rickhamilton620
has a fetish for terrible cars
This is the fraternal twin of your much beloved 200, though...
But at least the 200 looks somewhat decent.
This is the fraternal twin of your much beloved 200, though...
But at least the 200 looks somewhat decent.
It used to be even worse, this is actually the improved version. This is kind of why I say this particular car can't be saved and is still pretty much the worst car I get to drive in rental. This and its sibling the 200 have pretty much no positive points in their favour, even the trunk is rendered useless when the opening is too small for decent sized luggage.Conclusion
'Avenger' is quite a name. The only other machine I (and probably Dodge's most stalwart supporters) can connect it to is the TBM Avenger torpedo bomber from WWII. The car and plane share a common origin: designed under the threat of terrible things if it failed. But the plane actually met some success in avenging Pearl Harbor. The only thing the car avenges are imagined compliments directed at the UAW. Which is a damn shame; with design tweaks and better materials, the Avenger could have been a good car. Not a recommendable car, certainly not a class-leader like the Civic, but a car that isn't a shameful mark on the company. Instead, the Avenger is a car that has a shrine to its sister Journey in its bedroom and actively tries to be horrible. The sooner it dies or is completely redesigned from the ground up, the better Dodge will be.
It looks better than the stylistically challenged Sebring but no the 200 doesn't look decent. When even the Camry shows more effort in styling, decent is no longer an acceptable term.But at least the 200 looks somewhat decent.
That's one of the weirdest transmission i have ever seen. Was it actually comfortable to use ?
Yep, never seen that one before too. That's a strange place. - The moment you stick it in the uppermost position probably looks to the people outside like you give them the fist. :lol:
Good review btw.
It's actually not bad. It gets a little weird when you try to use the manu-matic feature.
Yeah, I had one as a rental a little while back. Wasn't bad, it's just that I wouldn't buy one myself.
Driving: It is pretty powerful when first hitting the throttle, but not the best car for passing power (lots of delay, but it is a big car so I expected that). Steering was numb, and the car floated over anything. Car was comfortable on the bright side though!
Was it in sport mode ("S" button just behind the shifter)? That'll make it more responsive to kick down when booting it.
Not a bad placement for it, actually. Putting it there is also what allowed the console to be so roomy.
My brother just got a 1999 Jaguar XJ8 Vanden Plas ^Just like the one in the picture above. Our first British car, and lowest mileage car as of right now in the family (23k miles).
The Exterior: When you see the car online, the car looks huge (in terms of length), but in person it really isn't that bad. However, the height of the car does seem way shorter than its competitors back in the day (E38, W140, LS400). In my opinion the car isn't really an eye catcher, it's very subtle, and not very in your face like the flagship luxury cars of today.
The Interior:
An array of wood and leather, with some cheapo Ford buttons for the window buttons (same ones from my friend's Explorer). The center console looked like they had softer feeling buttons, but surprised to find the buttons to be hard and cheap feeling. The seats on the other hand were absolutely amazing, the perfect car for traffic, but not enough side bolstering (but the car wasn't really meant for sporty driving). The backseat was the best part actually, being in the back made me feel like royalty, I mean can BMW and Mercedes say they had wooden tables in the back as well as soft lambskin carpets? Plus, the backseats were heated as well (something we have never had before in our other cars). Negatives: Cupholders are flimsy, and the center compartment would never close right when you opened it.
Driving: It is pretty powerful when first hitting the throttle, but not the best car for passing power (lots of delay, but it is a big car so I expected that). Steering was numb, and the car floated over anything. Car was comfortable on the bright side though!
Has the engine in it been replaced yet?
Also, the Vanden Plas is the cushier variant of the X308 and is tuned softer (in all respects) than any of the other variants. Including the steering.
There is an updated cupholder assembly for it that's a bit sturdier and the console latch has an updated part available for it as well.
Also, you might want to lube the switches on the doors. First, they're not the ones out of the Explorer (I was looking at those for spares, and they're definitely not). Second, they're supposed to be low-effort switches, not hard.
Yes, the car is actually shorter than any of its contemporaries.
The slow transmission kickdown may be due to prior owner's lack of doing so - it's got a learning transmission controller. If it is not shifting down like it should, use the J-gate.