The 2021 Venue oozes charm, but its small engine needs to work hard on the highway.
Luxury sedans 50 000 pickup trucks hundred thousand dollar cadillac escalades what is the world of car videos coming to and when are we finally going to hear about the affordable cars for the common man if those are the words you find yourself saying as you lie awake at night well then today is your lucky day because this is the 2021 hyundai venue and it doesn’t
Get any more common man than this the starting price is only eighteen thousand seven hundred fifty dollars and are as tested trim twenty three thousand four hundred eighty dollars for a brand new car whether or not this car keeps you up at night you definitely wanna subscribe to the cargurus youtube channel because we have videos on cars like the venue and on
Cars not like the venue i have been enamored with this car since it debuted ahead of the 2020 model year it’s just so charming with its short wheelbase and its upright stance sometimes a car arrives on the scene and i think holy smokes that is a good looking car but then 10 or 15 years pass and we start to look back and say maybe that was not a good looking
Car for instance it’s a fool’s errand to try and predict tomorrow’s fads but as some of you have pointed out i am a fool and i think this car is going to age beautifully agree disagree come on let us know that’s what the comments are for the grill catches your attention but not in an ostentatious or overbearing way it’s properly sized and nicely decorated
With this grid pattern design made up of little individual crosses the headlights are busier hyundai split them in two with the turn signals positioned up here above the projectors walking down the side the blacked-out a-pillar does a nice job of dressing the venue up a notch and the wheels are a bit much for me but i like that these roof rails kind of sell it
As something that’s more than just a regular hatchback but the real showstopper it’s the venue’s length for a vehicle masquerading as a crossover this thing is impossibly short 159.1 inches long with a wheelbase under 100. the venue fits everywhere at the back unlike pretty much any other automaker hyundai has made the bold and courageous decision to spell out
The venue’s name in wide space letters a design that i have never seen on any other car ever but look they’re painted white i like that the tail lights are funky split between this triangle for the turn signals and these diagonal elements for brake lights this car is less expensive than its contemporaries but i think it actually looks better than cars that
Cost 10 000 more but as they say looks can be deceiving and when you sit inside the hyundai venue its sub 20 000 price tag starts to become apparent now first the good stuff there’s a bit of storage ahead of the gear selector and there’s this little shelf ahead of the front passenger i like the two-tone look in here and the venue’s shape allows for a lot of
Light to get inside the cabin our car has an optional sunroof although it is a very basic affair i mean look at this the mechanicals all greased up are visible for everyone to see the center console doesn’t offer much in way of space and the cup holders are basic plastic bins with nothing to secure your drink i’ve lived with these and eventually you are going
To make a mess now in regards to the interior materials let’s just say if the future is plastics then the future is now listen it’s easy to criticize a car for having a plastic heavy interior but doing so with the venue ignores the context of this car and the context is that this car is cheap it’s meant to be cheap it’s less than twenty thousand dollars and
Considering that price tag it’s really not that bad hyundai says that the venue is a crossover but from behind the wheel you would have no idea the driver has a seat height adjuster but the passenger is on the floor and not going anywhere wind noise is ever present but that’s par for the course with cars the size of the venue what’s more concerning is the lack
Of insulation protecting from any vibration or harshness with my left foot on the floor i can literally feel the engine vibrating and that’s something that should be resolved just by putting one of those simple plastic foot rests under the left foot the venue is slow too 121 horsepower and 113 pound-feet of torque managed by a continuously variable transmission
Just doesn’t equate to a confident drive making matters worse the 1.6 liter four-cylinder engine under the hood isn’t turbocharged so the max torque figure doesn’t arrive until you hit 4500 rpm and if you want a manual transmission you’ll have to shop for a 2020 venue because hyundai for 2021 has discontinued the sc trim standard six-speed stick to which i say
Boo but on the bright side the venue is almost impossibly light coming in at just about 2 600 pounds thank goodness for that because it allows the venue to feel somewhat sprightly on city streets the lightweight also works to diminish a lot of the negative aspects of the venue’s simple and rudimentary torsion beam rear suspension setup the venue leans a bit in
Corners but its steering is light and accurate just don’t expect peace and quiet when you’re driving on the highway now the venue’s primary competitor is probably the nissan kicks which has nearly identical power output figures is also front wheel drive employs a cvt and even comes close to matching the venue’s fashion forward design and style yet the kicks is
Slightly larger in just about every dimension it weighs 100 pounds more but it gets better fuel economy especially on the highway so if your primary concern is maximizing miles per gallon then you owe it to yourself to consider the kicks as well from a technology standpoint the venue rocks dials redundant buttons it’s easy to use the eight inch touchscreen is
Standard with apple carplay and android auto upgrade to the sel like our car and you can get navigation and you can get satellite radio both of which come standard on the denim trim interestingly the base system should be getting wireless apple carplay at some point in the future but hyundai says that won’t be available on the upgraded system bizarre a six-speaker
Stereo is enough for a car this small but i would imagine that the base four speaker system sounds probably pretty uninspiring and one detail that i really like is this tube amp style display for the radio bravo to hyundai for that little design nugget i also really like that you can set various profiles for different drivers so you don’t have to worry about
Somebody coming in and changing all of your radio presets every time you hand them the keys the safety tech included on the venue especially on the sel and denim trims is even more impressive automatic emergency braking standard pedestrian detection standard blind spot monitoring lane keeping assist standard and standard and those advanced tech features are
Appreciated because the venue falls just short of a perfect score in the nhtsa’s crash tests 4 out of 5 stars for driver and passenger in front collision 4 out of 5 for rollover in the rear things seem a bit safer the venue scores 5 stars in front and rear side crash protection but in terms of comfort the rear seat of the venue does leave a bit to be desired
Legroom comes up short i mean what did you expect and the trunk manages just 18.7 cubic feet it is a tiny car so just pack appropriately the hyundai venue starts at 18 750 and when it comes to interior quality or engine output or cargo space or rear seat legroom that’s really all you need to know eighteen thousand seven hundred fifty dollars now every week i
Get to drive a different car and many of them cost twice as much or three or even four times as much as this one and when that’s the case it is easy to criticize things like plastic dashboards and tiny engines but in truth the hyundai venue gives you a lot more for the money than many other cars on the market this car starts at lower price than the ford ecosport
And a much lower price than the toyota chr neither of which i would recommend over this one plus this car’s value proposition only gets stronger as you climb the trim ladder our sel test trim starts at 19 800 and i’m truly astounded by what that amount of money can buy you my one caveat is that our car’s premium package which hilariously costs more than 10 of
The final sales price at 2 350 bucks it includes a lot of features that i’d like to see marked as standard equipment but even with that added cost this venue is a steal thank you for watching we’d love to hear from you in the comments section and if you enjoyed this video be sure to throw us a like and subscribe to the cargurus youtube channel we’ll see you next time you
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2021 Hyundai Venue Review: OMG, it's adorable! | CarGurus By CarGurus
