2024 Hyundai Venue Limited First Test: Cheap and Cheerful or Dull and Dreary?

It’s easy for budget-car shoppers to feel frozen out of the market. Since COVID hit, new car prices reached record average highs, and automakers responded by discontinuing the few slow-selling sub-$20,000 vehicles on the market, such as the Chevrolet Spark and Hyundai Accent, replacing them with similar but more expensive hatchbacks masquerading as SUVs. The Hyundai Venue was one of the first entrants to that field back in 2020. Four years later, the class has ballooned massively as price-conscious consumers recognize its value. Curious as to how well the 2024 Hyundai Venue Limited keeps up with the Joneses, we got one in for a round of testing.

Why It’s Important
The Hyundai Venue’s competition when it launched in 2020 largely consisted of vehicles like the Nissan Kicks, Honda HR-V, and Kia Soul. Since then, the class ballooned with new and revised models like the Chevrolet Trax, Toyota Corolla Cross, Buick Envista, and 2025 Nissan Kicks.

The Venue is largely unchanged for the 2024 model year. The biggest additions this year are equipment-based: A six-speaker sound system is standard across the line, midgrade Venue SELs get push-button start, and SELs and Venue Limited models get back-seat USB ports. Oh, and there’s the $250 dearer starting price, now at $21,275 (our top-trim Venue Limited test car starts at $24,525 and was priced at $24,735 as tested, thanks to the addition of carpeted floormats).

All Venues are powered by a naturally aspirated 1.6-liter I-4 good for 121 hp and 113 lb-ft of torque, which drives the front wheels via a continuously variable transmission. That’s on the low end of the segment, but the Hyundai’s flyweight 2,691-pound frame helps mask that somewhat while helping it achieve a near segment-best 29/33/31 mpg city/highway/combined EPA rating. Like many vehicles in its segment (and the subcompact hatchbacks they effectively replaced), the 2024 Hyundai Venue is unavailable with all-wheel drive.