Kia Venga (2009-2019) review | A practical small car – but not a pleasant one to drive

What is the Kia Venga

Not quite a hatchback, not quite a people carrier, the Kia Venga occupies a middle ground between the two. It was designed to be an affordable small car with a greater degree of practicality than your average supermini, along the lines of the Honda Jazz, Ford Fusion, Renault Modus and Hyundai ix20, the last of which it shares a platform with. It therefore appeals to urban family buyers and elderly

There’s plenty of standard equipment, but that’s about the extent of the Venga's strengths, because the driving experience and running costs leave much to be desired. If you're in need of a very cheap runabout that has more space than something like a Ford Fiesta then the Venga might make some sense. It's also popular with those who want a small automatic car, but don't like the idea of a CVT transmission. If that's you, try to find a later model with the six-speed auto, which is a stronger performer than the earlier four-speed unit.

How practical is it?

The Venga looks like a regular small hatchback, albeit a tall one, but its spacious and versatile cabin qualifies it as a mini-MPV. It easily accommodates four adults with generous headroom and legroom and, while it’s a bit of a squeeze in the rear with a third passenger in the middle, it’s not uncomfortable. The front seats are mounted quite high and upright, aiding the view from behind the steering wheel, which older owners appreciate. They also commend the Venga’s comparatively low sills, which make sliding in and out much easier.

The rear bench is a 60:40 split-folding arrangement, and the outermost seating positions have reclining backrests for passengers who fancy a kip. Both sections of the rear bench slide fore and aft – separately or as a single unit – allowing either greater legroom or boot space. The rear seat backs fold flat for hauling larger items, opening up a gargantuan 1,253 litres, and the boot floor panel can be set at two heights, the highest position of which creates underfloor storage. Even when the boot is at its smallest configuration it boasts a whopping 440 litres of space – 550 when you slide the back seats forwards – and its practicality is boosted by a low loading lip, wide opening and flat boot sides.

It's let down by cheap, hard plastics used for the facia and door trims, which scratch and scuff easily and can end up looking shabby, although Kia made some improvements in this department when the Venga was facelifted in 2015.

What’s it like to drive?

The Venga is available with 1.4 and 1.6-litre petrol and diesel engines, none of which are perky performers. The 1.4-litre petrol is the weakest; it has the same 89bhp as the 1.4 CRDi EcoDynamics turbodiesel, but it lacks the diesel’s mid-range torque and struggles if the car is fully laden. The 123bhp 1.6-litre petrol is adequately energetic, and the 1.6 CRDi the most relaxed of the line-up and better for longer trips and higher mileages, but all the Venga’s engines are noisy when revved.

Other dynamic disappointments include the ride and handling. The Venga's ride is bumpy, especially at low speeds around town, and although the steering is light, it’s devoid of feel, and when you tackle a corner even at a very modest speed the Venga rolls excessively. Sure, it’s not a racing car, but it could do better.

Technology, equipment & infotainment

Standard equipment levels are generous on all bar the basic trim level, known as the 1, which doesn’t have much to speak of beyond electric front windows and mirrors. The 1 Air is much the same, though the addition of standard air conditioning does mean it feels a little less Spartan.

The 2 is far from short of kit, by contrast, including alloy wheels, an iPod cable, Bluetooth, rear electric windows, folding door mirrors, and reversing sensors. The 3 adds climate control, front fog lamps, privacy glass, heated seats, cruise control with a speed limiter, satnav and, from 2015 onwards, automatic lights. A top-end 4 trim level was introduced with the 2015 facelift, which added a keyless engine start/stop button, a heated steering wheel, and a panoramic sunroof.

The 3 and 4 models got a touchscreen infotainment system that was shared with Kia’s other contemporary models. As in those cars, this system is quite basic to look at, but it’s swift to respond and easy to find your way around, making it one of the better touchscreen systems from the time.

The 1 and 1 Air were dropped from the range shortly after the facelift was introduced, leaving 2, 3, and 4 versions to soldier on until the Venga’s demise. Also of note was the SR7 special edition, which was available in 2015, sitting between 1 Air and 2 versions in the range, and coming with automatic headlights and privacy glass. Buyers had the choice between either of the 1.4-litre engines; the 1.6s weren’t available with this version.

Kia Venga running costs

The running cost that vexes Kia Venga owners the most is how much fuel their car uses compared with the official fuel consumption figures. Even the most positive owner reviews of the Venga include the caveat that their car is thirsty: ‘it drinks like a 3.0-litre car but accelerates like a 1.0-litre’ was one owner’s opinion of his 1.6-litre automatic.

The 1.4 CRDi turbodiesel has an official combined figure of 64mpg, which is far better, but real-world consumption is more likely to be in the mid 50s. Several owners report seldom achieving better than 35mpg from their 1.4 petrol, when it’s claimed to give up to 50mpg.

Service intervals for the diesel engines are every 20,000 miles, the petrols every 10,000 miles, but all of them require servicing annually. Insurance, meanwhile, should be reasonable, with the Venga range spanning groups 8 to 14.

Vengas registered before 1 April 2017 will be taxed according to their CO2 emissions, which means the more polluting models – i.e. the 1.6-litre petrols and especially the automatics – will be more expensive to tax if registered before this date. Conversely, if it’s a low-CO2 diesel model you’re after, it’ll be much cheaper to tax if you buy one registered before this date.

Kia Venga reliability

Kia’s seven year warranty will now have expired even on the latest Vengas, but it does at least offer the residual reassurance that most owners will have serviced their cars at a main dealer regularly (for the first seven years, at least) in order to maintain that warranty.

As a brand, Kia tends to do very well in independent reliability surveys – it came eighth out of 30 manufacturers in the 2025 What Car? reliability survey – and the Venga doesn’t sully that reputation, but that’s not to say it’s perfect.

There was an annoying issue with the 1.4-litre CRDi turbodiesel engine. In some instances, when you prodded the throttle, there was a delay in the car actually accelerating, and a reduction in power. This was random and didn’t affect all cars, and it took Kia about three years to admit there even was an issue, following pressure from owners all over Europe. The eventual fix was a software upgrade, and while most 1.4 Vengas should have had this carried out by now, some may have slipped through the net. If you’re concerned about your car’s performance in this respect, get in touch with a Kia dealer with your VIN number and ask them to check.

There are also reports about the 1.4 CRDi making a ‘chattering’ sound. Some owners have been informed that ‘they all do that’, but others have traced the noise to faulty fuel injectors and an ECU issue. There’s now a theory that the injectors have an eight-year lifespan, so make sure the car you’re looking at runs smoothly.

Another ongoing issue concerns the Venga’s ISG system, or Intelligent Stop & Go: it seems it’s not so intelligent. Intended to improve the urban fuel consumption and reduce CO2 emissions of Vengas with a manual gearbox, ISG automatically turns off the engine when the car is out of gear and your foot is off the clutch. Depress the clutch and the engine fires up again. Except that the ISG system seems to work very rarely.

Rattles from the dashboard have upset some owners, and wind noise from the panoramic sunroof has irked others. Front brake pads rattling in their calipers are sometimes a source of irritation, and there have been a few reports of the gear lever on the automatic becoming stiff or sticking in place, due to a stretched gear cable. Starter motors are now starting to fail, as are door lock actuators, and broken front suspension springs are becoming more common. The tops of the rear doors are known to rust, too, starting underneath the rubber seal.