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Not Coming to a Luxury Dealer Near Y ou: The 2009 Toyota Venza Crosses Luxury and Practicality
[ B y G reg Rube n stei n ]
Comfortably stationed behind the wheel of the all-new 2009 Venza, it’s easy to imagine you are driving something that came off a Lexus dealer’s lot instead of a Toyotabranded SUV. From the supple leather seats and steering wheel to the wood-trimmed dash featuring virtually flawless fit and finish with silkysmooth and nicely weighted switch gear, the only hint that this is in fact a Toyota (besides the obvious logos) is the slightly elevated din coming from those giant but oh-so-gorgeous 20-inch wheels and tires. Add a bit of extra soundproofing and jack up the Venza’s price, oh, say another $15,000, change the badges, and poof—instant Lexus. Given the Venza’s lineage, all this praise should come as no surprise. It’s a crossover vehicle—an SUV built on the underpinnings of a car—created from the same platform that spawned the RX350 as well as Lexus’s ES350 sedan (and Toyota’s Camry and Avalon sedans, Sienna minivan, and Highlander SUV). The Venza is on sale now and is offered with either a 2.7-liter four-cylinder engine that returns 21 mpg city and 29 mpg highway, or a stout 268-horsepower 3.5-liter V6 that’s rated for 19 mpg city and 26 mpg highway. Our front-wheel-drive V6 turned in just over 23 mpg in mixed driving. The tour included 54
North Valley APRIL | MAY 2009
a jaunt to Tucson and back, where we saw 25 mpg while cruising at 80 mph. Regardless of the engine, the Venza comes with a six-speed sequential-shift electronically controlled automatic transmission with uphill/downhill shift control that chooses just the right gear for the conditions while providing for as-needed engine braking while driving down long hills. Both engines are available in either front-wheel or all-wheel drive configuration, with the latter system utilizing active torque control to optimize power going to the front or rear wheels for stable acceleration and smooth cornering. The four-cylinder FWD Venza has a base price of $25,975, while the AWD V6 model starts out at $29,250. Our V6 FWD test vehicle in golden umber mica came with just about every option and had a base of $27,800. Fully optioned, it was just over $37,000, a solid value for such luxury and utility. Inside, the Venza blends carlike handling with SUV utility, providing comfortable seating for five adults, while all the luggage fits easily behind the rear passenger seats. An optional power up-and-down rear hatch makes loading this crossover a breeze, and the multifunction DVD navigation and entertainment system with rear-seat display is ideal
for keeping the young ones happy on a long interstate cruise. The Venza comes with a long list of standard equipment and stand-alone or package options, many of them more typically found in premium luxury vehicles. These include high intensity discharge headlamps with an automatic high beam feature that detects oncoming vehicles and automatically switches the headlamps from high- to low-beam, panoramic roof with power tilt/slide function, and a separate fixed glass panel over the rear seats. Also available are multilanguage voice navigation, 19- or 20-inch wheels (depending on engine selection), dual zone automatic climate control, and a 3.5-inch multifunction display that includes clock, outside temperature, and cruise information. The Venza is the first Toyota passenger car to offer Star Safety as standard equipment for all models, and its safety features are impressive. There are driver and frontpassenger advanced airbags, driver and front passenger seat-mounted side airbags, front and rear seat side-curtain airbags, driver’s knee airbag, stability control with traction control, antilock brakes with electronic brake-force distribution, and automatic locking retractors on all passenger seatbelts and pretensioners with force limiters for the front seat belts. Where the Venza truly shines is a fresh new design that has a hint of Toyota’s current “look” but is distinctly all its own. The shapely silhouette begins up front, as the grille, headlights, and fog lamps flow into an aggressive, aerodynamic shape with continuous lines that run all the way to the D-pillar. Piloting the Venza is a treat, as it accelerates briskly, stops quickly, and responds in an agile manner to steering inputs. Where the Lexus RX350 is close to SUV perfected, the Venza is crossover-perfect. It’s not every day someone driving a MercedesBenz asks a Toyota driver what kind of car he’s driving, but it happened during my week in the Venza!