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The Jeep Avenger is a funky compact SUV with Jeep’s first-ever fully electric powertrain as an option. Does it stand out in a sea of rivals? Lawrence Allan finds out.
Things you'll like
- Plenty of style and character
- Efficient EV version
- Excellent in town
Things to consider
- Tight for adults in the rear
- Three-star Euro NCAP rating
- Not a plush cabin
What is the Jeep Avenger?
Well, it isn’t (thankfully) a rebrand of the ill-fated Dodge Avenger saloon of the late 2000s. It’s actually Jeep’s smallest model and its first ever to be offered with an all-electric version from launch.
The definition of “small” by Jeep’s standards tended to be different from European brands of the past. Remember, this unashamedly US-focused brand also offers the 5.6m long Wagoneer and near 5.8m long Grand Wagoneer L in its home market line-up.
But the Avenger is genuinely compact – the smallest Jeep since the originally Willys of the 1940s – even relative to small SUV rivals. It’s also the first ever production Jeep entirely designed, engineered and built outside of North America.
That indicates the brand’s more European focus for the Avenger, which shares its underpinnings with everything from the Fiat 600 to the Vauxhall Corsa. Jeep claims that it’s brand DNA is still evident from the get go, though. Given the immense competition in the small SUV class, is the Jeep Avenger any good? We’ll find out in this review.
Verdict: is the Jeep Avenger a good car?
We reckon the Jeep Avenger is a small SUV that’s well worth considering, particularly if you’re looking to do lots of town driving where it excels. It's also characterful, cruises well and is decent fun to drive. Fans of soft-touch plastics should look elsewhere, however, while it's far from the most practical choice in this sector.
Pricing, specs & rivals
The Avenger is comfortably the cheapest model in Jeep’s range, with prices starting at just under £25,000 at the time of writing (December 2024) for a petrol model in Longitude trim.
For comparison the Skoda Kamiq starts from just over £24,000 and a Nissan Juke from £23,500, but the petrol Avenger is roughly on a par with the Volkswagen T-Cross and cheaper than the Ford Puma in list price terms. It’s also worth noting that the closely-rated Fiat 600 is a bit cheaper than the Jeep, too.
Entry-level Longitude trim isn’t sparsely equipped, though, with a 10.25-inch touchscreen, a digital driver’s display, automatic LED headlamps, 16-inch alloys, rear parking sensors, cruise control and keyless start.
Altitude trim adds £2,000 to the list price and upgrades the interior and exterior styling while also adding 17-inch alloys, keyless entry, adaptive cruise control, climate control an electric tailgate, a rear view camera and a larger 10.25-inch digital dash.
Top-spec Summit adds a further £2,000 (with the cheapest version just under £29,000) giving you level 2 semi-autonomous driving tech, rear LED lights, 18-inch alloys, heated front seats, privacy glass and a wireless phone charging pad, along with all-round parking sensors and blind spot monitoring.
Stepping up to the Avenger e-Hybrid increases the base petrol’s price by around £1,000 across the board. But there’s good news for those looking to ditch petrol power as the Avenger Electric has just received a significant price cut of up to £5,000.
The Longitude version kicks off from £29,999 as a result – cheaper than rivals like the MINI Aceman and Volvo EX30 – rising to £33,999 for the range-topping Summit. That’s also usefully cheaper than the electric Fiat 600e (for now, at least, because Fiat could well drop prices too).
Rivals
If you’re cross-shopping with the Jeep Avenger you’ll have a near-endless list of rivals to consider. For the petrol and hybrid models you should also check out the Ford Puma, the Nissan Juke, the Skoda Kamiq, the Seat Arona and the Renault Captur, to name just a few.
And that’s before we even consider models within the Stellantis group of brands which share the Avenger’s platform, such as the DS 3, the Fiat 600 and the Vauxhall Mokka. All of those also have EV versions to rival the Avenger Electric, while we’d also consider the MINI Aceman, the Smart #1, the Volvo EX30 and the Peugeot e-2008 if you’re after other battery-powered alternatives.
Jeep Avenger: Interior comfort, quality & technology
Whereas some alternatives feel less SUV and more hatchback behind the wheel, the Avenger does a good impression of a proper off-roader when you climb aboard.
You sit relatively high up, with a commanding view forwards and a rugged impression from the large, flat bonnet and low roofline. Relatively tall side windows also give you a decent view out the sides, too, although the rear view could be better. There’s plenty of adjustment in the seating position to aid comfort, but adjustable lumbar support is only part of an option pack that includes seat massaging.
The cabin is a nice place to spend time, too, particularly in higher spec versions with more coloured trim inserts and a contrasting dash finisher. Longitude models are much darker inside, which is a shame, but all Avengers get neat ‘easter eggs’ dotted about including an illustration of the designers’ son looking through a telescope at the bottom corner of the windscreen.
Details like that, and the functional yet clean dashboard design, help disguise the fact that there’s very little in the way of soft-touch plastics to be found inside. A Skoda Kamiq or Renault Captur feel a lot plusher, but then this fits in to the Jeep’s rugged, hard-wearing image. None of the switchgear feels particularly flimsy, either.
Infotainment, sat-nav, stereo and connectivity
Every version of the Avenger comes with a bright and clear 10.25-inch infotainment screen mounted within the driver’s line of sight (interestingly, it’s the same system you’ll find in the near £200,000 Maserati MC20).
The screen itself is responsive, and the grid-style menu system is easy to use on the move. We’re also pleased to see a row of physical switches for the climate control, along with a few shortcut buttons below the screen itself to access key functions.
You’ll need to pay extra for sat-nav on any Avenger, which might seem odd until you remember that most people use superior systems via wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.
Oddly, while the touchscreen is the same in all models, there are two different digital dial displays. Longitude models get a basic 7.0-inch display, while other trims features a 10.25-inch one with configurable layouts. Hybrid and EV versions have specific display tweaks to suit their electric capabilities.
The standard six-speaker audio system delivers acceptable sound quality but nothing more. You can upgrade to a JBL premium sound system, but only as part of a £1500 option pack that also includes various other bits of kit.
How practical is the Jeep Avenger?
Appearances can be deceptive: despite the chunky look of the Avenger it’s one of the smallest SUVs money can buy, with dimensions of 4.08m in length, 1.77m in width and 1.54m in height. That’s nearly 22cm shorter than a Peugeot 2008 and slightly longer than a Vauxhall Corsa.
That dinky footprint pays dividends when parking or manoeuvring around town but has a negative impact on practicality. Space up front is fine, with plenty of head and legroom for two six-footers to get comfortable. But they’ll need to shift the seats forward to accommodate even average-sized adults in the rear.
Four medium sized adults will fit in the Avenger, if not particularly comfortably thanks mainly to the lack of legroom. Headroom isn’t too bad, however, and at least the backs of the front seats aren’t hard so rear passengers can wedge their legs in with cushioning. Realistically, though, you’ll only get three across the rear bench if it’s kids old enough to do without child seats.
Speaking of which, you get three ISOFIX points in the Avenger’s cabin. Loading a child seat up front is fine, but the rear doors are narrow enough to make it quite fiddly. Overall, you’ll find far more space in rivals such as the Ford Puma, Skoda Kamiq and Renault Captur. But then they are larger cars on the outside, so it depends where your priorities sit.
Storage and boot space
There’s a decent amount of oddments storage in the front of the Jeep Avenger – 34 litres of it, according to the brand, or enough to stow the whole contents of an airline carry-on suitcase should you somehow find yourself without said case.
Neither the modest door bins nor the mediocre glovebox are highlights here. Our favourite is instead the deep cubby below the infotainment screen that’s enclosed via a magnetic cover (much like a protective tablet case) on higher-spec models. It also houses the wireless phone charging pad where fitted.
Unfortunately, if you opt for the manual gearbox version you lose this useful space. Still, you’ll also find a usefully long shelf for phones or wallets within the dash itself, along with an under-armrest cubby and a centre console with movable dividers.
Things in the back are less impressive, with no door bins whatsoever and only a single USB-C port for rear passengers to fight over (even that’s missing in base Longitude trim). There isn’t even a centre armrest with cupholders, but at the very least you do get pockets in the front seat backs to stick drinks bottles in.
That also means you do without through-loading for longer items, which is a shame but not unique to more affordable cars such as this. The rear seats fold in a 60/40 split – the same as most rivals.
The Avenger’s boot capacity is 380 litres in the petrol models, 355 litres in the EV and 325 litres in the 4xe model (the latter reduced due to the additional electric motor over the rear axle). Those figures are decent but far from class-leading, but mid-spec cars and above do get a height adjustable boot floor to give useful underfloor storage and remove the load lip.
Performance & drive: What is the Jeep Avenger like on the road?
Every version of the Jeep Avenger offers wholly acceptable performance for this class of car. Even the entry-level model, with a modest 100hp from the same 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine you’ll find in Peugeots, Vauxhalls and numerous other Stellantis models.
Whether you find its gruff, offbeat thrum endearing or grating is a personal choice, but its gutsy enough throughout the rev range to not feel out of its depth on the motorway. It’s really best suited to town, though, where the reasonably slick six-speed manual gearbox isn’t a hindrance.
Stepping up to the Avenger e-Hybrid doesn’t add any more power, but mates the same engine to a tiny 0.9kWh battery, electric motor and six-speed automatic gearbox. It’s a mild hybrid, but Jeep reckons it can move under electric power alone at speeds of up to 20mph for half a mile – you’ll need a light right foot for that. The mild hybrid system also aids the stop/start tech and delivers a small boost of torque off the line.
The Jeep Avenger 4xe extends the mild hybrid concept with a more powerful 136hp version of the same engine, combined with an extra electric motor over the rear wheels for make it all-wheel drive. On-road performance is slightly improved, but the focus is off-road chops – it splits electric drive equally between all four wheels, with the rear motor switching off above 56mph.
The Avenger Electric is the version that feels the fastest, even if the stats are still modest on paper. A 156hp electric motor drives the front wheels only and it gets up to speed much more effortlessly than the petrols. However, it’s significantly slower than rivals such as the Smart #1 and Volvo EX30.
Power, 0-62mph times
- Jeep Avenger petrol: 100hp/ 10.6 secs
- Jeep Avenger e-Hybrid: 100hp: 10.4 secs
- Jeep Avenger 4exe: 136hp/ 9.5 secs
- Jeep Avenger Electric: 156hp / 9.6 secs
Ride and handling
The Avenger has clearly been designed with urban driving in mind, with light steering and a tight turning circle complementing its dinky dimensions. The steering is also quite accurate, helping the car feel nimble, although the suspension can struggle to deal with rougher tarmac at low speeds.
Out of town, it’s respectable but not class-leading. There’s decent agility and balance, and while you’ll feel a fair amount of body lean even at moderate cornering speeds it’s in-keeping with the car’s SUV stance. The trade-off, also, is soft suspension that does a decent job of isolating occupants when cruising – it rides more calmly than the Jeep Renegade, for example.
The electric version’s substantial extra weight does harm agility somewhat, but not as much as you might expect – and it actually delivers a slightly smoother low-speed ride too.
Noise and refinement
The Avenger’s petrol engine is a three-cylinder and not quite as well-insulated as the equivalent engine in a Skoda Kamiq or Ford Puma, so it does allow some noise and vibration into the cabin under hard acceleration.
Once up to a steady cruise it quietens down, though, and wind and road noise aren’t overly intrusive. There are quieter alternatives, however, and in the electric version the lack or engine noise exacerbates wind rustle and road roar. It’ll be fine for the odd motorway jaunt, but if you regularly do long distances there are better options.
Euro NCAP: is the Jeep Avenger a safe car?
The Avenger was awarded a somewhat disappointing three-star safety rating by industry crash testers Euro NCAP in 2024. By comparison, the Renault Captur has a four-star rating and the Volvo EX30 has the maximum five stars.
While adult and child occupant protection is roughly in line with the class standard, Euro NCAP were unimpressed with the Jeep’s protection of vulnerable road users, namely its inadequate automatic emergency braking response and inability to warn occupants not to open the door when a cyclist is approaching from behind.
Other than the automatic emergency braking system, the Avenger does have sufficient safety systems as standard including lane keeping assistance and a driver attention monitor. There are also six airbags and three ISOFIX points, along with rear parking sensors, but traffic sign recognition is part of an option pack.
Mid-range Altitude brings adaptive cruise control, while Summit versions go one step further with lane centring assist and traffic jam assist, as well as blind spot monitoring.
Fuel economy and running costs
The Avenger’s compact size and weight means its fuel consumption is decidedly un-SUV like. Officially, the entry-level 1.2 petrol manual manages 50.4 mpg combined – roughly in a par with the equivalent Skoda Kamiq.
Opting for the Avenger Hybrid improves things further, officially managing 57.6mpg combined – not far off the Nissan Juke Hybrid on paper. That economy advantage does reduce with the more powerful (and all-wheel drive) 4xe model, which manages 51.4mpg combined.
All fuel-powered versions of the Avenger cost between £220 and £270 in the first year tax rate, except the electric model which is free to tax. The EV also attracts far lower Benefit-in-Kind rates for business users so is the company car of choice.
Before the price drop top-spec versions of the Avenger Electric were perilously close to the £40,000 Expensive Car Tax supplement with a few choice options, but with list prices now reduced across the range that’s no longer a concern.
Jeep Avenger Electric range and charging
The Avenger’s battery is a familiar one, used across pretty much every smaller Stellantis EV. It has 54kWh of total capacity, of which 51kWh is usable.
Jeep reckons that’s sufficient for up to 248 miles on a charge – exactly double what the Mazda MX-30 manages. It’s a good figure for a small EV, although it’s behind the Smart #1 and newer models coming to market like the Kia EV3. At least the Avenger comes with a heat pump at standard, so the range shouldn’t plummet in winter.
The Avenger Electric’s maximum 100kW DC rapid charging figure isn’t class-leading but it’s ahead of models like the Kia Niro EV. With a modest battery size it can manage a 10-80% top up in a respectable 25 minutes.
When it comes to charging at home that modest battery also means a full charge time of just over eight hours on a 7kW charger, which is good. All versions of the Avenger Electric accept 11kW AC charging where available, too.
How much does the Jeep Avenger cost to insure?
The electric version of the Avenger attracts reasonable insurance groups of 24 to 25 depending on spec, which is on a par with alternatives. Interestingly, neither the pure petrol nor mild hybrid versions should be much cheaper to insure, sitting in insurance groups 22-24 depending on spec. Models such as the Skoda Kamiq or Renault Captur sit in much lower insurance groups.
Jeep Avenger FAQs
Is the Jeep Avenger a big car?
Quite the opposite. The Jeep Avenger is one of the smallest SUVs on the market, at just 4.08m long and 1.78m wide – considerably smaller than a Nissan Juke or Peugeot 2008.
What platform is the Jeep Avenger based on?
The Avenger sits on the Stellantis STLA Small platform, and is manufactured alongside the closely-related Fiat 600. It’s a development of the CMP and eCMP platform that also underpins the Vauxhall Mokka, Peugeot 2008 and DS 3, along with the related electric variants.
Is the Jeep Avenger a 4x4?
Most versions of the Jeep Avenger are front-wheel drive. However, in 2024 Jeep launched an all-wheel drive Avenger 4xe – a development of the existing Avenger Hybrid with an extra electric motor powering the rear axle.
