The compact SUV space is currently the hottest segment in the Indian market and every manufacturer is fighting it out to grab a slice of the pie. The Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza and the Tata Nexon have been going head to head with the Mahindra XUV300 slowly climbing the ladder. The Ford Ecosport which had the first mover advantage is also right up there with a mid life refresh. With so much stiff competition, if you are joining the party late, and more so looking to spoil it for everyone else, you need to have a fantastic product to make an impact. And that’s exactly what the Koreans want to do with the new Hyundai Venue, the newest entrant to an already crowded arena. The Venue will surely have its work cut out, so it would be interesting to see what this new compact SUV can do. We got to sample the Hyundai Venue 1.0 GDI petrol with the 7 speed DCT. We chose this variant as we feel it is the most important of the lot out there. Read on to get our impressions from a quick first drive.

Hyundai Venue 1.0 GDI petrol DCT Exterior

The Hyundai Venue was first showcased as the Carlino concept at the 2016 Auto Expo in Delhi. Also, the Venue is an international product and it was revealed in India and internationally at the same time. Well, actually India got to see it first. At first glance, it is apparent that the styling of the Venue is inspired from the Creta, though this one looks funkier and youthful. It measures 3995 mm in length, has a height of 1590 mm and is 1770 mm wide with a wheelbase of 2500 mm. The XUV300 is wider and also has a longer wheelbase. The large front grille is right in your face and has quite a unique design for the slats, unlike any other grille out there. It comes finished in chrome and is gaudy for our liking.  Taking inspiration from the Tata Harrier, the indicators are on the upper side of the fascia, with the projector lamp units below, where you would usually find the fog lights. The headlamps enclosure is surrounded by the LED DRLs. The fog lamps are housed at the bottom of the bumper, and there is a faux skid plate as well. From the side, the Venue gets flared wheel arches with black cladding that also runs along the entire side of the body to give it that SUV stance. The front fender gets the DCT badging to state the obvious. The 16 inch diamond cut alloy wheels have a very sporty design and come shod with 215/60 R16 rubber. There are roof rails finished in silver, and the C pillar has a floating roof effect. The rear has a lot of resemblance to the Grand i10 which isn’t a great thing. The LED tail lamps look smart though. Also, a glaring omission is that this SX trim misses out on a rear wash wipe and that is quite a bummer. C’mon Hyundai. Even cheaper hatchbacks get it. The tail gate features the Hyundai logo with large Venue badging along with a Turbo badge on the right hand side. The rear bumper features  fog lamps and a faux skid plate. The Venue 1.0 DCT comes in only S and SX trims. The automatic doesn’t come in the range topping SX(O) trim. It is baffling why a fully loaded automatic cant be offered considering the rising popularity of ATs in today’s times.

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