Avenger assembled
Jeep’s Avenger shares a lot of bits with Peugeot and Opel models, but still has a unique character
Mention of our Avenger test vehicle to an office millennial sparked some vague joke about Marvel movies. For Gen X or older it might produce a mental picture of some dodgy Hillman from the 1970s.
In fact, even just sticking to cars, Avenger has been a Hillman, Chrysler, Talbot and Dodge. It can be many things to many people. For Jeep — part of the Stellantis group that now owns all of the above brands and the Avenger name, remember — it’s now the moniker of its first-ever pure-electric vehicle (its Renegade/Compass/Grand Cherokee 4xe EVs are plug-in hybrids) and its smallest production SUV ever. Although the original wartime Willys Jeep is a tad more compact still.
So yes, Avenger is even smaller than the Renegade (less than 4.1m long) and definitely a city SUV. But Jeep also argues it’s tougher than your average EV shopping trolley and has plenty of Jeep-worthy features, including 200mm ground clearance and a superpractical cabin.
The Stellantis connection means that the underpinnings are part of the same platform family that gives us the Opel Mokka-e and Peugeot e-2008. Although those are distributed by another company in New Zealand, so you won’t see all three in a showroom together. Confusing.
Jeep reckons it’s done a lot to the platform though, to make Avenger feel a bit more spesh: more than 600 component changes, even stuff like longertravel suspension and extra drive modes to give better performance off-tarmac. Although you’re not going too far off-piste in this BEV version: it’s FWD only, with a 4xe (probably PHEV) and even ICE/hybrid (which the platform allows) likely to follow at a much later date. For now, BEV is the focus for Jeep with this model.
Know what? We’ll accept all that. Avenger really does have a unique feel on-road (and slightly off it), and it’s packed with Jeepy design detail without getting too cheesy.
Chunky bits on the outside include a Jeep 7-slot grille (which is not really a grille, it’s an EV silly), inset headlights, bulbous guards and brand-signature trapezoidal wheelarches. It wears the Stellantis corporate “e” (same as a Peugeot) but it also has some cute Jeep easter-egg signatures, like tiny grilles embossed on the alloy wheels, a graphic of a boy looking through a telescope on the bottomleft of the windscreen (with stars at the top right of course), even a tiny ladybug on one of the exterior mouldings. Jeep says the rear lights are styled to look like jerry cans, as on the Renegade, although they’re a lot more subtle here.
In fact, a lot of the Avenger is quite grown-up for a baby SUV. The cabin is delightful and surprisingly classy; even the harder plastics (there are plenty) are interesting shapes and the slender 10.25in infotainment screen is a welcome relief from the monster displays of some BEVs.
As is the provision of a row of proper physical switchgear. Just not sure why the virtual instrument panel has a fuel pump icon with a plug in the bottom corner, pointing right (the charging port is on the left). There for a forthcoming PHEV version,
perhaps; but surely it could be digitally designed-out for this pureelectric model?
There’s an impressive 34 litres of storage space around the cabin, which makes the Avenger feel a lot bigger than it is. The wireless phone projection is brilliant, as is the angled charging pad. What’s actually unique to the Launch Edition? Well, it’s the only edition for now and the local Jeep people aren’t 100 per cent sure what won’t be in future models compared with this, but it’s comprehensively equipped: loads of driver assists including a really good adaptive cruise setup, handsfree power tailgate, LED headlights, heated front seats and even a massager for the driver (thank you, Peugeot). Although there’s been a teeny bit of corner-cutting with the front-passenger seat, which also lacks the power adjustment you get on the other side.
It’s actually pretty decent at being a compact SUV, with a generous 380-litre boot and false floor so you can mix and match volume with load-through when the seats are folded. Jeep has also ensured the hatch width is over a metre wide, for easier loading . . . of things that are a metre wide.
The back seats are more for kids (or grandkids), though. The opportunity cost for practicality elsewhere is a paucity of rear legroom, although the back can be adult-sized with a little compromise from those up front.
The Avenger has the latest 54kWh battery for this platform, which is also filtering across the rest of the cars within the group. Jeep claims excellent energy density and 51kWh usable capacity, for a range of 400km. We easily did 300km-plus of fast motorway driving and that claimed figure is certainly achievable with a bit more urban driving in the mix.
It ain’t fast (0-100km/h in 9sec) but it’s beautifully smooth and the steering, ride and handling really are a cut above the other cars in this platform. Or at least, this car really does have its own character. The ride is more compliant thanks to the longer-travel suspension and while there is noticeable body roll in corners, it’s all nicely controlled. It feels extremely well-sorted allround.
The modest power isn’t enough to stress the front-drive configuration, but don’t be too quick to sneer at the provision of sand and mud drive modes on this city car. Past 2WD Peugeots and Fords have had similar systems and the tech really can help you get through low-traction terrain when you really need it. But no, you won’t be taking this on a Jeep Jamboree.
Avenger was European Car of the Year for 2023, which is a pretty good indication of how well Jeep has executed this iteration of a shared platform. We’re fans now, too. It’s a great city SUV in its own right and a great base for a more off-tarmac oriented machine, if that’s what Jeep decides to do with future versions.