Of all the vehicles you’d expect to see on Bring A Trailer, a pristine 2008 Dodge Avenger SE with just 17,000 miles on the clock definitely isn’t one of them. Alas, here it is, in all its rental-spec faux machismo. Unsurprisingly, this is the first road-legal second-generation Avenger on Bring A Trailer, and there’s a chance it could be the last for quite some time.
A low-mileage, rental-spec, 2.4-liter four-cylinder and four-speed automatic-powered Avenger SE being auctioned on a premier online platform is especially puzzling because most of my colleagues agree that the second-generation Avenger was, to use a technical term, butt-terrible. Oh, and it’s not just some of us that think this way — just read what Car And Driver had to say about the car when it was new.
…it’s generally agreed in our camp that the “Chargerette” is way better-looking than the Sebring. Faint praise, perhaps, as it nevertheless fails to be either menacing or inviting. In a field that includes more elegant sedans such as the Toyota Camry and Saturn Aura, the Avenger looks rather overwrought. Inside, the story doesn’t get much better. Hard shiny plastics create windshield glare that would make polarized sunglasses a lifesaving investment. Dreary gray tones abound, and although the dashboard is completely different in design from its Chrysler cousin, it conveys the same discombobulated, rental-grade feel.
Oof. Alright, well, Car And Driver is usually harsher on domestic vehicles than many other publications, so perhaps Motor Trend will offer a more glowing opinion.
So what gives? Why is the Dodge so lackluster? Well its 2.4L four-cylinder is a bit crude and, at 173 hp, doesn’t exactly humble other four-bangers, some of which produce 200 hp. While most of its rivals use five- or six-speed automatics, the Dodge stays true to its trusty ol’ four-speed, which pushes it off the line with about as much vigor as a maimed turtle. Rear disc brakes? Nah, let’s stick with less-effective drums.
Never mind. Look, the Avenger was an absolute pile when it was new, so it’s absolutely baffling that someone would take great pains to preserve one in absolute bottom-of-the-barrel spec. Beyond the shiny Inferno Red paint, this Avenger SE seems like a great way to simulate being laid off while traveling for work circa the Great Recession. Just look at that brain matter-grey urethane steering wheel, that cheap-looking instrument binnacle, and those nearly style-free hubcaps. If this thing doesn’t make you want to cry in the shower at a Motel 6, I don’t know what car would.
Nowadays, there’s nothing wrong with a high-mileage dirt-cheap Avenger if that’s all you can afford, but a concours-grade Dodge Avenger is about as useful as a submarine with speed holes in it. You can’t drive it anywhere because that would affect the value, you can’t really show it anywhere, it’s not a sure investment vehicle, and even the S&P 500 on a bearish streak is nicer to look at on a daily basis.
The high bid on this slice of recession-era sadness currently sits at $3,500, and I’d be surprised if it goes much higher than that. Will the Dodge Avenger eventually get its day in the sun? Perhaps, although it feels like it’s in a different camp from most endearingly terrible classics today. The Trabant 601 was objectively crap, but it’s also a fascinating machine due to the circumstances that birthed it. The Ford Pinto had a poorly-constructed fuel filler, but this Achilles heel was so monumental that it canonized the Pinto in American pop culture. The Edsel’s only sin was ugliness. There is no bright side to a Dodge Avenger, nor a fascinating twist. It’s just thoroughly underwhelming in every possible regard.
If you feel the inclination to bid on a mint condition rental-spec Dodge Avenger, feel free to do so. After all, there should be some sort of physical reference library for every car ever built, lest one be forgotten. However, we definitely won’t be bidding on this one. We’re definitely pro-car, but some vehicles are just a bridge too far for auctions. In the past, this was the sort of car that would be sold on church and nursing home bulletin boards, or in the classifieds section of an actual printed newspaper. Ain’t it funny how things have changed?
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer)
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Maybe twenty years early?
I desperately do not want this, but at $5K or less this is probably decent value as a daily – as long as you don’t care what people think about you.
See, I think it’s really “as long as you don’t care what you think of yourself”
Bwahahahah. What is the ultimate automobile symbol of “letting yourself go?” I think it’s the Sebring Convertible.
Yes, this car is the wheeled avatar for depression.
I had one as a rental about 10 years ago. The guy at the rental counter brightly called it the “mini-Charger.” I smiled politely.
I will say it never scared me. It went, it stopped, it turned, it got us around Wisconsin on a couple of college tours for my daughter. It was just forgettably, depressingly, soul-crushingly adequate in every way.
I’m not even sure I want this for 3500$.
I already beat up the Nitro/Liberty combo the other day for mostly the same reasons why the Avenger sucks, and all of you know why the Avenger sucks anyway, so I’ll save it. The only positive thing I have to say about it is that it’s red, and that it sucks so bad that even a time-capsule version of it should be cheap to purchase.
I’m looking at a 15 year old car with only 17,000 miles, excellent color, automatic, power windows, a/c, and cruise control. I’m not joining the stoning.
Except it’s BaT, so it’ll go for 60 grand, because that’s really where the site has lost it. It hasn’t been about bidding on cool old stuff for a long time. It’s now more about overpaying for used cars for… bragging rights?
You’re looking at a car that will need thousands in restoration work because it’s been sitting and all the rubber has dried out from lack of use, it’ll need hoses, gaskets, tires, all new fluids, who knows what else. So yes, it’s all the things you stated, but that mileage on a car like this is a terrible thing. I would be far more likely to spend $3500 on one with 100k than this.
Has it been sitting for 70 years?
15 is more than enough
Calling this thing the “second generation” avenger is like calling the Ford Maverick the second gen Maverick. Just because they used the name before doesn’t make it a continuation. This malaise era crapper has nothing to do with the coupe from the late 90s.
Last year I “inherited” my Sister’s 2000 Escalade. She had bought it new back in 2000 and proceeded to put less than 25,000 miles on it over the next 22 years. It was in top condition, well maintained, etc. I tried to list it on BAT and they turned me down. Said it wasn’t “special” enough for them. And now this?
BaT told me my dad’s 71 Chevelle restomod wasn’t special enough.
I sold it through Streetside Classics instead.
I lost all interest in BaT over that.
In their favor, ’71 Chevelle restomods are not exactly unusual. Especially on 19″ Boyds. This one is rare, but on the other hand no one could really want it…
When I worked for a bankruptcy company we had a half dozen of these on hand, the lenders didn’t want to saturate the auctions so they would let us hold on to them. When needing car for errands I would grab A Versa over one of these
I saw the dash of a base model 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee and it almost looks identical. My wife’s (ironically) 2008 Dodge Ram 1500 ST had a similar barren dash, as well, but it was bolted together so well that there wasn’t a single squeak or rattle for the 11 years and 130k miles she put on it and it is a BRUTAL washed out, hard rock road to and from our ranch. Is that Avenger interior stylish? No. But that hard plastic will stay together for decades.
This is a good point. I know that car reviewers are looking for things because it’s their job, but in my truck, cheap feel doesn’t matter to me. Durability does. I can see that being the case for a ‘rental spec’ or ‘fleet model’ car as well. They’re appliances, and being durable can be a lot more important than being ‘pretty’.
I agree. I don’t know about these cars in particular, but I liked that about my old Subarus—wasn’t fancy (though it came in dark blue so that earns it some slack immediately) and the plastics were ’80-’90s hard (hmm, kind of like this 2008), but they lasted and had excellent ergonomics. I would much prefer that to rubber that turns sticky or switches whose faces visually deteriorate from being touched or plastics that readily break/fall off or electronic garbage with a short shelf life both in the car and in the parts network. Does it work well and look decent? Then I don’t care if the plastic isn’t special (it’s plastic, anyway).
Alternate headline:
An Unknown Grandma Is Selling This Pristine “Holy Grail” Rental-Spec Dodge Avenger And You Should Buy It
Thomas is on a roll with the similes this week.
I remember when people would lament how Bring a Trailer wouldn’t take their cars. After the ownership changed hand a couple years ago I think the philosophy really changed. I have seen a lot of stuff I wouldn’t consider exotic or old, just a used car. I don’t know what this does to the site long term, but assume the new owners are laughing all the way to the bank.
Will add that they are still bringing in their share of unique cars, there is just a lot more mundane stuff in the mix.
A tale as old as time, the original owner’s passion project degraded to a pathetic cash grab.
Even rental companies never ordered them this…. plain. I always ended up having an SXT or higher.
I can hear the interior plastic creaking just by looking at the pictures.
I’m just here for Thomas’ derisive incredulity. Love it!
And I’m here for the great, high-end vocabulary… in the comments section of an auto-blog! “…derisive incredulity…” Love it! 🙂
In jolly old england there is a car show called the festival of the unexceptional. This thing would not win, because it would stand out.
I was desperately trying to think of an english equivalent and could not ( for reasons of sanity) remember the Alfa Romeo Arna. Annoyingly I seem to have some sort of mental void where the Nissan Cherry Europe is concerned, whenever those silly “what was the worst car ” questions come on the interthing I forget that such a thing existed. In comparison the Dodge Avenger seems sort of all-right.
Is that like an IRL version off Jason’s old, lamented Meh Car Monday series at the old place?
Never forget the Regular Car Reviews review of the Avenger.
Reference https://regularcars.fandom.com/wiki/2008_Dodge_Avenger
The line I most remember about the Avenger was from (I think) the comment section at the old German lighting site, and it lives rent free in my head
“Soul-crushingly adequate, like a lukewarm glass of distilled water.”
Also see: Bud Light
(no insinuation of their current marketing difficulties intended)
Let’s say someone wins the auction at anything under $4k. That’s a hell of a deal for a first car for your kid. Modern enough to be safe, slow enough to hopefully keep them out of trouble.
BaT losing its mind is when I saw some fool pay $75k for a Chevy sqaure-body with a 305 slushbox.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1985-chevrolet-k10-silverado/
While I truly loathe the Avenger, at $3500 with no reserve, this is a steal.
Looks like it was probably owned by an elderly snowbird. Likely garage kept and used a few months a year for running about.
It will need tires and a few other things, but this is an awesome buy at under 5k.
This is just…SAD…yeah, that’s all I got…well, also Edsel’s were beautiful! (outside of the grille w/ multiple nicknames)
I’ve never understood the Edsel hate. It’s no more OTT or outlandish than any of its contemporaries imo.
In 2008, Car and Driver’s main beef with this thing is that it only had a measly 173hp and 4 speed auto. That’s about 20 lbs/hp. Pretty pathetic for a whopping $3500.
Meanwhile in 2023, for just 6 times that amount, you could have a new Nissan Kicks with a CVT and 23 lbs/hp.
I have a certain level of respect for pristine normal cars. There’s something cool and nostalgic about a time capsule of a shitbox. But an Avenger? That’s a bridge too far. This era of FCA or whatever the fuck it was in 2008 should remain dead and buried. The interiors in these cars are an abomination in the eyes of god.
In case you needed any more evidence to prove that car collecting has turned into a giant money laundering scheme.
It’s not even the 2 door Avenger which wasn’t so bad looking.
Uh a plain Dodge Neon sold for $19k 2yrs ago, that is insane.
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2001-plymouth-neon/
That was notable for being the last Plymouth ever built.
And thank the invisible hand for that.
This is more of a Bring-a-Bat car. Just kidding, somebody out there loves these things and they deserve … who am I kidding? Where’s my Louisville Slugger?