Hillman Avenger Reviews

The car was a complete piece of crap from the word go. The twin carbs were always out of tune, and were running too rich; it made it smell like a petrol refinery. The handling was really terrible.

I got sick of the strong petrol smell and out of tune carbs, and fitted it with a single carb.

The manifold didn't fit right, and made it sound like a tractor.

It didn't decrease the fuel consumption. After four months of crawling around town, the car died, and I sold it for $50.00 NZ to a car dealer. I celebrated.

The car was originally fitted with a vinyl roof, which was rotten. I pulled it off and repainted the car, which made it look a bigger piece of crap.

The performance was particularly bad; 0 to 60 in two minutes

This one has been very reliable, since it has an alternator rather than the unreliable dynamo. But, of all things, the alternator did fail and was easily and cheaply replaced. I've had Avengers in the past too, they are fairly strong.

Had a dirty fuel line problem, caused the car to stop after being driven over 60mph for a while. Had fuel line from tank replaced and fuel tank cleaned out.

Needed a new steering rack when I first bought it, wasn't expensive.

Probably better than most of the cars of its time, such as Viva, Marina, Minor, MK2 Cortina. Certainly handled much better than any of them. Only competition would have been from Escort, but that is significantly smaller and less of a family car. Avenger boot is capacious.

Rust is bound to be an issue with a 31 year old car, but it is often just wheel arches and wings which can be replaced. If floor pans get rusty then it is more expensive to put right.

Now a collectors' item, but less obvious than all the Minors, Beetles and Minis that seem to make up most of the classics from the era. Even so, a good following these days.