To summarise, the Venue offers an affordable pricepoint, excellent exterior dimensions and visibility, competitive ownership costs and unique looks.
Its interior may or may not work for you, depending on how many kids you have and how often you need to use the full boot.
Its downsides are that it lacks a premium feel and polish behind the wheel, and could offer more active safety and driver-assistance features.
The Venue is by no means a driver’s car, but it’s user-friendly, efficient and has enough room for extras – representing that nice midpoint between ‘first car’ and ‘family car’ I spoke about earlier.
Still, this is a competitive class with lots of worthy contenders, so I’d always suggest trialling a few other small SUVs before you take the plunge. Happy shopping!