2024 Hyundai Venue vs 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport

The 2024 Hyundai Venue was available in Canada in three trim levels: Essential, Preferred, and Ultimate, with prices ranging from $23,581 to $28,081, including a $1,950 destination charge. The Venue Preferred, priced at $25,581, was recommended for its enhanced exterior appearance and additional convenience and safety features. The test vehicle, equivalent to the U.S. Ultimate trim, featured Ecotronic Grey paint, bringing the MSRP to $28,331. While the Venue's colour palette wasn't particularly expressive, the grey hue lent the hatchback a mature and subdued look. Despite its affordability, the Venue's design was appealing, offering a genuine sense of style often absent in basic transportation.

Inside, the Venue's interior was characterized by hard plastics, yet it avoided looking excessively cheap. Unexpected style elements included seat stripes and piping, along with white trim around the dashboard air vents and transmission shifter. The digital instrumentation was a pleasant surprise, and the 8-inch touchscreen infotainment display was appropriately sized. The controls exhibited typical Hyundai quality in terms of finishes, markings, and operation. Overall, the 2024 Venue was a thoughtfully designed, stylishly detailed, and high-quality small SUV.

The 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport's styling emphasized its sporty positioning within the Range Rover family. It stood taller than most vehicles on the road, but its shorter wheelbase and chopped top gave it a more athletic appearance compared to the traditional Range Rover. Large front air intakes and fake vents on the hood and front fenders contributed to its sporty look. However, from certain angles, the Sport appeared a bit too tall and narrow, lacking the wide, planted stance of some other luxury SUVs. The 2025 model year lineup included Dynamic SE, Dynamic HSE, Autobiography, and SV Edition Two trims, with the test car being the high-performance SV Edition Two.

The SV Edition Two featured mechanical upgrades and could be equipped with 23-inch carbon-fibre wheels. The hood was also made from carbon fibre, showcasing the lightweight material. In Marl Grey, the test car had a more understated appearance compared to typical specs of the BMW X5 M, Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S, or Porsche Cayenne. The subtle exterior contrasted with an interior adorned with available red leather upholstery, sport seats with light-up "SV" inserts, and illuminated steering-wheel paddle shifters. While unique to the SV Edition Two, all Range Rover Sport models maintained a minimalist aesthetic with only a touchscreen, stubby shifter, and engine start button interrupting the dashboard and centre console's smoothness.

The 2024 Hyundai Venue was equipped with a 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine producing 121 horsepower and 113 pound-feet of torque. Although not particularly powerful, the Venue's lightweight design, weighing between 1,200 to 1,250 kilograms, allowed it to perform adequately. The continuously variable transmission (CVT) effectively maximized available power, making it suitable for city and suburban driving. Its small size, nimble handling, and excellent visibility made it ideal for urban environments. However, the Venue's suspension struggled on rough and irregular pavement, resulting in a busy ride quality and structural shudders. On highways, the Venue could maintain traffic pace and climb mountain grades, but the CVT and engine noise became noticeable under heavy acceleration. The Venue lacked all-wheel-drive (AWD), with power directed to the front wheels, raising questions about its crossover SUV classification. It offered 17 centimetres of ground clearance, allowing it to handle accumulated snow with winter tires. The 2024 Venue achieved a fuel consumption rating of 7.5 litres per 100 kilometres in combined driving, averaging 7.8 L/100 km during testing.

The 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport offered multiple powertrain options, all paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission and standard four-wheel drive (4WD). The base Dynamic SE model featured a 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-six engine producing 395 hp and 406 lb-ft of torque. A plug-in hybrid variant based on the same engine delivered 454 hp and 487 lb-ft. The Autobiography trim also offered the plug-in hybrid powertrain, with output increased to 543 hp and 590 lb-ft. Dynamic SE and Autobiography models could be equipped with a BMW-sourced twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 producing 523 hp and 553 lb-ft, with mild-hybrid assistance for improved fuel economy. The SV Edition Two used the same V8, but with output pushed to 626 hp, making it the most powerful production Range Rover model. It could accelerate from 0-100 km/h in 3.8 seconds, with a top speed of 290 km/h. The Range Rover Sport's sport-tuned air suspension, four-wheel steering, and brake-based torque vectoring contributed to its agile handling and luxurious ride. All models featured the Terrain Response system for off-roading, with the Autobiography offering a two-speed transfer case. Ground clearance varied, with the SV Edition Two having 21 cm, while other models had up to 28.4 cm when raised to off-road height.

The 2024 Hyundai Venue's increased ground clearance made it easier to enter and exit the front and back seats. Despite its small dimensions, comfort was decent, with the driver's seat featuring a manual height adjuster and the steering wheel offering tilt-and-telescopic adjustment. The front seats had appealing fabric inserts, artificial leather bolsters, and heated cushions for cold weather. The back seat technically accommodated three people, but two would be more comfortable. Taller passengers might find the hard plastic front seatbacks uncomfortable, and rear storage space was limited, with no air conditioning vents. In the front, there was decent storage space, including a useful dashboard shelf. Cargo room was on par with a typical compact car, offering 528 litres, expandable to 902 litres with the back seat folded.

The 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport sat between the Range Rover Velar and the full-size Range Rover in terms of dimensions, offering more room than the Velar while remaining in the midsize range. Unlike some competitors, it was sold only as a two-row five-seater. Front-seat occupants enjoyed similar headroom to other midsize luxury SUVs, with the Acura MDX and Audi Q7 offering slightly more legroom. The sloping roof didn't significantly impact rear-seat headroom, with only the BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE offering marginally more. The Mercedes provided additional second-row legroom, but most passengers found adequate space, thanks to standard reclining rear seats and 20-way power-adjustable front seats with heating, ventilation, and memory. The Range Rover Sport offered 835 litres of cargo space behind the second row, comparable to a Lexus RX but less than some competitors. With the rear seats folded, it provided 1,860 litres of cargo space. While it lacked a split tailgate, power operation and an "access height" setting for the air suspension facilitated loading and unloading. The Sport's towing capacity was 3,500 kilograms for turbo-six and V8 models, with plug-in hybrids rated at 3,000 kilograms.

The 2024 Hyundai Venue featured an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment display with modern graphics, logical menu structures, and simple operation. Below the screen were stereo volume and radio tuning knobs, along with buttons for quick access to commonly used functions. Standard features included Bluetooth connectivity with music streaming, wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, and a six-speaker sound system. However, the Venue's stereo speakers could have been better, considering its target audience of youthful consumers.

The 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport shared its standard screen setup with the larger Range Rover, featuring a 13.7-inch digital instrument cluster and a 13.1-inch touchscreen for infotainment functions. Wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Amazon Alexa integration were standard. The screens looked impressive, with the instrument cluster mounted in a neat pod and the central touchscreen appearing to float atop the dashboard. However, the minimalist design had functional drawbacks, as it relied heavily on the touchscreen for functions like climate control and drive mode selection. Steering wheel controls offered limited alternatives, but the Pivi Pro infotainment system was responsive, with improved natural-language voice recognition. The SV Edition Two test car featured "Body and Soul Seats" with embedded transducers, providing a unique experience by pulsing with music or sound-based relaxation programs. While pleasant, it felt somewhat gimmicky.

The 2024 Hyundai Venue came with standard forward-collision warning with pedestrian detection, automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, and a driver monitoring system. The Venue Preferred added blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert. However, adaptive cruise control and lane-centring assist were not available. The lane-keeping assist system occasionally produced inaccurate alerts, and the forward-collision warning issued one incorrect warning. In terms of crash protection, the Venue performed decently, but its small size meant it might not fare as well in collisions with larger vehicles. The IIHS awarded the Venue Good ratings in three crash tests, with an Acceptable rating for the Ultimate trim's LED headlights. The NHTSA gave it an overall rating of four stars.

The 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport included standard driver-assist features such as automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, traffic sign recognition, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, and a driver attention monitor. The standard 360-degree camera system and digital rearview mirror aided parking, compensating for the Sport's tall hood. However, the parking sensors were overly sensitive, and a shortcut button for camera activation would have been appreciated. At the time of writing, the IIHS and NHTSA had not released safety ratings for the current-generation Range Rover Sport.