It gets 19/29 miles per gallon. Annual fuel costs are $2,525, based on 15,000 miles of driving at $3.70 for a gallon of gasoline. There's a four cylinder rated at 21/30, but that's about average for the field, nothing to shout about. And given the performance rating of the V-6�??it gets to 60 in about 6.5 seconds�??the mileage advantage for the four isn't that great. |
| The Car | |
| I love the 'new' Dodge brand; most of the entire lineup. And with all brands, there has to be a weak link. The Avenger is it. Having said that, the redesign is an improvement and the interior styling is eye-catching. The interior legroom for driver and front seat passenger is more than ample; the rear seating is not. The car is rugged, but lags when paired up to other models in the mid-sized sedan grouping. The colorful leather seats are not only attractive, but after driving some 200 miles in a given day, they proved supportive and sympathetic. A plus. Not too much cargo is going to pass into the trunk. Dodge boasts 13.5 cubic feet; however the configuration of that space is not deep. The 60-40 split rear seats does help with storage. | It's a normal car. And that's pretty much what the 2012 Dodge Avenger is. A normal car. No fuss, no muss. And we should tell you that it's far better built, far better equipped and even better looking than it was before. We even got a few glances and questions while we drove around in it. At any rate, all the tweaking, fixing and refining that Chrysler did during the bailout days has paid off in a much better product. |
| Safety | |
| Anti- lock brakes are standard as well as a tire pressure monitoring system, airbags in the front/front-side and side-curtain positions. And, to its credit, this vehicle did test very well in crash tests at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. | Nothing spectacular here. The Avenger has the usual equipment, but that's about it. |
| Technology | |
| Again, the interior has its pluses. The media center has plenty of benefiting tech gadgets including a 40 gigs hard drive, a 6.5" touch screen display, (my fave) Sirius XM satellite radio and CD/DVD/MP3 and HDD. In our upgraded model, we enjoyed a Nav system, as well as the UConnect voice command with Bluetooth for two-handed driving. | We don't mean to imply that this car doesn't have some state-of-the-art technology to boast about; it does. Standard equipment includes a media center with CD/DVD/and HDD. There's a 40 GB hard drive with 28 GB available, a 6.5 inch touch screen display, and Sirius XM Satellite radio, all standard equipment. And the optional package on our car included a 73N CD/DVD/ MP3/HDD and Navigation system, and UConnect voice command with Bluetooth, and a Sirius XM Travel Link system too. |
| Aesthetics & Styling | |
| All the subjectivity in the world won't keep the Avenger around forever. Nope. The outdated exterior doesn't match the savvy interior; and the price-value is not where it needs to be. | I thought it looked pretty cool--a lot like the last generation Charger. But it's being replaced at the right time by the Dart, a much more contemporary design. |
| Warranty | |
|
5 year, 100,000 mile power train warranty 3 year, 36,000 mile basic limited warranty |
Five year, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty, three year or 36,000 mile basic limited warranty. |
