Venue

Hyundai Venue information and reviews

The official factory page for the Hyundai Venue

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) awarded the Venue a Top Safety Pick.

Cars.com says that the Venue has a composed and balanced ride and is more comfortable than one would expect from its short wheelbase. They call it a "pleasant place to be" and enjoy Hyundai's excellent infotainment system and 8" screen, as well as its wide and comfortable front seats.

Then they went on to award the Venue Best Value of 2021. See all their comments here, but they said while it is a great value in that it packs in a lot of features for the money, it is also a really good car.

Make that 2 years in a row - Best Value of 2022.

Car and Driver drove the Venue in Miami and Michigan when they drove it here. When they did their instrumented testing, they learned that it is quicker in every measurement than the Nissan Kicks and Toyota CH-R. The Venue also stopped better. Apparently that quicker acceleration does cost a few mpgs when compared to those competition, however. Still, the quicker acceleration and better stopping makes for a nicer experience and it still gets pretty darn good fuel economy.

Here is Car and Driver's overview of the Hyundai Venue. They score it very well at 8 out of a possible 10. But I like how they sum up the vehicle as an awesome little urban runabout that navigates well in traffic and is easy to park. The drawback is the small 4-cylinder engine paired to a CVT transmission suffers the same thing that all of these set-ups do in that in runs out of steam trying to pass on the highway.

MotorTrend also drove the Venue in Australia and really likes it! They said that the ride is comfortable yet has minimal body lean in the corners. They praised the interior - with a nice level of amenities and Hyundai's always easy-to-use controls. And they said that the styling is great - fun to look at while also providing practical interior space. See all their comments here.

Then, just to be sure, they drove it again in Miami, this time with a US-spec version. Okay, it isn't made to go fast around corners for our market. But that's alright, because we have other vehicles that do that. But if you want a fun urban run-about, with a decent amount of interior space and an impressive level of equipment (and comfort and connectivity and fuel economy) for the price, then this might be the car for you.

MotorTrend says it might not win races but the engine and suspension are up to the task. Where it shines is in the interior, with lots of standard and available amenities. Also a stand-out is the interior and exterior design. Add all this to a safe body structure and a wide array of active safety features and MotorTrend predicts that it should be a volume seller.

AutoWeek disagreed a little with Car And Driver and MotorTrend. They say that the Venue is fun to toss around, at least as the Australians get it's suspension tuned (ours will get a little softer shock valving to handle our less-than-stellar roads). AutoWeek also points out the great visibility out of the Venue, as well as how fun its styling is.

In this article, AutoWeek wanted to highlight 5 areas that the Venue deserves some attention. Among them are its advanced powertrain, lots of safety tech and its unique look.

This article covers a lot of the ground already covered in the previous 2 AutoWeek articles, but here they put a finer point on the target audience and purpose of the Venue: a perfect urban runabout.

So, yes, given the price point there are compromises. Hard plastics are used aplenty. But, Kelly Blue Book says this little runabout is a fun drive and a good little car. Low price point cars used to be punishing, but the Venue is a nice place to be.

Savage Geese doesn't mince words on their opinions, and they have been accused of focusing on the negatives too much. That being said I think this is a fair review - the interior bits do have hard plastics, it doesn't have a ton of power, and the back seat / cargo area is small. All that being said, he sums up that he likes the way the car drives. He spoke well of the features technology and how well everything works - it is simple to use and has actual buttons to make it easier. He spoke highly of the quality of the ac controls and infotainment screen. And it gets good fuel economy and should be a long-lasting vehicle. Overall he liked it!