The Venza tracked true and the ride was smooth without floating all over the road. It was an easy drive.
By Frank S. Washington
DETROIT, MI – I just wrapped up a week-long test drive of what I think is Toyota’s most stylish vehicle – the Venza.
Never heard of it? That might be because the Venza is a crossover vehicle and it got caught in rising gasoline prices and the decreasing popularity of sport utilities. But always Toyota billed the Venza as 70 percent car and 30 percent utility vehicle.
I don’t think that positioning flew all that well. Still, I found the Toyota Venza to be practical, stylish and road worthy.
My test vehicle had the silhouette of a station wagon but its lines were long, the windows were angular, it had 20-inch wheels and wrap around head and taillights. The Venza looked so good a few people admiringly asked me what kind of vehicle it was and took a look inside. That’s always a mark of street credibility; no matter the street you’re on.
The Toyota Venza can be equipped with a 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine that makes 182 horsepower and 182 pound-feet of torque and it can be mated to a six-speed transmission. In front-wheel-drive configuration it has an EPA rating of 21 mpg and 27 mpg in city and highway driving.
But my test vehicle had the 3.5-liter V6 that made 268 horsepower and 246 pound-feet of torque. It was mated to a six-speed automatic transmission and it had all-wheel-drive. Putting power to all four wheels gave it an EPA fuel efficiency rating of 18 mpg in the city and 25 mpg on the highway.
The Venza was very comfortable. It had a high seating position but it still didn’t feel like a sport-utility or a truck. The interior of my Venza was two-toned, the seats were cloth and it had a double sun roof but the rear portion was fixed.
Deep atop the dash an information screen was embedded. The navigation screen was housed in the face of the dash and it also doubled as the audio display. My test vehicle featured satellite radio, it had a CD player and it could stream music through a Bluetooth smart phone connection.
Obviously, the vehicle could be paired, using Bluetooth, for hands free phone operation.
My Venza had a backup camera, voice controls as well as touch screen. In short, the vehicle was nicely equipped. It handled itself well on city streets. Its 268 horsepower was more than enough oomph to contend with traffic here on surface streets and on the highway.
I took it for a brief trip to Chicago and its highway manners were impeccable. I used half a tank of gasoline to get there which was about 250 miles. But that was from a full topped off tank of gasoline. On the way back, the Venza seemed to burn more fuel, perhaps because I had less than a full tank when I started back.
No matter, the Venza tracked true and the ride was smooth without floating all over the road. It was an easy drive.
Even with the rear seats up right, there was plenty of cargo space. The 60-40 split rear seats could be let down with one touch. The Venza was really practical and so was it price. My test vehicle’s sticker read $36,385.
Frank S. Washington is editor of AboutThatCar.com.
This was printed in the August 26, 2012 – September 8, 2012 Edition
