Hyundai's New Venue SUV Offers Surprising Space in a Small Package
The most surprising thing about Hyundai’s all-new 2020 Venue subcompact SUV is how accommodating its cabin is regardless of whether you’re in the front or rear seats. For a vehicle that’s around 5 inches shorter and an inch narrower than the Kona, Hyundai’s other subcompact SUV, the level of comfort the Venue offers adult occupants is impressive.
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From the front, the Venue looks like a scaled-down version of the brand’s large three-row SUV, the Palisade. The Venue has a boxier appearance than the Kona, but like that SUV it offers a contrasting-color roof, a design cue we’ve also seen on models like the Toyota C-HR, one of the Venue’s key competitors.
The Venue’s boxy shape pays dividends in the cabin as front-seat occupants enjoy good headroom. The roof pillars aren’t too big, either, so forward views are good.
The SUV’s entry-level positioning, however, is apparent in its cabin materials; they’re mostly hard plastics accompanied by a very basic design when you move to the second row. The Venue on the show floor was clearly an early build and production versions will likely be a bit more polished, but I’d be surprised if interior materials were much different.
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The space-efficiency story continues in the cargo area, which is a sizable 18.7 cubic feet behind the second row and includes a height-adjustable cargo floor — the CH-R has 19 cubic feet and the Kicks 25.3 cubic feet.
The Venue is part of a growing class of pseudo-SUVs that include models like the C-HR and Nissan Kicks, to name two. In another era these higher-riding, front-wheel-drive vehicles would have gone by another name — hatchbacks — but these days SUVs rule, and the Venue looks like it’s positioned to rule its corner of the SUV world.
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