2020 Hyundai Venue

Hyundai takes the subcompact SUV to new dimensions — tinier dimensions, that is — with the new 2020 Venue. It serves as the bookend for the small side of the brand's SUV lineup. It's dwarfed by the already diminutive Hyundai Kona, measuring a full 5 inches shorter, but it still technically seats up to five passengers.

Under the hood of the Venue sits a 1.6-liter four-cylinder with 121 horsepower and 113 lb-ft of torque. It's estimated to return 32 mpg in combined city/highway driving when paired with a continuously variable automatic transmission, or what Hyundai calls its Smartstream Intelligent Variable Transmission. Base-model Venues come with a six-speed manual transmission standard, a rare offering in this class of vehicle. All Venues are front-wheel-drive with no option for all-wheel drive, though Hyundai says using the Snow driving mode can help keep power on the ground when the road is slippery.

Even so, calling the Venue a true SUV requires a certain linguistic flexibility. Instead, the Venue represents an increasing number of vehicles that combine crossover styling with the stance and handling abilities of a traditional hatchback.

This all begs the question: What is the Venue's value proposition? Hyundai sees it as an ideal car for "urban entrepreneurs" and loads it with standard features that young, possibly first-time car buyers would want. Such features include an 8-inch color touchscreen — the largest in the segment — Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and advanced safety aids such as frontal collision avoidance with pedestrian detection, lane keeping assist, a rearview camera with dynamic guidelines, and driver attention monitoring.

To top it off, the Venue offers a host of expressive paint choices and trim accents, including a  two-tone roof option paired to a sleek-looking denim-colored cloth and faux leather interior — the appropriately named Denim model.

Shoppers looking for affordable transportation aren't always comfortable with purchasing used cars. Many used cars are past their warranty coverage periods, offering no assurance if something breaks. And oftentimes it's hard to truly know how well the previous owner cared for the car. Entry-level subcompacts make new car ownership more accessible, and the Venue is even more cost-effective than Hyundai's already affordable subcompact SUV, the Kona.

With SUVs' growing global popularity, the Venue is likely to appeal to more buyers than a small sedan or hatchback.

Nearly all manufacturers offer some sort of vehicle they classify as a subcompact SUV. From the lower-slung, sporty-styled Toyota C-HR (also front-wheel-drive only) to the Jeep Renegade with its legitimate off-roading chops, the field is as varied as it is wide. But in terms of price, size and features, the Venue's closest competitors are the Nissan Kicks and the Ford EcoSport.

The Kicks takes a similar approach: offering tech-focused features to capture the young and mobile-connected buyer. The EcoSport, for its part, sizes up with the Venue dimensionally since they both ride on 99.2-inch wheelbases.

We'd be remiss not to mention the inter-household competition with the Kia Soul. The two overlap in price between trims, though the Soul is slightly longer and more accommodating for adults. The Soul's price ramps up a bit in upper trims, but it also offers a greater breadth of features. There's also the Hyundai Kona, which is Soul-size but has nicer cabin materials in exchange for a moderately higher price tag.

Like many of the other fuel-sippers in the segment, the Venue's 1.6-liter engine takes some flogging to get moving at a decent pace. Accelerating at moderate to high speeds requires plenty of patience, and drivers looking to make a lane change will need to plan well ahead. The engine still sounds a bit unrefined at the top end of its operating range, but it is definitely improved over some of the previous engines in Hyundai's lineup.

While we didn't get a chance to sample the six-speed manual, we spent some time in two CVT-equipped models, which will prove to be the more popular choice anyway. The CVT performs well and avoids the elastic-like engine-revving nature commonly exhibited with this type of transmission. In part, it's due to this CVT using gear ratio-like steps that simulate the feel of a traditional automatic. Sport mode keeps the engine churning at higher revs for more immediate throttle response, which is helpful when climbing mountain grades.

We spent the bulk of our test drive on fairly straight highway roads. That meant we didn't get a chance to test the Venue's suspension behavior on pockmarked city streets or try the 1.6-liter/CVT combo at low speeds. (Manual-transmission models weren't available.) However, we can report the Venue has a remarkably composed ride at higher speeds. Hitting a transverse bump will still send a shimmy through the cabin, but otherwise the Venue is a pretty comfortable highway cruiser.

The Venue feels naturally nimble due to its stubby proportions and relatively low weight. It may look like a more convincing "mini-ute" than its competition, but it behaves like a hatchback in the best of ways. The steering is light and effectively accurate. Hyundai's brake-based torque-vectoring cornering system has even been employed here, we're told, to help carve a tighter line when the roads turn curvy. An absence of twisty roads on our initial drive meant we didn't have a chance to see the system at work.

Selectable drive modes — Normal, Eco and Sport — provide mild alterations to throttle response and transmission shift points to suit your driving mood. A Snow Traction mode is meant to better deal with low-grip surface conditions — especially important given the lack of an all-wheel-drive option.

On paper, the dimensions of the Venue might have you picturing a sardine can on wheels, but the reality is far more livable (and doesn't smell like fish). Its boxy greenhouse shape doesn't just lend it more SUV-ish-ness, but it affords generous amounts of front and rear headroom, improves visibility and maximizes cargo space.

The Venue gives up a fraction of an inch here and there in passenger room compared to the Kona, which is far less than we'd expect in such a tidy wrapper. The surplus of headroom and ample toe room under the front seats make the rear seats more inviting than those in some competitors that claim to be dimensionally more spacious. As long as passengers aren't especially long-legged, we think four average-size adults would fit comfortably enough to not impact your Uber driver rating.

Cabin quality on the upper SEL spec has premium touches in the right places, especially if you opt for the leather-wrapped shifter and steering wheel. Hyundai went the extra mile to jazz up the cloth upholstery and add color accents that create a youthful flair without looking tacky. The Denim model, in particular, with blue-tinted cloth and faux leather upholstery, is especially striking.

The standard 8-inch color touchscreen anchors the symmetrical center stack and has a surprisingly profound effect on the cabin's appearance. Part of it is the size of the screen, which also has decent resolution and is responsive, adding to the feeling of quality. This touchscreen alone could be a primary selling point of the Venue. Well-played, Hyundai.

Beyond appearances, the Venue's cabin is a bit quieter than the average subcompact's. What's behind the reduced wind and road noise? We're told a special coating on the outside of the front pillars and foam blocks added to strategic places on the underbody are responsible.

The Venue is surprisingly practical for its size. Besides a livable passenger cabin, the cargo area in the Venue features some smart design elements. There's a two-level load floor that can form a flat area when the rear seats are folded forward. Or it can drop down to increase storage capacity to 18.7 cubic feet, which is a scant half-cube smaller than the Kona. But the cleverest feature has to be the cargo cover, which can slide down a vertical track and stow behind the rear seats when you have taller items to load. You can remove the cover entirely if needed, but this sure beats fussing with it every time you're out shopping for an indoor office plant or lawn gnome.

Hyundai has always offered a lot for the money, and we think young shoppers will be won over by its shockingly low base price and healthy list of standard features. Even top-trim models only add a few thousand dollars to the list price, making the Venue range value-heavy. To top it off, it'll also come with Hyundai's excellent warranty coverage consisting of a five-year/60,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty, a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty, and five years of roadside assistance. No used vehicle is going to offer you that.

In addition to the standard driver aids, you can add blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert, along with a power sunroof and leather-wrapped items bundled in the Convenience package. The Premium package available on SEL models adds heated front seats and mirrors, LED headlights, taillights and daytime-running lights, larger 17-inch wheels, push-button ignition, onboard nav with satellite radio, and Hyundai's Blue Link Connected car system.

And like all other vehicles equipped with Hyundai's Blue Link, you can sync with Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices to remote-start your Venue or set the temperature via voice command.

The 2020 Hyundai Venue is more practical than we expected a vehicle this small could be. It also comes with plenty of standard technology features, and its distinctive styling helps it stand out. Although engine power is lacking, the Venue is otherwise a home run for shoppers wanting an affordable small crossover SUV or hatchback.