Review: Jeep Avenger EV

Let's start with three very important things worth mentioning about Jeep's Avenger. One, this is Jeep's very first fully electric car. Two, it has already been named European Car of the Year for 2023. Three—and somewhat staggeringly, considering these first two significant details—it's not going on sale in the US.

Why? Jeep thinks it's not big enough for the Americans. “While the B segment, in which the Jeep Avenger competes, is popular in markets such as Europe, the US consumer tends to favor vehicles in the midsize and large SUV segments,” a Jeep brand spokesperson tells WIRED. “This is why we are launching other all-electric vehicles, such as Wagoneer S and Jeep Recon, which will compete in the midsize segment globally, including the US.”

This might go some way to explaining why the Avenger is a Jeep, but not as you know it. For a start, it's front-wheel drive. While Jeep will rush to prove the EV's rugged skills by pointing at the Selec-Terrain traction control system—with its sand, mud, and snow modes—and talking about hill-descent control and a surprisingly decent break-over angle afforded by stubby overhangs, even the company will eventually admit that this is an on-road, urban-oriented EV. The Rubicon trail isn’t where it's at for the Avenger, but it will mountain-goat over any school-side curb and speed bump that you care to throw at it.

This about-town focus is no bad thing. In fact, one of WIRED's favorite things about the Jeep Avenger is that it’s a small car. At 4,084 millimeters long and 1,776 millimeters wide, it’s not much bigger than a VW Polo, even if the bluff styling and higher ride height give more presence on the road.

And, despite the city-friendly dimensions, it’s got decent enough room in the back seats for an average-size adult to comfortably sit behind another in the front. The lack of a center rear armrest is very annoying, yes, but the biggest issue is with the rear seats. That door aperture is narrow, and the sill you have to step over is high, so it’s easy to trip as you get in.

Access niggles aside, the Avenger’s interior roominess is better than in the Vauxhall Mokka-e, and is roughly on par with alternatives like the MG4. Even the Jeep’s 355-liter boot, with shallow underfloor cable storage, will be up to lugging most families’ everyday stuff around, though it’s worth pointing out that the VW ID.3 and Cupra Born are bigger and quite a bit more spacious (if not as well equipped) despite being a similar price.

We should point out that Jeep is part of the vast constellation of Stellantis brands, which means it parts-shares with Peugeot, Citroen, Vauxhall, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, DS, and more. Many of these also make compact, electric family SUVs like the Jeep. So isn’t it just the same as the e-2008, DS-3 e-Tense, and Mokka?

Yes and no. The Avenger is one of the first Stellantis models to get a new, heavily updated version of the company’s eCMP platform. Called, predictably, the eCMP2, this platform holds a bigger, 54-kWh NMC lithium-ion battery that delivers 51-kWh usable capacity and has the cells arrayed differently (largely under the front and rear seats) to supposedly allow for better packaging.

The Avenger also gets a new, 154-bhp permanent magnet electric motor. Dubbed the M3 motor, it’s more efficient than those used in earlier eCMP cars, plus there’s a heat pump as standard—praise be, as this is a pricey option on some rivals.

Photograph: Jeep

All of this combines to give the Avenger a WLTP range of 249 miles, and my day’s testing suggested that it’ll get close to that in summertime real-world driving. Over a variety of free-flowing country roads and some clogged-up town stuff, I managed 4.4 m/kWh, even with a spot of spirited Sport mode usage thrown in. Good for a real-world range of 224 miles, so not bad.

What WIRED hasn’t had a chance to do is to test the Avenger in winter. The standard heat pump should help to boost cold-weather efficiency, but I’d still estimate that a really cold motorway run will see the Avenger’s range drop to some 150 to 170 miles.

One good thing is that the range readout on the Avenger seems to be accurate. Stellantis cars have been terrible at giving optimistic range estimates at 100 percent, as they would take sudden nosedives as the battery charger dropped lower. Being unpredictable isn’t terribly useful when it comes to range (even if it’s predictably unpredictable), so it’s a relief that the Avenger’s range-ometer seems more realistic and consistent.

Photograph: Jeep

As for charging, the peak DC rate is 100 kW, but in my experience of this architecture, look for more like an 80-kW peak charge rate for a fairly brief stint and expect to see a 100 mile top-up in around 20 minutes at a 150-kW charger, or a 10 to 80 percent fill in some 40 minutes. All very par for the course in this class, although the ID.3 will charge more quickly.

As for AC charging, you get 11 kW as standard, which plenty of alternative electric SUVs and hatches miss out on, but you need access to a three-phase AC charger to take advantage of this. A normal 7-kW home charger will fully juice the Avenger in around nine hours.

There’s no vehicle-to-device charging, though, which is a real shame—especially on a car that’s still touting usefulness and outdoorsy appeal as its chief characteristics.

Photograph: Jeep

Every Avenger gets a 10.25-inch, landscape-mounted Uconnect touchscreen system on the dash. Naturally, wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are standard, as are 12 configurable widgets that allow you to set up the homepage however you like. Screen response times are okay but not amazing, and graphics are similarly on par with most rivals, but nothing to really wow you.

Physical shortcut buttons beneath the screen are welcome for easy homepage returns or to take you to the lane-keep assist screen so that you can turn it on or off easily. We value this feature because any lane-keep assist system can be unhelpful on certain roads, even if the Jeep’s is fairly unobtrusive.

Swipe down from the top of the screen and you can dim the screen straightaway—another win, as not being able to dim the screen easily when it’s dark is a problem for many systems.

Continuing the run of common sense, there’s a row of straightforward, physical air-con controls that are a doddle to use without taking your eyes off the road. Even so, the Jeep’s dash looks clean and uncluttered, which is a neat trick. I don’t even mind the magnetic, roll-back cover that hides a deep cubby in the center console.

Some plastics feel cheap and scratchy, though, especially around the door cards and lower down the cabin. Other problems include the menus in the touchscreen, which are still a pain to find as you have to swipe across and face a huge library of tiny app icons. There’s no in-built nav function unless you pay extra for the TomTom software (but with CarPlay and the like so ubiquitous now, this is unlikely to be a problem for most).

It’s also worth noting that you have to go for a mid-spec Longitude model and add a feature pack in order to get semiautonomous adaptive cruise with lane-centering function and traffic-jam control, although this is standard on the top-spec Summit.

Photograph: Jeep

The Avenger is a tidy, easy car to drive. You get the usual modes (Eco, Normal, and Sport), but it’s best just left in Normal while you enjoy light steering and well-controlled suspension and body movement. It feels composed and confident. The steering is a touch over-light in faster driving when you’re in Eco and Normal, but Sport sorts that out with heavier steering and zestier accelerator response.

Ride comfort calms down nicely at higher speeds, but on the 18-inch wheels and Goodyear EfficientGrip rubber, it feels a touch busy over town roads, and can hop-skip a fraction if you hit a sharp-edged bump mid-corner. It’s still one of the more comfortable family EVs, but definitely go for the smaller 17-inch wheels that you get on the mid-spec Altitude, if you can.

It’s not fast, the Jeep Avenger. We’ll say that. The 9.6 seconds to 62 mph sounds pedestrian even next to the more routine seven- and eight-second times of most rivals. In practice it feels more than fast enough, whether it’s muddling around town or in the ebb and flow of a country road.

What would be nice is if there were an Individual drive mode. Eco, for instance, neuters the throttle response and performance enough to be a touch annoying, but I might opt for the efficient climate settings that it introduces, mixed with the heavier steering of Sport and everything else from Normal. Such are the fairly big disparities between the modes, that a pick’n’mix option would be very welcome.

Even so, the Jeep is very chilled to drive. The nonadaptive brake recuperation is mild, normally, and you can boost it with B mode to a much stronger setting that works well as an almost-one-pedal mode around town.

The basic £35,645 ($44,160) Jeep Avenger Longitude gets the essentials, but most will go for the mid-spec Altitude as it gets keyless entry, adaptive cruise control, a charging port for those in the back, contrasting black side mirrors, hands-free powered tailgate, and all the safety and convenience stuff that most people buying a family car will value.

Plus, Jeep is very good at doing dealer-fit accessory gubbins, so you can have hose-it-out rubber boot liners, and even a flip-out liner that protects the bumper from your dog’s scrabbling claws. Just in case you forgot that Jeep is all about that fresh-air lifestyle.

The top-spec Summit gets lots more stuff, but it pushes the price up to nearly £40,000. The Altitude is the sweet spot at £37,345 ($46,266). While that’s far from cheap, it’s in the same price region as many rivals with this driving range and equipment—albeit the MG4 makes the Jeep (and most other EVs) look pricey.

It’s very easy to like the Jeep Avenger. It has the small-yet-tough thing nailed, is practical, looks cool, and is an efficient, relaxing drive. The fact that it does feel unmistakably Jeep, and not just like a rehashed Peugeot e-2008, is also credit to Jeep’s designers and engineers. In fact, it’s a shame that the Avenger isn’t going to North America, as it’d be an ideal college car or suburban runabout.

It's so good that if it were cheaper in the UK and had vehicle-to-device charging, you might have seen a 9 rating here. But it isn’t and it doesn't, so here we are. Even so, the Avenger is a great blend of conveniently small family car and no-nonsense lifestyle SUV-ish enthusiasm. That’s precisely what most people want these days, so Jeep is certainly onto a winner.