Kia have gone from strength to strength in recent years, and I no longer receive the keys to one with a clenched jaw and stoic heart.
With products like the Sportage and Sorento, the South Korean company have shown they can make premium SUVs as well as anyone this side of Land Rover, while even the humble cee’d is a solid family hatch.
So I was a little saddened not to like the Venga nearly as much. A compact MPV along the lines of the now departed Fiat Idea or the Vauxhall Meriva, it’s a relatively roomy little creature. There’s 440 litres of space in the boot despite being almost a foot longer, the Ford Focus can only offer 385.
Rear seats fold flat to give 1253 litres of volume.
Built on the same platform as the much funkier Soul, the Venga is designed to appeal to a more pedestrian audience one that’s more concerned with getting child seats in the back and the dog in the boot than howfing their trendy pals around town.
It looks okay, but I’d argue they didn’t need to put it through the blander quite as much as they have.
I drove the 1.4 litre CRDi model. In the cee’d this is a decent unit, but in the higher-sided Venga it seems reluctant to reveal all 89 of its horses, and when they do finally canter up it’s with something of a racket, especially combined with too much road noise from underneath the chassis.
Round town the Venga is fine, but get above 60mph and it’s too loud for my liking. Nor does its firm suspension soak up bumps too readily.
On the plus side, fuel economy is a very frugal 62.8mpg.
The Venga isn’t a bad car, but so much have my expectations of Kia been turned around that I’ve become used to being pleasantly surprised and ended up a little disappointed.
Go for the basic 1.4-litre petrol car at £11,495 and you’ll have a good value, reasonably spacious hatchback with a nice, commanding driving position. Spend £14,000 on more expensive versions and you may end up feeling short changed.
Price: £13,9600-60mph: 14 seconds.Top speed: 104mph.Economy: 62.8mpg.CO2 emissions: 117g/km.