Jeep Avenger Review & Prices

The Jeep Avenger is a small family SUV that’s ideal for city life thanks to its diminutive stature, but comes with a hint of pumped up off-roader styling that gives it real character. It’s a bit like the small kid at school rocking up wearing a muscle suit under their school uniform.

Petrol-powered city-focused SUVs are ten a penny, and similarly priced alternatives to the Avenger include the Fiat 600, Volkswagen T-Cross, Toyota Yaris Cross and Ford Puma.

Where the Avenger stands out is its design. While those other cars do little or nothing to hint at the 4x4 origins of their SUV shape, the Jeep has a charmingly chunky design that suits the brand’s off-road focus. It has a boxy body, with an upright front end and flared arches. It’s very effective.

Inside it’s not quite so fun but the simple, minimalist interior is neatly laid out and easy to find your way around, with a few blocky buttons for the climate controls and gear selection falling easily to hand.

All models get a 10.3-inch infotainment display, which is a touch small, and the software is rather basic and clunky to navigate around. It’s almost like it was always intended for you to just use the standard-fit wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

What’s better is the fact that the Avenger might be small but there’s a decent amount of storage dotted around the cabin. However, while it feels quite roomy up front, those in the back will find legroom incredibly limited. At 355 litres, the boot is smaller than most alternatives, too.

You can get a zero-emission Avenger Electric, but this petrol-powered model is available with two 1.2-litre engines – one with mild hybrid assistance, one without. Both have 100hp, but the mild hybrid has an automatic transmission which, along with a little electric assistance, makes it generally easier and more relaxing to drive around town.

Whichever model you go for, though, the Avenger is great for urban commuters. Its small footprint and upright design mean visibility is good and it’s easy to place in tight spaces, and although it can jiggle about over imperfect road surfaces, it’s never uncomfortable. Things smooth out at higher speeds, but then it starts to get a bit noisy in the cabin. It’s perfectly capable down a twisty road, but the Ford Puma is infinitely more fun.

Don’t let that put you off, though. This is a city-friendly SUV with bundles of character that’s pretty good value for money compared with alternatives. If you don’t need to carry people in the back seats, and don’t need a roomy boot, it’s well worth considering.

If you want to get the best price, check out the latest Jeep Avenger deals available through Carwow. You can also browse used Avengers, as well as other used Jeep models, from our network of trusted dealers. When it’s time to break up with your current car, Carwow’s Sell My Car service is on hand to help.

Prices start at less than £24,000 for the petrol-powered Jeep Avenger, and it’s about £1,700 extra to go for the e-Hybrid. There are three trims called Longitude, Altitude and Summit, with fully loaded models starting at less than £30,000, so it’s not a great leap to work up to higher-specced trims.

Cementing the Avenger’s place as a value proposition is the fact that while its starting price is similar to the Fiat 600, Volkswagen T-Cross, Toyota Yaris Cross and Citroen C5 Aircross, all but the Fiat have higher-specced models soaring north of £30k.

Easy to drive about town, but it’s not much fun in corners and can be a bit noisy at speed

In town

The Jeep Avenger is perfectly designed for inner-city life because it’s relatively small but has a tall, upright design, so you get a good view of the road around you and can easily judge the car’s extremities in a tight spot. It’s a bit jiggly on a scarred road surface, but generally smooths out sharp edges so it never feels particularly uncomfortable.

Entry-level petrol models only come with a manual transmission, so your left leg goes through a bit of a workout in heavy traffic. The e-Hybrid is the better choice here because you get an automatic gearbox and its electrification smooths out low speed driving.

Rear parking sensors are standard-fit, but front and rear parking sensors and a reversing camera are only standard on top-spec cars. Other trims require you to pay for an expensive option pack to get a reversing camera, though it is bundled in with a bunch of other kit including everything from privacy glass to automatic high beam headlights.

On the motorway

While the Avenger can jiggle about a bit over bumps at lower speeds, things smooth out at higher speeds, so it’s actually pretty composed on the motorway. It’s a bit disappointing, then, that it’s not very quiet, with some wind and tyre noise meaning you might have to turn your podcast up a bit when you get up to 70mph…

Usefully though, cruise control is included on all models, but if you want to get adaptive cruise, which automatically maintains your speed and distance to the car in front, you need to go for the Altitude or Summit trims.

On a twisty road

Considering its tall design and hint of off-roading ability, the Jeep Avenger is perfectly capable on a twisty road. There’s a bit of body lean in corners, but not so much that you fear the car will topple over, and there’s good enough grip from the tyres. However, the rather gutless engines and light steering mean you won’t be choosing the scenic route home for some post-work giggles. If that’s what you’re after, the Ford Puma sacrifices a little comfort to be much more fun to drive.

Interior storage is pretty good, but the rear seats are cramped and boot is quite small

For front seat passengers, the Jeep Avenger is relatively spacious, and there’s plenty of adjustment in the seat and steering wheel for the driver to find a comfortable position.

Storage is impressive too, with a wide, shallow tray in the dashboard that’s useful for holding your keys and phone offering some extra storage you rarely see in other cars. More common is the cubby hole beneath the armrest, and the large area ahead of the gear shifter that’s also home to the wireless phone charger on top-spec Summit models.

There’s a pair of cupholders between the seats, though these are quite shallow and can struggle to keep hold of your coffee cup during spirited driving, while the door bins will just about take a one-litre bottle.

Space in the back seats

It’s much less spacious in the back, so kneeroom is tight even with the front seats pushed forward. If the person in the back is quite tall, it can mean front seat passengers have to squish their knees up against the dashboard.

Headroom is really good, at least, though being quite a narrow car means that fitting three adults across the back should be reserved for shorter journeys where possible. You’ll have more room in the back of the Volkswagen T-Cross.

This does all mean that fitting a child seat is a bit of a squeeze, too. It can be particularly uncomfortable if there’s a person in front, because you have to push the seat forward to accommodate a typical child seat.

Boot space

The lack of space continues in the boot, because at 355 litres the Jeep Avenger has less capacity than most alternatives. The Fiat 600 offers a bit more space at 360 litres, while the Volkswagen T-Cross has 385 litres and the Ford Puma gets 456 litres. Basic versions of the Citroen C5 Aircross are in the same price range as the Avenger, and that has a cavernous boot by comparison – its sliding rear bench means you have between 580 and 720 litres to play with.

At least accessing the Avenger’s boot is easy enough, with a squared-off opening and no load lip to lift items over, and you have a little underfloor storage, too. Drop the rear seats and you get just over 1,000 litres, which is some way down on each of the cars noted above.

The Jeep Avenger’s interior has a cool, clean design, but the infotainment is clunky and dated

The Jeep Avenger’s interior design is pleasantly simple, with a minimalist rather than basic feel for the most part. There are a few cheap materials to be found, but it generally feels hard-wearing rather than bargain basement.

You get fabric seats in the basic Longitude model, but this is upgraded to a cloth and vinyl combination for Altitude and Summit cars. These two trims can be upgraded to leather upholstery as part of a pack that includes heated front seats and a massaging function for the driver, though this costs more than £1,000.

All cars get a 10.3-inch infotainment screen, but it’s quite basic and quite clunky to use. You can pay extra for navigation on the top-spec trim, but your best bet is to connect your phone through wireless Apple CarPlay or Android Auto.

Entry-level cars get a 7.0-inch digital instrument display, which is upgraded to 10.3 inches for Altitude and Summit cars.

There are two variations of a 100hp, 1.2-litre petrol engine available, alongside the battery-powered Avenger Electric, reviewed separately.

The entry-level engine is a pure petrol unit with no electrification. It’s available exclusively with a six-speed manual gearbox, and official fuel economy figures are measured at up to 50.4mpg, though we saw around 42mpg in our time with the car.

For approximately £1,700 extra, you can get the e-Hybrid. The name is a bit cheeky, because this is a mild hybrid rather than a full hybrid, so although it can do very short distances on electric power at low speeds, you don’t see huge fuel economy benefits. That said, official numbers suggest up to 57.6mpg is possible. It comes with an automatic transmission, and coupled with the electrical assistance, should make it the more relaxing car to drive.

Both have low emissions so fall into the same cheap Vehicle Excise Duty band, though they face quite a high benefit-in-kind tax, so company car drivers would be better off going for the Avenger Electric.

When the Avenger was tested by Euro NCAP, it scored a fairly disappointing three stars. Protection for adult and child occupants was reasonable, but it scored poorly in protection for vulnerable road users as well as the safety assist category, mainly due to limitations with its autonomous emergency braking system.

Standard safety kit includes traffic sign recognition, a system to keep you centred in your lane, and even some basic off-road technology. Mid-spec Altitude models add adaptive cruise control, while top-spec Summit cars get blind spot monitoring, all-round parking sensors and a reversing camera. Altitude models can be upgraded with a pack that gets most of the Summit’s safety kit.

The Jeep Avenger is a relatively new model, so it’s not totally clear how reliable it is just yet. However, it uses tried and tested parts from a multitude of other cars sold by its parent company Stellantis, such as the Citroen C4 and Vauxhall Mokka. Reliability is a bit hit and miss, and Jeep doesn’t have a fantastic record, but with such ubiquitous parts, repairs shouldn’t be too pricey if required.

A three-year, unlimited mileage warranty comes as standard with the Jeep Avenger. That’s fairly basic, though some car makers offer the same length of cover but with mileage restrictions. It’s not as good as Hyundai (five years), Kia and MG (seven years) or Toyota (10 years with annual servicing).