What is it?
Dodge Avenger Concept
What's special about it?
Rolled out of its protective tent with covering fire from a wind machine that flattened the coiffures of Paris show-goers, Dodge's Avenger Concept is nothing if not aggressive. This front-wheel-drive midsize sedan borrows styling cues from the rear-drive Dodge Charger and, for the most part, manages to pull it off.
Dodge might be calling this sedan a concept, but it's production ready and will hit dealers as you see it next spring.
Based on the redesigned '07 Chrysler Sebring , the Avenger has the same mechanicals but brings more attitude to the table. In place of the Sebring's tentative, almost ungainly stance, the Avenger squats, revealing a powerful set of haunches at each corner. These exaggerated wheel arches are certainly over the top, but they do help mask the midsize Avenger's narrower-than-normal body. The concept car wears 19-inch Bridgestone Potenzas, but even those aren't large enough to fill the wells.
More jarring is the violent upswing of the Avenger's beltline as it meets up with the C-pillar. We think it's too disturbing to appear on a production car, but Chief Designer Ryan Nagodi makes no apologies. "In a sea of other sedans, we really wanted some cues where you get this strong gesture."
No such gestures come from under the concept car's hood, where there's an unassuming 2.0-liter diesel four-cylinder. This will be the most popular engine option among the small number of Avengers the company manages to sell in Europe, but in the U.S., you can expect the same trio of gasoline engines found in the Sebring — a 2.4-liter inline-4, a 2.7-liter V6 and a 3.5-liter V6.
Dodge is holding back all other performance details, but we do know the Avenger will offer a full set of side airbags, stability control and a hard drive-based navigation system with 20 GB of MP3 storage.
What's Edmunds' take?
It's no secret that the Stratus was too tame a midsize sedan for a Dodge brand once again home to Chargers, Challengers, drag races and Duke boys. Despite its groundswell of teenage attitude, the Avenger risks the same fate by virtue of the fact that it's front-wheel drive and a thinly disguised twin of the tepid new Sebring. Dodge needs to step up to the plate and tune the Avenger's chassis for more performance as well. — Erin Riches
Dodge Avenger Concept
What's special about it?
Rolled out of its protective tent with covering fire from a wind machine that flattened the coiffures of Paris show-goers, Dodge's Avenger Concept is nothing if not aggressive. This front-wheel-drive midsize sedan borrows styling cues from the rear-drive Dodge Charger and, for the most part, manages to pull it off.
Dodge might be calling this sedan a concept, but it's production ready and will hit dealers as you see it next spring.
Based on the redesigned '07 Chrysler Sebring , the Avenger has the same mechanicals but brings more attitude to the table. In place of the Sebring's tentative, almost ungainly stance, the Avenger squats, revealing a powerful set of haunches at each corner. These exaggerated wheel arches are certainly over the top, but they do help mask the midsize Avenger's narrower-than-normal body. The concept car wears 19-inch Bridgestone Potenzas, but even those aren't large enough to fill the wells.
More jarring is the violent upswing of the Avenger's beltline as it meets up with the C-pillar. We think it's too disturbing to appear on a production car, but Chief Designer Ryan Nagodi makes no apologies. "In a sea of other sedans, we really wanted some cues where you get this strong gesture."
No such gestures come from under the concept car's hood, where there's an unassuming 2.0-liter diesel four-cylinder. This will be the most popular engine option among the small number of Avengers the company manages to sell in Europe, but in the U.S., you can expect the same trio of gasoline engines found in the Sebring — a 2.4-liter inline-4, a 2.7-liter V6 and a 3.5-liter V6.
Dodge is holding back all other performance details, but we do know the Avenger will offer a full set of side airbags, stability control and a hard drive-based navigation system with 20 GB of MP3 storage.
What's Edmunds' take?
It's no secret that the Stratus was too tame a midsize sedan for a Dodge brand once again home to Chargers, Challengers, drag races and Duke boys. Despite its groundswell of teenage attitude, the Avenger risks the same fate by virtue of the fact that it's front-wheel drive and a thinly disguised twin of the tepid new Sebring. Dodge needs to step up to the plate and tune the Avenger's chassis for more performance as well. — Erin Riches
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