2023 Hyundai Venue Elite review: Now with BlueLink

The Hyundai Venue launched in Australia with a fair amount of fanfare. A city car, jacked up, with rugged boxy styling. Like your grandma’s geriatric Chihuahua, the front-drive Venue is all bark and no bite. That hasn’t stopped punters from purchasing this cute crossover though, with the i20-based Venue finding nearly 20,000 homes since its release.

As of 2023, the top-spec Elite became a little richer thanks to the introduction of Hyundai’s BlueLink telematics system (first seen on the Palisade large SUV) that’s gradually being added to the whole Hyundai range.

It was accompanied by a minor price increase (up $960 in the Elite’s case), rendering this top-spec Venue rather expensive at $28,750 before on-road costs, or about $32K once on the road. For that ask it’ll want to be a pretty sophisticated package.

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Hyundai Venue Elite: The basics

JUMP AHEAD

• How much is it, and what do you get?
• How do rivals compare on value?
• Interior comfort, space and storage
• What is it like to drive?
• How much fuel does it use?
• How safe is it?
• Warranty and running costs
• VERDICT
• Specifications

How much is it, and what do you get?

The Elite sits atop the Venue tree in Australia and starts at $28,750 before on-road costs. You’ll need to pay extra for metallic paint ($595) or look like you’re driving a hire car (as we did for the week) by paying nothing more for Atlas White duco.

Just only one engine is offered locally, a 90kW/151Nm 1.6-litre four-banger that’s nothing to shout about, and in the Elite a six-speed automatic transmission is standard.

The Elite’s 17-inch alloy wheels are identical to the cheaper Active’s, so the only way to tell the Elite apart visually is through the silver garnished grille, foglight surrounds and small painted cladding details.

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Inside you get an 8.0-inch touchscreen that’s responsive, wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, climate control with voice command, four USB ports (including three USB-C fast chargers), and a 12-volt socket.

New for 2023 is Hyundai’s ‘Supervision’ digital driver’s display – the same as on a base Tucson – replacing analogue dials. It’s clear and legible if short of being sexy.

Hyundai has also added its BlueLink telematics system to the Venue Elite. The features are included for three years and allow you to perform functions such as lock and unlock doors, wind down the windows, start the engine and engage the climate control remotely.

There’s also iCal and Google Calendar integration, emergency SOS function, geofencing, vehicle diagnostics, and finally navigation integration – you can send locations straight to the car’s navigation and it’ll help you walk the last mile to your destination with Google Maps integration – all features that are pretty stunning in what is an otherwise basic city car.

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How do rivals compare on value?

Cross-shopping small SUVs can be a minefield, especially when the sales segment of ‘light’ starts getting thrown around.

In reality, the Venue is designed to tempt current owners of Mazda 2s, Toyota Yarises, and the Hyundai Accent (that it effectively replaced) into a more chic package.

It lines up directly against the evergreen Mazda CX-3, frugal Toyota Yaris Cross, new Kia Stonic, Volkswagen T-Cross and value-oriented MG ZS. Across the various trims, each vehicle has its advantage but the Venue is the most conservatively styled, engined and trim-leveled of the bunch, save for the dreary MG ZS.

When it comes to sheer spec, the order is inverse with the ZS and Stonic both offering slightly more for less than the Venue, which in turn is more affordable than its Volkswagen and Toyota rivals.

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Interior comfort, space and storage

Front occupants are treated to manually-adjustable cloth-faced seats with black vinyl bolsters that are comfy enough for short trips but there is no way to alter the under-thigh tilt and lumbar support for long journey comfort.

Cabin storage is decent for a small SUV with modest door bins, a little centre cubby covered by a sparsely padded armrest, a wireless phone charger ahead of the leather-appointed gear shifter, and two cup holders next to the manual handbrake.

Plastic quality is notoriously low in the Venue and it’s most evident in the deformable dash. Although this makes the car feel extra tinny, the truth is that the Venue's rivals have a similar level of hard plastic in the cabin. However, the Yaris Cross and Stonic seem to disguise it a little better.

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The touchscreen is high contrast and pretty responsive – certainly more so than the MG ZS’s laggy screen.

We would appreciate nicer upholstery and flourishes beyond white air vent surrounds in a range-topper too, but at least the Venue’s control layout is simple to use. The touchscreen is high contrast and pretty responsive – certainly more so than the MG ZS’s laggy screen.

The Venue’s back seat is more than adequate. This range-topper gets two USB-C fast-charging points back there and legroom will be decent provided all occupants are under 188cm tall. Four can fit in the Venue pretty easily, but five won’t be comfortable.

Cargo capacity is also generous, with Hyundai listing 355L of VDA space. That’s plenty for the weekly shop and enough for a weekend away with up to four people, providing none packs Paris Hilton-heavy.

In the boot is an LED light, a space-saver spare beneath the floor and some incidental storage, but it’s no Skoda Kamiq when it comes to practicalities. The tailgate is manually operated and that’s just fine because it seems to be made of old Jaffa Cake packaging.

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What is it like to drive?

With humble underpinnings, MacPherson struts up front and a torsion beam out back, the Venue is an unremarkable car to drive.

That 1.6-litre engine motivates the small SUV just fine as long as you don’t ask too much of it.

It’s really the recalcitrant six-speed automatic that hobbles progress in the Venue. It’s easy to catch it napping when you need to squirt into a gap in traffic, as the Venue's 'box preferences the highest gear it can get away with like an Uber driver maximising their profits.

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A trip up to Newcastle didn’t flatter the Venue, its powertrain struggling to hold the posted speed limit in top gear up the M1’s steep gradients.

The auto kicks down to fourth or even third to keep pace with traffic, and the din of the engine and road noise mean the Venue isn’t a cossetting mile muncher.

It doesn’t help that the Venue’s torque peak is all the way up at 4850rpm. For reference, its closest rival – the Mazda CX-3 – reaches its 195Nm torque peak right down at 2800rpm.

A drive mode selector is mounted rear of the gear selector and switching to Sport perks up the transmission while adding weight to the steering – it works well enough. Optimistically, there are also off-road modes including Mud, Snow, and Sand – none of which do much for a front-drive SUV with 170mm of ground clearance.

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Limited to urban and suburban use, the Venue’s pert 2.7-turn lock-to-lock steering makes it feel agile and threadable.

It’s no hot SUV, but it isn’t a bad car to zip about in and the steering weight is pleasing. At 4040mm long, with rear parking sensors and that decidedly un-coupe glasshouse, the Venue is an easy SUV to park.

Ride quality is fine and the Venue’s relatively light 1225kg kerb weight helps keep it fleet-footed over bumps. Occasionally the rear torsion beam does transmit vertical hits into the cabin with a thump, though the soft-sidewalled 205/55 R17 Nexen N Fera tyres do a reasonable job of repressing harsh expansion joints.

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How much fuel does it use?

Given its light weight and low power, the Venue should be a frugal machine. After all, a Toyota Corolla or i30 with a more powerful 2.0-litre atmo engine gets 6.0L/100km on the ADR combined cycle.

Sadly, the Venue rates at 7.2L/100km in official testing – we managed 7.3L/100km in pretty favourable open-road conditions. It’s a long way off what a hybrid or downsized turbo rival would do.

At least fuelling will be cheap as the Hyundai Venue will accept 91 RON and E10 blends at the bowser.

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How safe is it?

The Hyundai Venue received four stars in its 2019 ANCAP safety test. It was deducted a star due to its camera-based auto emergency braking (AEB) lacking cyclist and night-time pedestrian detection capability.

Being the range-topper, the Elite gets all the driver assistance features Hyundai is able to build into this platform (as detailed below) and while rear cross-traffic alert and blind-spot monitoring work very well, the lane-keep assist can be annoying for experienced drivers. However, a new or less experienced driver may well appreciate the added help lane-keep assist provides.

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Warranty and running costs

The Hyundai Venue is covered by a five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty.

Servicing is due annually or every 15,000km and will cost you $1575 for five years or 75,000km of driving (whichever comes first), averaging out at $315 annually in maintenance costs. Three years or 45,000km costs $857, and four years $1316.

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VERDICT

An irrational decision is no bad thing. We make them all the time. They usually lead to a more fulfilling result, or at the very least an interesting story.

It’s hard to see the Venue as a decision irrational enough to recommend making purely for stories though – it’s not as quirky and unique as, say, a Citroen C4 or Jeep Compass. Flawed cars no doubt, but ones that can be deeply charming to the right buyer.

The addition of BlueLink and the digital driver’s display are welcome upgrades for the Venue, but it still isn’t going to set sales charts alight.

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A more rational decision is to swing by a Kia dealership and pick up an equally well-packaged Rio for less cash, or even step into a bigger and more powerful i30 hatch for about the same money.

If you’re sold on the Venue’s looks and don’t mind its entirely adequate drive then we’d recommend saving a little bit of cash and going for the mid-spec Active in a more exciting colour such as Ultimate Red or The Denim. Lack of excellent BlueLink features aside, the Active is a great trim level for a city car.

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