Hello everyone, this is my first post.

Let me share my story with you.
I have had my eye on a 08 Avenger for a few months now and I finally gave into temptation and bought one.

I have a black AWD RT and it has every option available except the DVD player.
It was a dealer demo so I got it for a great price; it has 2800 miles on it.
I drive it home and spend the next half hour messing with the various options.
The following morning I use the remote start to let it warm up before leaving for work, I let it warm up for 5 minuets and when I got in I turned on the radio and looked for a station and my brand new Avenger stalls on me.

I start it back up and get 3 miles away to a stop sign where it stalls again.

I start it back up and drive the rest of the way to work.
At the end of the day I back out of my parking space and before I put it into drive I feel a jolt as if the car was about to stall again but it somehow stays running.

I called the dealer and had to schedule maintenance for a car that I owned for 2 days and has 2800 miles on it. When I took it to the dealer I experienced the jolt 2 more time but didn’t stall.

The mechanic drove it into the work bay and told me the car did the exact same thing for him. He said he DIDN’T GET ONE CODE form the diagnostics he ran.

So the manager of the service department told me he would have the mechanic call Chrysler and hear what they suggest. 1 hour later he tells me Chrysler suggested a few things and that he would put me in a rental until tomorrow.
The mechanic will complete the tasks the manufacturer suggested and drive the car back to his house and then back to work to test it.

So this sucks, I will update as I hear more but I am as you can imagine pretty disgusted at this already.

 

Dealer demos are like rental cars. People treat them like **** when no one is looking.

Pin an engine and see what it has, before 1000 miles are even on it... etc.

I hate to say this - I am not suprised your having problems, I am just sad to hear they are such nasty ones. 3 cheers for warranty eh?

 

Yep, sounds exactly like what happened with my brand new 2007 Durango. Only had 1000 miles on it and a flatbed truck had to come haul it off to the dealer to be fixed.

I have owned 5 Dodges, 1995 Neon, 1999 Durango, 2003 RAM 1500, 2007 Durango and I just bought a new 2008 Avenger. I love Dodges, but I would never buy a Dodge without the extended warranty.

Why do we drive American made junk?? Because they look cool, sound good, and are fun to drive. Unfortunately, you can't get something cool, fun to drive, and DEPENDABLE for less than $50k.

If you want something dependable, go buy a Honda. If not, stick with the cool stuff and just realize that its going to spend its fair share of time in the shop. At least they gave you a rental!

 

[:@]I'm having similar problems TR. I bought my 08 Avenger R/T AWD in Nov. It was previously owned and only had 2500 miles on it. The dealership let me test drive it for a couple days before I decided to buy it and it ran GREAT! LOVED IT! BUTTTTTTTTTTTTT.....after approximately 2 weeks and nearing the 4000 mile point, things started to go wrong. The transmission was becoming sluggish, stuttering, and shifting all totally out of sync. I took it to the dealer and they hookedit upto see what was wrong. Come to find out that Dodge doesnt really have a "fix" right now but told the dealer that basically I should just put up with it because it isn't hurting anything[:@]...NOT ACCEPTABLE! Even my passengers can feel the sputtering as we drive down the road. They told them that they had to wait until enough people reported it as a problem. It is really bad at speeds between 20-35 mph such as through towns. Dodge's recommendation: use auto shift in 4th gear or ok listen to this...go faster!!! I took it back to the dealer again today and they called Dodge AGAIN and are now going to replace the torque converter but stated this isnt the problem but are working on a computer program to fix the bug. I guess at about 4000 miles this is happening to alot of these cars. BUYER BEWARE! I'm told it wont be available for awhile so I'm trying to be patient but its very difficult...can't enjoy my ride like I did the first 2 weeks.[sm=boosign.gif] If anyone else is experiencing this same problem leave a post. I'd like to hear about it.

 

Well today I spoke to the dealer about my car.
He said that whatever it was that Chrysler suggested to do was done and the problem no longer exists. He called it a format but being PC literate I understand that probably wasn’t the case, probably a re-learn.

The mechanic drove it to his house and let it sit overnight so it would be a cold start this morning and there wasn’t any hesitation and obviously the car didn’t stall.

I am expecting a call later today to let me know when I can pick my car up.

*Just a side note to all owners*
If you are not already aware of the recalls
There was an issue with the fuel tank
There was an issue with the door latches
There was an issue with the door speakers

The fuel tank issue was corrected before I bought the car; all the others will be taken care of today.

I am also waiting on news about the transmission software update for the RT, if anyone has an update please post.

Thanks
TR

 

did you read my six thousand mile update post. Holy **** this is my first Dodge and well let me tell you I should have bought a Honda! I will be amazied is this car last 30K problem after problem. Had all the recalls done and am just waiting for the next thing to go wrong.

 

Hello again and sorry for the delay

I went to the dealer to pick up my car once they said it was fixed...ya can see where I am going with this.

It was after the service department had already left for the day so the cashier gave me my key and pointed me in the correct direction to get my Avenger.

I start it up, take a deep breath, back out of the parking spot very slowly, pull forward about 10 feet very slowly and !@#$%.... the car stalls.

I start it up and pull forward a bit more and the tachometer dips very low and the car acts as though it will stall again.

I went back in and asked to speak to the manager on duty, he comes out and I told him he owes 27K, I will take a check or cash.

He gets all wound up and tells me that he understand if I am upset and I should come back at 10AM the next morning when the GM is there.

So I go the next morning and get my self all fired up and I am just anticipating ripping someone’s head off.

The GM tells me they will replace my car with an exact copy, they search and find one 40 miles away. Since it is Saturday and there are no dealer trades on Saturdays I will need to wait till Monday or Tuesday.

BUT….the other car is brand new and the car I am getting rid of is a pre owned car (not a dealer demo but actually purchased by a employee of the dealership)

So this is why I got the deal I got, because it was pre owned, even if it only had 2800 miles on it. So since the replacement car is brand new I need to pay the balance which comes out to 4 thousand bucks. So I explain how I feel about this and as I figured, nobody really gave a crap but at least they were willing to work with me.

I will either pick up my car today after work or tomorrow.
I will let you know how that turns out.

The part that pissed me off was that the GM looks right at me and says, “well, this is odd because our mechanics drove it and it didn’t stall at all and every time you drive it the car stalls” Dude, why not just come out and call me the ******* that you think I am!
What made me laugh is when they finally agreed to make the car swap he looks at me and says “yeah I had one of our guys test drive your car and it started to stall”
SO WHO IS THE ******* NOW PAL?

 

It's ashame you feel like that and Dodge should be ashamed of letting things get shoddy. My previous car was a 1989 Dodge Daytona which was great for 16 years and is still running good. I bought another because of the style actually. I've known people in my family that have had nightmares with a lot of brands that had a great reputation. I had other cars,Pontiacs and Chevy's that lasted me for over 10 years, But I've heard people also say they're not buying American cars anymore. It's disgusting. You might as well say who ever is designing these cars is sabotaging the company and workers. They're already shutting down a couple hundred dealers nationwide, So why make it worse? Idiots

 

It's suppose to be a pleasure to buy and drive a new car, I guess it's not anymore. I hope you get everything straightened out. You have to invest in more money? Oh my God.

 

That is a horrific stroy and I am sorry. What a pain in the ***!