2025 Jeep Avenger Summit review
01/12/2025 06:08 PM
Jeep now counts itself as part of the electric revolution with the all-new Avenger. But was it worth the effort? Tom Fraser finds out.
2025 Jeep Avenger Summit
When you think of Jeep, it usually conjures up a picture of a hardcore off-road-capable 4×4. The brand's first-ever electric vehicle is anything but that.
The brand-new 2025 Jeep Avenger has launched in Australia as a city-sized, electric-powered light SUV designed to tackle the wilds of the suburban sprawl, rather than the harsh Rubicon trail in the United States.
An all-electric vehicle is a big milestone for the brand, which is beginning to offer more hybrid variants of its vehicles. But the introduction of a full-electric vehicle is a hallmark moment in any car maker's plans, and Jeep is making a big deal of the Avenger's introduction.
While this newcomer might have been trained around town, the brand has been smart enough to include key Jeep attributes that set it apart from its electric competitors.
It's front-wheel drive only, and overseas the brand also offers petrol-powered variants of the Avenger. Though there are no current plans to introduce the petrol Avenger in Australia, the brand hasn’t ruled it out either.
We've picked up a top-spec version of the new Jeep Avenger to see how it fares over the course of a week.
How much is a Jeep Avenger?
There are three model grades in the new 2025 Jeep Avenger line-up. All are powered by a 115kW/260Nm motor that sends drive to the front wheels, which draws power from a 54kWh battery pack.
However, they differ in terms of specification and equipment.
The range kicks off from $49,990 plus on-road costs after the price was reduced by $3000 to $4000 across the range ahead of its Australian launch. The car I checked out was the range-topping Jeep Avenger Summit that's priced at $60,990 before on-road costs.
Standard equipment that every grade gets includes a 10.25-inch infotainment screen running Apple CarPlay and Android Auto capability, push-button start, a rear-view camera and sensors, reflector-beam LED headlights, and fabric seats.
But the flagship Summit gets larger 18-inch alloy wheels, leather-accented seats, a power-adjustable driver's seat, heated front seats, sunroof, and LED tail-lights.
You can pick a Summit version visually by its contrasting black roof, privacy tint, and gloss black grille.
According to the brand, the Avenger will run 390km before needing a recharge. Jeep says the 54kWh battery takes 24 minutes to recharge from 20 to 80 per cent at a maximum DC charge rate of 100kW.
Jeep also said that the Avenger doesn't traditionally compete with entry-level brands, but it faces some tough competition from newcomer rivals such as the top-spec BYD Atto 3 ($47,499), while the flagship Chery Omoda E5 costs $45,990. Even the Leapmotor C10 – a larger SUV from a joint venture between a Chinese brand and Jeep's parent company Stellantis – is priced from $45,888 to $49,888 (all before on-road costs).
It also faces competition from more popular nameplates, such as the entry-level Tesla Model Y ($55,900).
For those who care about the Avenger's Jeep-ness, note that it has a 200mm ground clearance, 20-degree approach angle, 20-degree break-over angle, and a 32-degree departure angle.
MORE: 2025 Jeep Avenger price and specifications
Key details | 2025 Jeep AvengerSummit |
Price | $60,990 plus on-road costs |
Colour of test car | Snow |
Options | Premium paint – $990 |
Price as tested | $61,980 plus on-road costs |
Drive-away price | $68,607 (Melbourne) |
Rivals | Hyundai Kona Electric | Renault Megane E-Tech | Smart #1 |
How big is a Jeep Avenger?
Interior-wise, the Avenger's design catches the eye with nice-sized 10.25-inch screens and a cabin-wide coloured dash panel. There's also coloured ambient lighting to amp up the space's appeal.
The two screens utilise a new Jeep Uconnect infotainment software – different to the older Uconnect system – which has the capability to connect to your phone in order to update the owner about range information, provide vehicle status, and can even remotely lock and unlock the vehicle.
Thankfully, there are still physical controls for things like volume and temperature controls – which we love.
Small SUV bodies make interior comfort and storage a tricky prospect. Jeep has availed 26 litres of interior storage space thanks to cubbies like a deep glove box, a lidded centre console tray, and a centre console bin.
It's adaptable too, which means the cupholder tray doesn't have to function like a cupholder if you don't need it to.
It's abundantly clear that Jeep has put serious thought into how passengers are going to store their items inside the Avenger.
Unfortunately, the brand hasn't been as magical in terms of ergonomics and overall passenger space. There's very little foot room in the front passenger seat – due to a shallow bulkhead – and side-to-side room is limited.
In the top-grade model there's electric seat adjustment, but the passenger has manual controls. It's not easy to get a comfortable position, although while it's a limited space for the occupants' bodies, the head room is adequate.
While it's not exactly a premium-feeling interior, the Jeep Avenger has nice enough materials used on the door panels, dashboard, and seats. You can see obvious parts that have been pinched from Peugeot (another brand owned by Jeep’s parent company), such as the parking brake and drive mode switchgear, but the presentation is good on the whole.
It's nice when you spot one of the Easter eggs Jeep has included as part of the car. There's a young boy with a telescope eyeing off a starry arrangement on the windscreen border, while there are seven-bar Jeep grille emblems found on the alloy wheels and another on the lower bumper intake. Look closely and you’ll find ladybirds, mountain ranges, a compass with coordinates that point to Turin (where the Avenger was designed), and more.
The second-row space is very cramped – especially if you're at or approaching six-feet tall (183cm). My legs were splayed sideways when trying to sneak behind my own driving position.
It would have been nice if the doors opened wider for such a tight second-row space, because the tight aperture you squeeze through doesn't make it easy.
However, head room and leg room were good. It was annoying to have the rear headrests stuck in my back when they were down. I wish Jeep was able to find a way of stowing them on top of the backrests.
There are no air vents, no cupholders, and no obvious storage spaces in the second row – only map pockets.
Boot space is quoted at 355L according to Jeep. That's pretty impressive for such a small vehicle. I love that it has a false floor, meaning that you can hide items like the charging cable underneath and then use the boot for shopping, for example.
There's a 60/40-fold mechanism for the rear seats to extract more stowage space.
2025 Jeep AvengerSummit | |
Seats | Five |
Boot volume | 355L seats up |
Length | 4084mm |
Width | 1797mm |
Height | 1534mm |
Wheelbase | 2557mm |
Does the Jeep Avenger have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto?
The infotainment and digital driver's cluster is controlled through twin 10.25-inch screens, the former being touch-enabled.
I liked the big blocky icons on the infotainment's main menu – it made it simple to skip between functions quickly. It's also fairly quick to respond to touch inputs.
There are two buttons beneath the screen that take you back to the home screen or the ADAS settings – a nice feature that means you can easily switch between wireless smartphone mirroring and the native software.
It comes with integrated satellite navigation and FM/AM/DAB+ digital radio.
I do also like the fact that Jeep has retained physical buttons for the climate settings, below the main infotainment screen.
The driver's cluster contains all the information you need, and there are few ways to configure the display with varying graphics and information.
The integrated six-speaker sound system is good quality for an unbranded unit. Jeep has included a smartphone application that enables owners to check on their cars when they're away.
Is the Jeep Avenger a safe car?
The Jeep Avenger has not yet been rated by ANCAP for local consumption.
However, the model was by ANCAP's European equivalent, Euro NCAP, earlier this year. It received a three-star rating.
We hope to see the car rated by ANCAP in the near future.
2025 Jeep Avenger Summit | |
ANCAP rating | Unrated |
What safety technology does the Jeep Avenger have?
The Jeep Avenger comes with an array of active safety measures that help prevent crashes – but it's not the best-equipped electric vehicle (or even small SUV) out there.
It misses out on rear cross-traffic alert and doesn't have blind-spot lane-change intervention.
However, the included measures worked well in my time with the car. The adaptive cruise control was reactive to slowing vehicles ahead, and the lane-centring ensured the little body was squarely in the freeway lane markings all the time.
There were no false reactions from the autonomous emergency braking system, and the included reverse camera is a high-enough quality to see detail in the dark.
Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) | Yes | Includes pedestrian, cyclist detection |
Adaptive Cruise Control | Yes | Includes stop-and-go |
Blind Spot Alert | Yes | Alert only |
Rear Cross-Traffic Alert | No | |
Lane Assistance | Yes | Lane-departure warning and lane-keep assist (all) Lane-centring assist (Limited and Summit) |
Road Sign Recognition | Yes | Includes speed limit assist |
Driver Attention Warning | Yes | Includes drowsiness reminder |
Cameras & Sensors | Yes | Rear sensors, rear camera (all) Front and side sensors (Limited and Summit) |
How much does the Jeep Avenger cost to run?
Jeep's first electric vehicle is covered by the same five-year/100,000km warranty that services its combustion-engined cars. Unfortunately, there's an odometer limit on that arrangement, whereas most rivals have unlimited-kilometre warranties.
It gets a more common coverage term for the high-voltage 54kWh battery – eight years or 160,000km.
Jeep generously provides a lifetime roadside assistance program if the vehicle is continually serviced within the network.
Servicing should take place every 12 months or 12,500km, according to the car maker.
Pricing comes to $750 over three visits of scheduled capped-price maintenance, or $1250 over five visits. This is cheaper than its rivals, such as the BYD Atto 3 ($1628 over five years) or the Peugeot e-2008 ($1546 over five years).
A year of comprehensive insurance coverage with a leading provider is quoted as $2213 for an Avenger Summit, based on a comparative quote for a 35-year-old male living in Chatswood, NSW. Insurance estimates may vary based on your location, driving history, and personal circumstances.
For context, the same insurer and quote parameters return $2611 for a Hyundai Kona Electric and $1956 for a BYD Atto 3 Extended.
At a glance | 2025 Jeep AvengerSummit |
Warranty | Five years, 100,000km |
Battery warranty | Eight years, 160,000km |
Service intervals | 12 months or 12,500km |
Servicing costs | $750 (3 years) $1250 (5 years) |
What is the range of a Jeep Avenger?
By Jeep's count, the Avenger Summit (with its 18-inch wheels) should have 390km of driving range before requiring a recharge for its 54kWh battery.
The Avenger Summit is also claimed to consume 15.8kWh per 100 kilometres on a mixed driving cycle.
The car can charge at up to 100kW on a DC fast charger, or up to 11kW AC charging in the Summit.
In terms of how those claims equated in the real world, I saw 400km on the indicated maximum driving range at 99 per cent charge capacity. That doesn't mean much, it's all an estimate, but the real-world efficiency of 15.8kWh/100km was accurate to the claim.
It's not the most efficient electric vehicle on the market, but the Jeep Avenger does use its energy wisely and does come close to the claimed driving range.
Energy efficiency | 2025 Jeep AvengerSummit |
Energy cons. (claimed) | 15.8kWh/100km |
Energy cons. (on test) | 15.8kWh/100km |
Battery size | 54kWh gross (51kWh useable) |
Driving range claim (WLTP) | 390km |
Charge time (11kW) | 5h 34min (claimed 0–100%) |
Charge time (50kW) | 43min (estimated 10–80%) |
Charge time (100kW max rate) | 24min (claimed 20–80%) |
What is the Jeep Avenger like to drive?
It takes an awkwardly long time to prod the Avenger's start button into life, and I wasn't a huge fan of the PRND buttons for changing direction. It'll take some time to get used to, so that you can execute quick three-point turns or reverse park on a busy street.
But the Jeep's single electric motor on the front axle provides plenty of shove for getting up to speed, and the car is responsive to sudden throttle inputs. Only 115kW/260Nm is sent to the wheels, but this is a relatively light electric vehicle tipping the scales at 1520kg.
There are drive modes that the drive can cycle between using a rocker switch down on the centre console. Switching between Eco, Normal, Sport – there's very little that changes in terms of car feel. Sport does produce a bit more punch, by way of having the full 115kW available all the time, but there's no real need to change between the driving modes.
It’s unlikely we'll see many Jeep Avengers off-road, but the car surprisingly comes with hill descent control, off-road modes, underbody protection, and 200mm of ground clearance.
In my time with the car, I noted the indicator has an odd, metronomic click-boom sound that you almost want to produce into a bassy backing track for the next big rap song.
The steering is unnervingly light and receives minimal feedback as you turn the wheel. It doesn't feel connected to what the front wheels are doing and it's also not as quick as you'd like for a small car.
Sport mode does weight up the system, but it's a pain to turn that mode on every time you jump back in the car.
Likewise, the brake pedal feel isn’t confidence-inducing. Put it down to the odd handover between regular friction braking and brake regeneration, the resulting experience means you have to press far further than you anticipate in order to extract real stopping power.
Many electric cars these days come with a one-pedal drive mode that slows the car as soon as you release the throttle. Although the Avenger doesn't come with that feature, there is a 'B' mode that recuperates the kinetic energy from the brakes and recycles it for the battery. This also gives a firmer brake regeneration feel as you come off the throttle.
I spent a lot of the time driving on Melbourne's freeways in the Jeep Avenger and it handles high-speed undulations well. It doesn't get bullied by bumps in the bitumen and the body isn't thrown about within its lane.
More imperfections are felt at suburban speeds – the Avenger jostles over small cracks in the road and doesn't like cobblestones – however, the noise suppression inside the cabin is largely impressive.
The body control is well managed around twisty bends and it can be a fun thing to flick through a corner, but it's the steering that lets the Avenger down in the sporty stakes.
Key details | 2025 Jeep AvengerSummit |
Engine | Single electric motor |
Power | 115kW |
Torque | 260Nm |
Drive type | Front-wheel drive |
Transmission | Single-speed |
Power-to-weight ratio | 75.7kW/t |
Weight (tare) | 1520kg |
Spare tyre type | Tyre repair kit |
Payload | 495kg |
Tow rating | Not rated to tow |
Turning circle | 10.5m |
Can a Jeep Avenger tow?
The Jeep Avenger is not rated to tow, unlike its bigger stablemates in the Jeep showrooms.
It has a quoted payload of 495kg – enough for five passengers, or four adults plus luggage.
Should I buy a Jeep Avenger?
The Jeep Avenger is a step forward for the brand. It can now count itself part of the electric revolution and it does so with a fair first effort.
But it's not a strong step. Jeep could have played further into its wheelhouse by introducing more off-road aspects to the Avenger as a point of difference, but the Avenger simply borrows Jeep styling and little more.
As such, it feels like any other electric vehicle. And when you're paying over $65,000 drive-away for such a prospect, there are better options out there for less money.
I like that there are cute design details throughout, but it's a shame to see hard plastics all over the front row of the interior and such a small rear-seat space.
The driving experience is enjoyable on the whole, but certain aspects such as the steering let the car down.
You'd have to really want a Jeep electric vehicle for this Avenger to make sense.
How do I buy a Jeep Avenger? The next steps.
The Jeep Avenger experience is probably best with the entry-level variants. Although I haven't had the chance to drive them, they offer better value for money than the Avenger Summit range-topper.
Jeep only recently launched the Avenger electric SUV and doesn't have any delays impacting deliveries. Speak to a Jeep dealer to ascertain stock levels.
The next step on the purchase journey is to contact your nearest Jeep dealer to confirm stock near you. You can also find Jeeps for sale at Drive Marketplace.
We would recommend test-driving the Avenger before committing – as well as exploring key alternatives, such as the Hyundai Kona Electric, Smart #1, MG 4 and even the Tesla Model 3 or Model Y, as they are all good electric cars that could better fit your requirements.
If you want to stay updated with everything that’s happened to this car since our review, you’ll find all the latest news here.
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