Kia Venga

Kia Venga at a glance

The Venga was created for European buyers who wanted the space of an MPV in a car no longer than a supermini. It shares the PB platform with the Kia Soul and the Rio of its time, and Hyundai sold the same car as the ix20. The brand's story is told in the history of Kia, and the range, from the Kia Rio to the Kia Ceed, is in the Kia catalogue.

Styling of the tall MPV body

The Venga has a tall, short body with a high roof line, short overhangs and pronounced wheel arches, and it looks smaller from outside than it feels inside. Its design came from the No3 concept shown at Geneva in 2009. The early 2015 facelift brought a larger grille, a revised front bumper with a bigger lower air intake and LED daytime running lights, and new LED tail lights joined by a chrome strip; a brake light is integrated into the roof spoiler. Ground clearance is 156 mm.

Cabin space and sliding rear seats

The cabin is the Venga's main selling point. Front legroom is 1,080 mm and rear legroom 901 mm, with 1,020 mm of headroom in the front and 980 mm in the rear, figures closer to a larger family car. The split rear seats slide fore and aft by up to 130 mm and fold completely flat; with the seats slid forward, boot space rises from 440 litres to about 570 litres while keeping five seats, and it reaches 1,253 litres with the seats folded. Some testers criticised the hard plastics and the limited side support of the front seats. An optional 7-inch touchscreen with navigation was offered on later cars.

Petrol and diesel engines with gearboxes

The four-speed automatic was replaced by a six-speed automatic with the 2015 facelift. An idle stop-and-go system that switches the engine off at standstill was offered to cut fuel consumption, which, according to the old 1cars text, can fall to about 4 L/100 km on open roads.

Suspension, steering and brakes

The Venga uses MacPherson struts with an anti-roll bar at the front and a coil-sprung rear suspension with an anti-roll bar, with electric power steering and front-wheel drive. All four wheels have disc brakes, ventilated at the front. Track widths are 1,553 mm at the front and 1,557 mm at the rear on 15-inch wheels.

Size and boot space

Euro NCAP result and safety kit

The Venga has six airbags (front, front side and full-length curtains), active front head restraints, ABS, brake assist, electronic stability control and hill-start assist. In its first Euro NCAP test in 2010 the five-door scored 79% for adult occupants, 66% for children, 64% for pedestrians and 71% for safety assist. After Kia made structural and safety improvements, it was reassessed with 89% for adult occupants and 85% for children, with the other results unchanged.

Equipment by version

After the facelift, three trim levels were typical: Comfort, Luxe and Prestige. The base car has an immobiliser, a six-speaker audio system, ABS, brake assist and emergency brake lights, with air conditioning on 1.6 versions. A winter pack added heated front seats, steering wheel and windscreen, a multifunction steering wheel, Bluetooth and rear electric windows. Luxe adds vehicle stability management, hill-start assist, fog lights, rear parking sensors, side and curtain airbags, active head restraints and climate control, and Prestige adds LED tail lights and LED daytime running lights.

What owners say

Owners mostly use the Venga in town and praise its interior space, especially the rear legroom, its manoeuvrability and its moderate fuel consumption. The engines feel lively in city traffic but run out of breath above about 120 km/h. Common complaints are a firm ride over bumps, seats that tire the back on long trips because they lack lumbar and height adjustment on some versions, creaks from interior trim, a low front bumper that can touch kerbs and thick front pillars that limit visibility at junctions.

Rivals: how the Venga compares

The Venga competed with mini MPVs such as the Ford B-Max, Opel Meriva, Citroën C3 Picasso, Nissan Note and Renault Scenic, and with its own twin, the Hyundai ix20. Its strengths are a flexible interior, a sliding rear seat, good visibility and low fuel consumption; its weaknesses are modest engine power and hard interior plastics. Production ended in early 2019 without a direct successor, after almost ten years on the market.