We've already seen the Sebring, whose body panels and name have morphed into the 200C. An improvement, bad hardly the reboot the car needed. The Avenger was arguably the worse looking of the two, trying to leach off the looks of it's big brother the Charger and failing, as it's chunky proportions seemed to emphasize that it looked a little too tall and a little too narrow. Kind of like the Charger's younger, tubby, vertically challenged brother. As with the 200C, the Charger's successful reboot gave me high hopes for a new exterior design, hopefully instilling some of the new Charger design cues that were mishandled last time around.
If the 200C was a disappointment, then the 2011 Avenger is disaster. They barely changed anything. Other than the new Dodge grille, it's rather difficult to spot any changes (which for the most part consist of re-surfaced bumpers and some cheap looking taillights to come off looking like aftermarket pieces). And this is the look that's supposed to tide over buyers for a couple years?
As in the 200C, there are more changes under the skin, where many argue they were most needed. The horrid industrial grade Tupperware interior now looks lush and actually attractive, and the Pentastar V6 will most likely find it's way under the hood. We'll have to see how it drives to see how much better of a car it is the the 2010 Avenger. But in the end - will that really increase showroom traffic? The money has been spent where it was needed most, but people driving by dealerships or that see the car in advertising might just dismiss it as the same old Avenger.
