Rubbery steering, anemic acceleration, shuddered under breaking, and non-existant rear vision. The entire rear windscreen from trunklid to roof easily fit into the rear mirror, even without the visibility-impairing aid of the trunklid spoiler.

And the icing had to be the C-pillars and the SUV-hiding blind spots that they create. I nearly merged into some leadfoot on the 401 that squirted into the null visibility zone by the onramp.

That is proabably a bit overstated.

Most of the cars sold by Toyota/Honda in North America are assembled locally. While most of transplant factories aren’t UAW organized, they do pay comparable wages and benefits. The Fremont, CA NUMMI plant (which builds the Toyota Corolla, Matrix and other models) is a UAW shop.

The other thing is that labor costs account for perhaps 8-9% of the total cost of a vehicle.

Granted, the big difference is the legacy health care benefits and retiree benefits that GM, Chrysler and Ford have to pay given that they have an older workforce and have bought out a lot of early retirements over the years. That is a big issue.

But I don’t think this should be an obstacle in sourcing better plastics and designing a better interior. Heck, I think materials costs would at worst be a wash if Toyota or Honda have to source some key components from Japan, which is sensitive to the Yen/Dollar exchange rate. And petroleum based plastics affect all vehicle manufacturers.

The Avenger has a very roomy interior both front and back. The standard 2.4L engine was very adequate in terms of acceleration with a load of 3 people + luggage, and achieved good fuel economy (about 25 mpg mostly highway driving). I think for most people, the 2.4L is pretty usuable. Controls were pretty straightforward and easy to operate. The fabric upholstery looks pretty durable. The exterior styling is pretty distinctive and isn’t a copy of other cars – it follows the Charger and other Dodge vehicles.

My biggest beef, which is consistent with many other posters, is the interior appointments. The ugly, plain plastic door panels, just don’t cut it for me, and the blah interior color. When you are looking at the interior day in and day out, it just looks monotonous. The rear quarter styling cue unfortunately also obscures your rearward vision.

It’s a perfectly practical car but it’s just not good enough in this competitive mid-sized sedan segment – the Accord and the Camry have much nicer interiors.

I mean, does the Camry’s interior (photo) really look any better than the Avenger’s (photo)?

Yes, it does. Haven’t seen either in person, but the photo of the Camry looks reasonably well laid out yet boring, where the Avenger’s interior is just hideous.

Thanks for my morning laugh.

The domestic brands could have great feeling interiors if they were allowed to hire temps that make $8-10 per hour with no benefits. I’ll live with the crappy interior if the people building the car can afford to feed their families.”

I don’t know about anyone else, but if the difference between building a crap car and a pretty good (or even great) American car resulted in a price tag $2000 higher, I would gladly pay it in order to support American industry and labor. I’ve mentioned this in other posts and I’m saying it again here.

GM has claimed the price of U.S. unionized labor and “legacy costs” puts them at a $1500 disadvantage compared with the Asian automakers. I’m prepared to pay that higher cost – but only for a car I really like!

Fortunately, it appears that GM, and even Ford, are beginning to wake up. The Saturn Aura and ‘08 Malibu strike me as solid – even desirable – mid-sized four-door sedans that can go up against the import (captive or otherwise) competition with no excuses. I even think the Fusion is quite reasonable for the price. Now, please, can we have two-door versions of these cars? And how about manual transmissions with the V6s?

“CarNut:
March 31st, 2007 at 8:09 am
Is it just me or does it appear that in this segment the real sleeper has to be the new Hyundai Sonata. Like man I am seeing them everywhere here in Central Ohio, and although obviously not yet in CamCord territory in terms of refinement and quality, each version gets incrementally better. And who can argue with the value quotient? For $18K or less you get pretty much all the goods in this segment (besides residual value – but that too is trending upwards).”

I was up in New England last summer (Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine). The number of current-generation Hyundai Sonatas that I saw was startling. (I also saw a surprising number of Saab 9-5 wagons in Maine.) I suspect the Sonata may soon become the next Camry for typical American drivers. Already, at least near my home in New Jersey, the Hyundai Elantra has already replaced the Corolla as the compact four-door of choice in that market space. Toyota had better watch it.

But back to DCX for a moment. While the interiors of Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth-branded cars have been pretty cheap for the last two decades, I wonder where these product decisions are being made – Auburn Hills or Stuttgart? Chrysler had a hit on its hands with the 300, using the bones of the previous-generation Mercedes E Class. It was a strategy that worked for everyone involved. Why didn’t the Chrysler Group use the platform from the outgoing C Class for the Sebring/Avenger – or even the Dodge Caliber and Jeep Compass/Patriot for that matter?

Perhaps I can answer my own question because I’ve read reports that indicate elitism within Mercedes prevented this product strategy from reaching its logical fruition. If this is true, then DCX – and its greedy, shortsighted shareholders in Europe – deserves everything it gets. The bad part is, it seems a lot of American workers may pay the price of such staggering stupidity and cluelessness.

A few years ago, Mercedes was on the rope with sagging sales and huge quality issues. The Chrysler Group was doing fairly well at that point and helped DCX weather the storm. But apparently, the shareholders don’t have don’t have the patience to allow the company to provide the U.S. unit with the products it now needs to succeed.

The styling theme has shifted from ’90s “four-door-Testarossa” to ’00s “national-paranoia-channeled-into-compensatory-hypermasculinity.” But the Avenger is the product of the same crass mindset: trust your customers not to know quality when they see/feel it, and sell them tacky gimmicks. And if that doesn’t work, play the “wimpy Honda” card.

Just when I thought Detroit was getting past this…

“Uh, er, and um, in particular, have been flagrantly overused by feature writers and columnists to signal an impending attempt at irony or humor; the maneuver is now well beyond cliché, somewhere in the neighborhood of desperation.”
- Ben Yagoda, “The Good Word”, Slate.com Feb 16 2007.

Great review, regardless of interjections!

What Dodge needs IMHO is a vision of what they actually want to be, other than of course the car company for real men who know nothing about real automobiles.

I have seen the Avenger up close (not driven it) and it looks OK. But it already looks “old” and stale. How is it that a car company can bring out an all new vehicle that, right out of the box looks dated? This chunky design motif, although a refreshing alternative to T and C’s bland-forward, looks fat and tired on the street, not nimble, agile, performance oriented. I like the ‘Boss” cues, but I agree that all show and no go always equals no dough!

That being said, I’m hoping the next few evolutions of the Avenger will produce something a bit more…exciting? Perhaps a 4 cylinder base with 4 speed auto for the rentals/low ends, with the 5 speed manual as an option. Those 4 cylinders could be the 2.4 or 2.0, respectively. The SXT should get the choice of the 180 HP 2.4 turbo or the 230 HP 2.4 turbo out of the PT Cruiser Turbo/GT with 5/6 speed sticks or whatever auto Chrysler puts on it (4 speed auto for the GT Cruiser option?). The RT would retain it’s 3.5 V6 and 6 speed auto, with the option to bump up for the 4.0 V6 and 6 speed manual. Add AWD as an option for the SXT/RT and I think some of the power issues would be solved.