2013 DODGE Avenger

Don't do it!

Comfort Rating: 2 Performance Rating: 2 Interior Rating: 1 Reliability Rating: 1 Safety Rating: 2 Technology Rating: 2 Value Rating: 1

I have had more than 25 cars in my life. Of those I have purchased 5 new cars. This is the worst new car I have ever owned and one of the worst overall cars I have ever owned. It overheated within 5,000 miles of ownership. An orange grime appeared in the overflow tank and when I took it to the dealership they told me they had seen it numerous times and it was casting material that had not been completely flushed from the system at the factory. The cruise control would refuse to turn on at times and the dealership could never reproduce it so it never was repaired. It just became an issue I had to “live with”. Fit and finish is mediocre at best. The plastic surrounding the radio and middle vents in the dash never matched and again, the dealership stated replacing it wouldn’t change the gaps or the poor fit. The car had a surge from the day I bought it. It also would start up and surge after a cold start, as if it were running too lean. After three new releases of programing for the engine management computer the surge was still there. It would surge at 25-35 mph and at 60ish mph. For 178 horse power this car has undesirable and inexcusable torque steer. Leave a light from a stop and the car will pull hard right. Leave the light under hard acceleration and if you don’t have ahold of the wheel you will do an un-commanded lane change in short order. The transmission never shifted smoothly. Going uphill it would hunt for a gear. Each time the transmission changes gears the torque steer pulls on the steering so going up a hill you are constantly correcting. The airbag warning light went off at 50,000 miles. Source was a terrible design by Dodge. There is a bungee cord pulling down on the wire bundle that leads to the headrest airbags. Place a 220 pound man in the driver’s seat with this bungee cord pulling on the wires and you get broken wires. Doesn’t take an engineer to figure that one out. Overall – Poor design, poor build quality, poor economy, horrible dealer support (or lack thereof) and a car that appears to be built to die in 5 years or less.