Roomy Venga with German engineering
KIA offers the Venga with a choice of four engines. The two petrol engines are 1.4-litre 89bhp and 1.6-litre 123bhp units, the 1.4 mated to a five-speed manual gearbox, while the 1.6 is available with either a six-speed manual transmission or a four-speed automatic. If you don’t cover too many miles, the torquier 1.6-litre unit is well worth considering. Go diesel and you’re looking at either a 1.4-litre 89bhp CRDi engine or the 114bhp 1.6-litre unit. Both were designed and engineered in Germany.
The Venga’s long wheelbase and wide track aids stability and there are stacks of safety systems that will appeal to families. All versions get electronic stability control, traction control with brake assist and Vehicle Stability Management to ensure you can always brake and steer the vehicle, even when engaging in sharp manoeuvres. Hill-start assist control is also fitted, which holds the car for two seconds when setting off on inclines to prevent rolling backwards. Once you’ve used it, you’ll wonder how you did without it.
The Venga was the first Kia launched under the stewardship of designer Peter Schreyer and we’ve now come to expect Kias to be some of the bestlooking cars in their class. The styling has been sympathetically updated, with a revised front bumper and a main grille with high-gloss black mesh and a chrome surround. At the back, there’s a chrome strip linking the rear lights. On the plushest Venga ‘4’ variant, the rear lights are LED units and that model also gets chrome door handles. The wheels have been updated too, with five triple-spoke 16-inch alloys for the grade ‘2’ models and the trim levels beyond. These trim levels are also offered with two metallic paint colours – Planet Blue and Dark Gun Metal.
The cabin has benefited from a boost in materials quality, with even the entry-level trim now getting a smarter black Houndstooth cloth upholstery. There’s a tidy grey metal grain paint finish for the centre fascia of Venga ‘1’, ‘1 Air’ and ‘2’-designated variants, while piano black dash trim will feature in your Venga if you order the smarter ‘3’ or ‘4’-designated specification models.
Looking the part is all well and good but it’s inside where any vehicle touting itself as an MPV must stand or fall. The Venga’s cabin is certainly roomy, with as much legroom as Kia’s Focus-class cee’d five-door model and a boot that substantially trumps that car’s capacity thanks to a 440-litre total. The Korean brand has put particular thought into how owners will accommodate their luggage and the boot area can be extended to 570-litres by sliding the rear seat forward. There’s also a useful two-tier boot floor, both options worth considering before you go to the trouble of folding the rear seats down. When you are forced to employ Kia’s ‘Fold & Dive’ seating system, the 60:40 split-rear seats drop to create a flat load floor with a 1,552mm load length and a 1,253-litre capacity.