Kia Venga (2010-2019) review - Practicality, comfort and boot space

It might not have that much design flair, but things get a lot brighter for the Kia when it comes to designed-in practicality. The Venga has plenty of room for four adults, and an impressive boot.

Inside there are five seats, and a high seating position. This means the driver has an excellent view of the road ahead, and good vision all around while parking. There are decent-sized storage compartments in all the usual places, and there’s a handy armrest for extra comfort on long journeys.

Size

The Kia Venga is 4,075mm long, 1,765mm wide and 1,600mm tall. This compares closely to the Ford B-Max which is within a few mm in all directions. The Nissan Note is a little longer at 4,100mm but lower at 1,530mm.

Leg room, head room & passenger space

Thanks to its upright profile the Kia Venga offers plenty of headroom in the front and rear, so four adults can travel comfortably. You get a third centre seat on the rear bench, but the laws of physics do apply and if you want to travel three-up in the back you’ll need everyone to be small, slim and on very good terms.

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Practicality is further helped by a rear seat bench which can slide back and forward by up to 130mm, giving the option of decreasing rear legroom if you’ve only got small kids and a load of luggage. Isofix mountings are standard in the rear, too. 

Boot

In its default five-seat configuration, the 440-litre boot is one of the biggest around in the class – the Ford B-Max has just 318-litres when all its seats are in place. Slide the Venga’s rear bench forward and you can raise the volume to 570-litres, but that is at the expense of adult legroom.

With the back folded seats down, the Kia’s luggage capacity rises to 1,253 litres, which isn’t as big as in the Ford B-MAX at 1,386-litres, but still plenty. There’s also a false boot floor for secure storage, but what is most impressive about the Venga is that the load bay is so spacious when you’ve a car full of passengers.