Hyundai takes the small SUV to a new Venue

Plagiarism is a dirty word in journalism. For those not familiar with the concept, it refers to the theft of other writers’ words, stories or ideas to be passed off as one’s own. This writer has over the years regularly indulged in others’ works.

You see, I am often – as in this case – stumped for a witty, informative and cheerful introduction to a road impressions article. In my drinking days I could draw the curtains, lie down and Wait for the Voices to Come. But I can no longer imbibe in the demon sauce and have to rely on my memory.

Since I read a lot and remember some of it, I will from time to time reproduce amusing things stuck in my mind. Thus over the years I must have purloined ideas from Oscar Wilde, PG Wodehouse, Damon Runyon, Jerry Lewis, Jeremy Clarkson, Pieter-Dirk Uys and Trevor Noah, plus every stand-up comic I have ever heard. Guilty. But I am not the only one who purloins the ideas of others.

Hyundai, for instance, call their latest small crossover the Venue. Now, when I was young, a gentlemen’s club on the East Rand called The Venue offered all sorts of wonderful – if not spoken of – delights, at a price. Or so I was told; my income never stretched to a fact-finding tour. Actually, I am sure the two Venues have nothing in common.

That said, the Hyundai Venue in Fluid spec does boast all sorts of enjoyable surprises and, in the name of gleaning information for this story, this time I could conduct my own research. To start with, the Venue is 3 995 mm long, 1 770 mm wide, 1 590 mm high and has a gross vehicle mass of 1 670 kg, which makes it the smallest SUV in the Hyundai range.

It is powered by a 998 cc three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine that produces 88 kW of power at 6 000 rpm and 172 Nm of torque between 1 500 and 4 000 rpm. This, in the case of the test vehicle, passed to the front wheels via a six-speed manual gearbox – a delightful feature in the eyes of this ancient writer.

The Venue has ventilated disc brakes front and drums rear, with ABS and EBD, plus an electronic stability programme and hill-start assist system. The vehicle is, to our mind, very pretty, but we have learned over the years that styling speaks to every observer in a different way.

That is why we have photographs with these articles, so look at them and decide whether you also find the Venue a little bit cartoonish, like a bigger SUV that has shrunk in the wash. Adding to the looks are 6.5-inch wide, 16-inch alloy wheel rims, dressed in 215/60 R16 rubber.

Inside, the Venue will seat four adults in comfort and five in a squeeze. It has manual air-conditioning, glove box cooling and adjustable air vents for the rear occupants. There is an on-board computer with a massive range of information, from your average petrol consumption, average speed, distance to empty, trip meter, battery charge, brake fluid level, seat belt warning, ambient temperature and brake fluid level to oil pressure. The audio system has a radio, USB and Bluetooth connections, four speakers and two tweeters.

Active safety features include LED daytime running lights, a high mounted rear stop light, automatic locking doors and an impact-sensing door unlocking system. Passive safety features include crumple zones front and rear, side impact protection beams, airbags all round for the front occupants and plus side and curtain airbags in the rear. The little SUV is an absolute pleasure to drive.

Acceleration feels brisk – just more than 11 seconds from standstill to 100 km/h, says Hyundai, with a top whack of around 180 km/h. More importantly, the wide torque range has the Venue pulling strongly from around 1 300 rpm, making the use of sixth gear absolutely plausible in city traffic. The gearbox is a delight to use, with changes precise and performed with finger-tip ease. Though not attempting to drive economically, we managed an overall fuel consumption figure of 7.6l/100km, mostly in city traffic.

The Hyundai Venue 1.0T Fluid will cost you R309 900, which includes a five-year/150 000 km warranty. Service intervals are every 15 000 km.

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