SE 4dr Front-Wheel Drive
2021 Hyundai Venue

The operative word when it comes to the 2021 Hyundai Venue is small. It’s only 159 inches in length. Not only is that smaller than subcompact crossovers like Hyundai's Kona, but subcompact sedans and hatchbacks, too. It's over a foot shorter than the diminutive Accent sedan, which has historically been the tiniest, cheapest Hyundai in the United States. It’s also an inch shorter than the related Kia Rio hatchback and more than 2 inches shorter than the discontinued Honda Fit. Yet, by some strange miracle, Hyundai has made the Venue’s interior a livable space. Thank the crossover body shape for much of this. The Venue is an upright and sharply-styled little thing, but those good looks means that it has excellent head space for taller folks. There’s no swooping roofline with coupe-esque styling. Nope, just a vaulted ceiling that helps make this tiny car feel a lot bigger than it is. What’s the penalty for making a “big” tiny car? Neither the Venue or Accent are particularly exciting to drive, so does the Accent even have a reason for being anymore? It does, if you care about fuel economy. That spacious headspace comes with the trade-off of losing 5 mpg combined versus an Accent, and the penalty climbs to 8 mpg on the highway (41 mpg vs. 33 mpg). Is the extra space worth an extra $200/year in fuel costs? That’s for you to decide. Rear legroom is more limited than headroom at just 34.3 inches, but it’s easy to get in and out, and complaining too much at this price point is difficult to justify. Where the crossover advantages really start to make the difference is in cargo space. You can throw the rear seats down and uncover a cave of space that maxes out at 31.9 cubic-feet (or 18.7 cubes with the seats up). I stuck four wheels and tires back there without issue, and the low, flat loading floor made it supremely easy to get heavy items in and out. There’s even a spare tire under the floor, which is a real luxury these days. As for interior luxuries in general, the Venue is a mixed bag. You get the all-important 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto — it even has Hyundai’s soothing Sounds of Nature program built into it. Hopping up to the SEL trim (as my test car was), you get single-zone automatic climate control, a nice leather-wrapped steering wheel and gear lever, striped seat fabric (heated seats are optional), plus a pair of USB outlets for charging. The center stack is laid out with big buttons and knobs for easy use, and there’s a big storage compartment ahead of the gear lever that is perfect to hold your phone and accompanying wires. It’s not a wireless charging pad, but that’s a missing feature we can forgive. Hyundai designed it with a relatively short dash for more cabin space, but that also helps forward visibility. The dash itself is textured plastic, …
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