Kia Venga (2010-2019) review - Reliability and Safety

Compared to some of its rivals, the new updated Venga should also be reassuring to run, as Kia finished our Driver Power 2015 satisfaction survey in 19th position. This isn’t the best performance out of 30 or so manufacturers, but its Reliability scores were more impressive. 

The brand’s dealer network fared much better, coming in 10th place in our latest survey. The result implies that if something does go wrong, you’ve a good chance of getting your issue resolved in a satisfactory fashion.

We’ve not heard of any major problems with the Venga itself, but the pre-facelift version only just made our Driver Power top 200 best cars to live with – owners ranked it 197th. The model scored a solid mid-table 103rd for Reliability, whereas Build Quality was right down at 198th. It’s pleasing therefore to be able to report that the facelift addressed some of those interior quality issues from early cars.

Euro NCAP crash tested the previous Venga in 2010, and although it performed well by scoring a full five-star rating, the assessment has changed since then. Still, we’d expect the new car to fare as well now, with six airbags and ESP as standard. The Euro NCAP scores were 89 per cent for adult occupants, 85 per cent for children and 64 per cent for pedestrians. The Ford B-Max scores 92/84/67 per cent across the same categories, while the Nissan Note scores 86/82/58 percent.

The Venga’s roster of safety kit includes a hill start assist function, plus tyre pressure monitoring, and the car will flash the hazard lights under hard braking to warn drivers behind.

Warranty

The Kia brand offers a market leading warranty here in the UK, covering its vehicles for an impressive seven years with unlimited mileage. Hyundai and Chevrolet are the next closest rivals offering five-year cover, the former with unlimited mileage, the latter with a 100,000-mile cap. The Ford B-Max and Nissan Note both have three-year cover with a 60,000-mile cap.

Servicing

Services are required annually or at 20,000 miles for diesel cars or 10,000 miles for petrol. Costs should be very competitive, as the brand is at the budget end of the market.