Kia has a strong reputation for its towcars, but the Venga isn’t the company’s finest hour.
The hill start is where it really came unstuck. However hard you yanked on the handbrake , the outfit coasted back down the hill. Plenty of revs and clutch slip were needed to persuade the Venga to the top.
At high speeds the Kia didn’t feel settled. At 35mph through the lane-change test the car and caravan began an argument the caravan seemed in danger of winning.
Performance proved modest, needing 34.9 seconds to go from 30-60mph. There’s a lot of noise from the engine when it is worked really hard, too.
Our practicality judge was underwhelmed, as the boot didn’t come close to swallowing all the holiday luggage, and the towing information in the handbook was confusing.
On the plus side, the Venga is exceptionally economical (62.8mpg) and very well equipped. Against such strong opposition, however, that was simply not enough.