Despite Recent Award, the Hyundai Venue Fails to Get Consumer Reports’ Approval
The wild and weird year of 2020 messed up so many plans and routines and made people shift their way of life significantly. One major shift that many people opted into was purchasing a personal vehicle to avoid using public transportation. Public transportation has its pros and cons, but nothing compares to the feeling of freedom that a personal vehicle can bring. At the same time, most people choose public transportation due to its affordability. This has made affordability one of the most important considerations for car buyers in the last couple of years, and one well-known website chose the 2021 Hyundai Venue for its award of “Best Value of 2021“.
An overview of the 2021 Hyundai Venue
The Hyundai Venue was first introduced in 2020, and it received a couple of upgrades for the 2021 year. It’s an overall great choice for budget compact SUV shoppers as it scored slightly above average in terms of reliability, and it received notable safety ratings. Its performance is a bit lackluster as its engine can only produce up to 121 hp, and many aren’t fans of the styling of the exterior or the interior.
For the price, it does come with more safety and infotainment features than expected. Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, lane keep assist, pedestrian detection, and more come standard, and several more advanced features can be purchased.
One of the biggest complaints about the 2021 Hyundai Venue is its cramped rear seats and small cargo capacity. This won’t be a big deal for individuals or small families that don’t haul much gear around, but this is an important consideration for those who do plan to use their SUV for long road trips that will require lots of equipment.
Perhaps the most important part about this vehicle is that it starts at $18,750, which a significantly lower starting price than most other compact SUVs in its class.
The 2021 Hyundai Venue won a noteworthy award
Cars.com recently named the 2021 Hyundai Venue as their choice for the “Best Value of 2021” thanks to its low starting price, standard safety and infotainment features, and superior warranty. The 2021 Hyundai Venue ultimately beat out the Hyundai Tucson and the Subaru Outback, which both have much higher starting prices than the Venue.
This is a noteworthy award as the focus has definitely shifted toward price and value in the past couple of years when purchasing a vehicle.
Consumer Reports apparently doesn’t agree
Consumer Reports is one of the most trusted review websites, as it takes expert testing, safety ratings, and real owner opinions into account when creating an overall score. Consumer Reports‘ CR Recommended is a big deal for cars and other products, as consumers know that they can trust this label when making large purchases. Many online retailers have posted fake reviews, or even enlisted the help of bots to post hundreds or thousands of five-star testimonies that are truly meaningless. A “CR Recommended” label can help cut through that reviewing noise and educate customers about the investments they are about to make.
The 2021 Hyundai Venue received an overall score of 59 from Consumer Reports. This evidentially wasn’t enough for the vehicle to get the “Consumer Reports” recommended stamp. Consumer Reports gave the 2021 Hyundai Venue a 61/100 on its road test, and the reviewers were particularly impressed with its transmission, braking, fuel efficiency, and emergency handling. They were less impressed with the acceleration of the vehicle as well as the noisiness inside the cabin and the interior as a whole.
When it comes to safety, the 2021 Hyundai Venue holds its own. The NHTSA gave it an overall safety rating of four out of five, and it didn’t score below a four on any of the more specific safety measures. That definitely counts for something, but it still wasn’t enough to overcome the other features that prevented this car from getting the coveted Consumer Reports recommendation.
