Bought a Venue facelift as my first car: Pros & cons after 10 days

I was leaning towards the Maruti Brezza due to its more reliable automatic transmission but eventually decided to go ahead with the Hyundai.

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Hi all,

I took delivery of my Venue SX (O) DCT ~10 days ago and have been satisfied with the experience till now. I have used the car for a total of 350 km till now incl. one 250 km long drive.

As background, I had booked both the new Brezza ZXi+ AT (on day 1 of pre-booking) and pre-facelift Venue SX+ DCT (during the end of Feb 2022).

I was leaning towards the Brezza due to its more reliable AT transmission, better fuel efficiency, better safety rating and more SUV-ish looks. Points in favour of Venue were better fit and finish, more powerful engine and smoother DCT transmission. Price difference of ~1.5L between the two cars was not too important a consideration. Other cars considered were Magnite, Kiger, Sonet, XUV 300 and Nexon. XUV 300 and Nexon were out of contention as they only have an AMT option, Magnite and Kiger were dismissed due to cheap build quality and we preferred the Venue over the Sonet due to Hyundai brand and service network.

Anyway, long story short, the facelift Venue SX(O) DCT was available for delivery suddenly one day and I consulted with my father and wife and the decision was made in 15 mins to take delivery of the Venue. This is my 1st car (my father has owned 5 different cars since the early 90s - Premier Padmini, Santro, WagonR, Tavera and i10 Automatic) and despite being in my early 30s, I am a newbie driver.

Coming to the new Venue, the pros and cons that I found during my 10 days of ownership are listed below. Hope they are useful for anyone who is considering buying this car.

Pros

• Top class fit and finish, as is usual for a Hyundai.
• The DCT transmission is a joy to drive and gearshifts are imperceptible.
• Drive modes provided do make a difference, with Eco being the best for bumper-to-bumper city driving IMO, as it dulls the throttle response and the car is very measured when starting off the blocks.
• Front seats (4-way electric adjustment for the driver) are quite comfy - I am 6'2" and quite hefty and I found the driver seat to be very comfortable. Only gripe is that lower back cushioning could have been better.
• Engine has enough grunt to quickly hit triple-digit speeds on the highway.
• Car now gets rear defogger and wiper which the SX+ DCT version earlier missed out on.
• Rear camera is good and gets the job done.
• Suspension is quite good and even the potholed Bangalore roads are dealt with ease. Apparently, the suspension has been improved from the outgoing Venue.
• Rear knee room has definitely improved from the old Venue due to the scooped-out front seats (also no mild hybrid battery underneath the front passenger seat unlike the Brezza, which cuts down on rear legroom as you can't tuck your feet under the front seat if you are seated at the rear).
• NVH levels are quite good - it is almost silent on turning the engine on, and even at speeds of 90-100, noise levels are fairly low with the windows up and AC on.

Cons

• Headroom is limited in front and if you are 6 foot+, you will need to keep the driver seat quite low.
• Visibility challenges for tall drivers - not a Venue only problem per se, but I found the rearview mirror right at eye level and sort of staring me in the face. Also limits visibility quite a bit in that direction, especially for looking at traffic lights at signals.
• Rear seat continues to be for 2 passengers only - the transmission tunnel, rear AC vent and mainly the rear armrest, make it impossible for 3 adults to sit at the rear. 2 adults plus a child < 10 years of age can sit at the rear.
• Inbuilt map from HERE maps is quite buggy - when it works well, it is great with integrated directions in the MID but is a pain when it doesn't.
• Eco and Normal modes are tuned quite conservatively - the DCT transmission upshifts at every opportunity. I hit 7th gear at 70 kmph on the highway as an example. On stretches with inclines or when trying to overtake, the lack of grunt in 6th and 7th gears becomes quickly apparent. The paddle shifters do come in handy in such situations and you can downshift quite quickly to get the extra acceleration.
• The steering is quite vague and I have been struggling a bit to judge the amount of steering to be used on sharp turns at low speeds.
• I don't like the front grill of the facelift version as it looks a bit over the top, too big for the car and garnished with so much chrome. IMO, the old Venue front grill looked better.

Overall, I am happy till now with my purchase of the car and hope to enjoy many more long drives in it.

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