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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Most of the polymers used in the interior have been banned by the EPA, so now is your last chance to get some.
Noone restored or even preserved it. It was probably off the original selling dealers lot and just never sold.
That interior shot is giving me some sort of PTSD. I guess I had too many shitty Dodge rental cars in this era.
I would guess this is less a case of someone intentionally saving this car than happenstance resulting in it being preserved thus far. And I have no problem with normal or boring cars being preserved, but that doesn’t automatically mean they have high value. This should be a great find for a teen trying to churn up their first car, not a big money fancy auction car.
My family had an alright trip to Orlando in 2007. Right before Papa lost his job operating the Deepwater Horizon! Can’t find a job since. I’m prepared to spend 32k on this thing, so I can look back to the time we lost it at the Epcot parking lot.
A friend of mine was laid off from his finance job in mid 2001.
The company: Cantor Fitzgerald
The office: World Trade Center
If I was retired, I would buy this and enter it in every freakin’ “Concours de Elegance” show I could just to mortify the other attendees.
I love BaT for its variety.
When even an Altima is too deluxe lol
Honorable mention to the Chrysler Bailout cars
So I understand questioning WHY someone would save something like this, it really is nothing special, but that’s why I like so much that they did!
…because the owner died decades ago and rhe car had been sitting unnoticed all this time at a parking meter.
I have a soft spot for cars like this. Workaday sedans represent a real historical snapshot of Americana, and 99% were/are used up and thrown away. Someone preserving a car that will never have any collectible value shows a unique kind of auto enthusiasm that I can get behind.
Can’t believe it’s on BaT though, really doesn’t belong there at all.
So what you’re saying is that this is BaT-shit?
Too good.
As SW Gossin is my witness, I kinda liked the first gen Avenger, when it was a coupe.
Pretty sharp for what it was I thought, though I recall the manual came only with the 4 cyl engine in true Chrysler fashion. Funny how turning it into a supposed Charger-like sedan made it less serious-looking.
I rented a brand new Avenger in 2012 (so post refresh). I had enough things I completely hated about it that I talked my way out of a late charge, so that was a plus I guess.
The most sane part of this whole thing is that it is a No Reserve auction. This is so far from the original ethos of BaT and also the current one. It’s hysterical. I hope they did it purely for the laughs.
I love it when something doesn’t meet reserve but was bid to like the 90th percentile of prices for that car.
BaT has officially jumped the shark and this Avenger is the shark they vaulted over.
That episode of Happy Days was 46 years ago. Can you believe that?
No mention of the cooled glovebox? I knew these offered it but didn’t realize it was a standard feature until I read the ad and did some digging.
Low mileage, Florida…has to be an elderly person’s car, right? The Carfax shows regular maintenance and that the tires were rotated in June but no mention of changing them, nor anything about their age in general, so have to think they are original.
It looks like the DOT code says 2407, which would mean the tires were manufactured on the 24th week of 2007.
So yes, the tires are original.
https://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2008_dodge_avenger_IMG_5991-1-scaled.jpg?
Good eye! I’m sure the tires are fine. Just fine…
The only redeeming quality is the paint color.
Ah, a low mileage old car from central Florida. At least when my Grandma died she left a V8 Panther platform Grand Marquis.
Grandma had good taste.
My 1988 Jaguar XJ6 started as a low-mileage grandma car from Florida as well. Because of that I have a beautiful car in amazing shape with only 40,000 miles and I paid the princely sum of $5600 for it. Even if it is the redheaded stepchild of the XJ family…
I…what?
Yep: they’ve lost their minds. Look, I’ll never fault someone for needing a car—I put way too many miles on absolute shitboxes for that—but the decision-tree that led to this being on BaT needs to be felled, chipped, then used as mulch. And salt that ground just to be sure.
almost tempted to follow this to see what it actually brings
In the same way that the guy with the bone-stock ’83 Dodge Aries was one of the hits of Radwood Chicago a few years ago, the owner of this thing will be the king of Cars and Coffee in like 20 years. It just has to last that long.
I’m in. What odds are you giving?
Dodge Avenger – Gen Z’s Yugo.
Can we have an Avenger vs. Aveo showdown?
Funny pitting those two against each other…a relative had a very barebones Aveo for many years and with hindsight, they liked it and respect it for what it was.
I’d bet that the owner of said Avenger forgot about it and it sat unused. At least someone forgot that the Avenger existed.
In a depressing note, I’m gonna say you’re probably right, but that a lot of low KM boring cars like this are because grandma got dementia after she went to the Dodge dealer for the last time.
Going to the Dodge dealer was an obvious sign her dementia was already advanced.
I mean honestly in todays car market 3500 for a (maybe) well taken care of reliable car is pretty cheap. But this thing probably needs every bit of rubber under the hood replaced.
oooh, so close until you used that R word. Reliable, this thing ain’t.
It’s anything for nostalgia nowadays, even if it’s acres of plastic.
The fact that they sold them from 2011 with the 3.6 is hilarious
That’s glorious. I was going to say that 173 raging ponies for the 4cyl isn’t half bad.
It is?