2020 Hyundai Venue review: A breath of small-car fresh air

There actually usually are not any undesirable brand-new vehicles anymore. Even the most inexpensive, smallest new vehicles are all really superior.

Not virtually plenty of new vehicles have a unique identity and character, while, specifically on the scaled-down, less costly conclude of the spectrum. In that regard the Hyundai Venue — and specifically this Denim edition — is a a lot-required breath of contemporary air. 

Singing the blues

The Denim edition of Hyundai’s littlest crossover is, you guessed it, encouraged by denim jeans. It only arrives in a person color, a wonderful blue identified as — wait around for it — Denim. The white roof is truly hand-painted, which implies you can’t get the Denim with a sunroof (it really is an selection on the Venue SEL). There are a range of other white accents on the exterior, too, which includes the rear badges, some trim items on the bumpers and the wheel arches.

But the true star of the demonstrate is the interior. Sure, the denim-encouraged leatherette and cloth seats have a pretty texture and a awesome striped sample, but that’s the most monotonous part. Every little thing inside of the Denim is blue, except for the parts of the dashboard and door playing cards that are a wonderful cream accent color, which is echoed in items like the distinction stitching.

What actually makes the Denim exceptional is that all of the plastic items are blue, even parts that are commonly never color-matched in other vehicles. Most other automobiles, even types with fifty percent a dozen interior color options, only use monotonous black or beige plastics. But in the Venue Denim, the window switches are blue, the seatbelt retailers are blue, the carpets are blue, the plastic encompassing the cargo location and door sills is blue — I could go on. It makes the Denim really feel distinctive, like a person large cohesive design and style alternatively of an “oh, let’s give it blue seats or a thing” afterthought. Pretty a lot only the greatest-conclude models like Rolls-Royce and Bentley do color matching to this degree, which makes it specifically shocking to come across in a car or truck as economical as the Venue. I chatted with senior design and style manager Elizabeth Curran from Hyundai’s color and elements office to master more about the Denim interior and what is coming up in the upcoming, which you can read right here.

None of this tricky plastic feels lower-good quality, both. The door panels, for occasion, seem to be to be molded from a person enormous piece of plastic, but they have a wonderful grain and the armrest is padded with stitched leatherette. All the bits that you touch the most have a wonderful tactile really feel, and knobs and switches move and simply click with fulfilling actions. The Denim also provides a leather-wrapped steering wheel and shifter, as well as a heart armrest that slides fore and aft.

Peppy, not impressive

Like the Venue’s other trims, the Denim is run by a obviously aspirated one.six-liter inline-4 generating 121 horsepower and 113 pound-toes of torque. Certain, the Venue could do with more power, but it really is light and modest plenty of that it however feels zippy all around town and never too gradual when merging on to the freeway. Though if you’re studying this, Hyundai, I wouldn’t say no to a turbocharged N design with all around 200 horsepower.

The only transmission option for the Denim is a constantly variable automatic, as the Venue’s 6-pace guide is reserved for the base SE design. It is a testament to the CVT’s competency that I failed to notice it was a CVT right until I’d presently been driving the car or truck for a couple of times. The transmission matches gear ratios with engine pace, virtually constantly keeping revs down lower to reduce engine drone and make improvements to efficiency. Like all Venues, the Denim is front-wheel-drive only.

Immediate steering action and a well-tuned suspension make the Venue really entertaining to wheel all around, and it rides astonishingly well over rougher roads, even with its 17-inch wheels and quick wheelbase. It’s going to get blown all around by powerful winds at freeway speeds and there just isn’t a whole lot of audio deadening, but the Denim’s 6-speaker audio program is truly really bangin’ to make up for road and tire noise. Above the study course of my week with the Venue I averaged a little bit over 28 miles per gallon in primarily city driving, falling quick of the EPA’s thirty-mpg city estimate.

On a couple of slushy Michigan times I did get to consider edge of the Venue’s Snow driving mode, which adjusts traction concerning the front wheels for better grip on slick surfaces. It actually does seem to be to make a apparent change, specifically with my Venue currently being shod with Nexen N Priz AH8 all-year tires and not devoted snow tires.

Loads to like

The Denim isn’t going to just carry the exceptional color plan, both. As the range-topping trim degree, it also provides numerous attributes, some of which you would only anticipate on larger-conclude automobiles. LED head- and taillights, heated front seats, navigation, proximity important, thrust-button get started, blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-targeted traffic inform are all normal machines on the Denim. (Most of that stuff is also optional on the SEL by way of a couple of offers.) 

Even the base $18,470 Venue arrives with a ton of stuff. You will find an eight-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Automobile, automatic headlights, power windows and mirrors, lane-keeping assist, a driver-attention check and automated unexpected emergency braking. The midrange SEL is $twenty,370 and provides two USB ports, automatic local weather regulate, an vehicle-up driver’s window, and Bluetooth with voice recognition.

The Denim commences at $23,one hundred seventy, virtually $five,000 more than the base SE, which may possibly seem to be like a whole lot for a car or truck as little as the Venue. Certain, you could just get a Honda Civic hatchback for $22,705, like a whole lot of my good friends advised when I brought up the Venue. Or you could get Hyundai’s have (and pretty fantastic) Kona crossover, the Venue’s larger sized brother, which is $21,420 in its base kind and is obtainable with all-wheel drive.

But there’s no other modest car or truck that has designed me smile like the Venue Denim. It is surely more characterful than immediate competitors these as the Nissan Kicks or the Ford EcoSport. It also arrives with a ton of attributes, and it has genuinely contemporary design and style particulars located virtually nowhere else in the sector. The Hyundai Venue Denim is the form of affordable modest car or truck that the world warrants more of.