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Front air splitter is on the busy side, but the rest of the bodywork spruces up what is typically a boring-looking Avenger.
Photo courtesy of Chrysler LLC
Overall stance is low and tight, with big wheels that fill up the wheel arches completely.
Photo courtesy of Chrysler LLC
Well, at least the exhaust tips are nearly integrated; as for the rest of this Avenger, it's not exactly growing on us.
Photo courtesy of Chrysler LLC
Vast expanses of white plastic should bring back fond memories of action figures put into storage many decades ago.
Photo courtesy of Chrysler LLC

Dodge Avenger Tuner — Stormtrooper

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What is it?
Dodge Avenger Tuner — Stormtrooper

What's special about it?
Designer Scott Anderson considers himself a Star Wars geek. His pearl-white take on Dodge's midsize sedan is designed as a sophisticated tuner car for somebody who's beyond the boy-racer look but still wants something fast.

Inspired, as Chrysler says, by "the technical yet organic nature of the Stormtrooper costumes," Anderson has redrawn the standard Avenger's somewhat dowdy shape with sharply sculpted front and rear fascias, road-hugging side skirts and a cleanly integrated deck lid spoiler. The new parts and the monochromatic color scheme give the Stormtrooper a long, low and altogether attractive look. And BMW-style glowing halo rings around new xenon headlamps provide a nice finish.

Under the hood, Anderson started with the 4.0-liter V6 from the Nitro and added a custom AEM air intake and a full catback exhaust from Borla. Rated at 260 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque, the engine drives all four wheels through a six-speed automatic with both a center-console lever and shift paddles behind the steering wheel. A coil-over suspension from KW lowers the ride height by 1.5 inches, and 20-inch forged-aluminum wheels from Alcoa (white, of course) wear 245mm-wide Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 tires. The brakes are StopTech discs all around, with six-piston calipers up front and four pistons in the rear.

Inside, things get a whole lot more dramatic, with a quartet of the hugely bolstered bucket seats from the Dodge Charger SRT8, wrapped — like practically everything else in here — in white-and-black faux suede with red accents. A pair of mobile PCs — one in the dash and one in the rear-seat center console — allows occupants to tweak engine performance, download technical service bulletins, play video games and even chat on the Internet.

What's Edmunds' take?
Most of the Stormtrooper concept is pure Hollywood, but some of designer Anderson's visual tweaks are quite compelling. Don't be surprised to see a little Stormtrooper style creep into the Avenger R/T one of these days. — Matt Phenix, Contributor