How Comfortable is 2021 Toyota Venza? New Owners Speak Out

Hello, I am not in the market for a Venzs at this time. I enjoy reading Jeff's articles. The writing style keeps this reader engaged as well as entertained. Brings me back to my college Elements of Exposition papers. I would like to think that the driving experience of the Venza would be a great way to de stress after a long day at work or the stress of meeting a deadline for an important work project or better yet having had to read one of my 4th grade book reports. :/ Hats off to all the great teachers.

I wanted to purchase a hybrid so I researched test drove the Honda that everyone was saying was the best on the market. I wanted to test the Rav4 to compare so went Toyota dealer and they had a couple of the Venza (Haier) on the lot so I asked to drive it. The rest is history for me. I purchased a Venza Limited with all the bells a whistle. I new as soon as got in it I was going to purchase the interior was very impressive luxurious and comfortable. JBL speakers, 12" infotainment system, heads up speedometer, interior lighting and star gaze. Then I test drove it and was sold quiet with all the power I need. I

"I can lie flat (at an angle) in it." followed by a picture of you *not* lying flat in it. Going by your logic, I can lie flat (rotated, at multiple angles) inside my own shoes. You literally bent the truth. This is a work of fiction.

Looks like Toyota finds their Buick!

For ride comfort, amenities, and torque vectoring AWD, the Buick Envision is probably the best in the segment. Just need a PHEV version for best fuel economy.

I have the 2009 Toyota Venza and I honestly love it so much I don’t know if I like the new version of it but I will have to actually see it!!

We just bought our 2021 Toyota in December and I pretty much love everything about it. It doesn't have extra bells and whistles but I don't need them. I've never had a brand new car and this is my dream. Quiet and comfortable. I'm getting 38-40 mpg. 2 complaints I do have...not much cargo room and passenger side doesn't have controls to lower the seat. I hit my head when I ride in the passenger side. Still, so very happy with new Venza.

Leased Venza XLE for my wife, she is excited about many things in it. Comfortable seats, nice tech features, AWD that you can even feel that it works like it should in poor road conditions.
But there are several things that may make you think you've made a mistake buying it, and the first and the worst is the sound insulation. I've owned several different vehicles from this price range and driven much more from that. Poor sound dampening reduces admiration gauge of this car. The wind noise breaks into the interior just after 40mph and driving 70 on a highway in addition to buzzing from the wheels on a large-fraction asphalt or whistling on a concrete will make you head blow in just couple of hours. I felt like I was piloting a plane. We did not pay much attention to it on test-drive and regret about that. Other than that the interior started squeaking after less than 3 months and 3k miles. Never expected this from Toyota. If you drive it in the city with radio on this is not a problem, but that is not true for long highway trips and not what you expect from the car of this price range.
The second tricky thing it is the navigation. Poor POI, tricky routing compared to smartphone, and sometimes hazardous paths: it led me to an UNBUILT ramp in Corpus Christi on 65mph which could be fatal if I was driving at nighttime and trusted the navigation. Fortunately it was day, I was focused and knew that navigation is awful. The construction barriers were not visible till the last seconds because of the traffic. That is nonsense, but Toyota thinks that this particular road is completely built, however there is only ramp skeleton there and there was NO road before cause the ramp goes over another highway. Me and my wife are using only smartphone navigation after that moment. I bet this is not the only hazardous path in this navigation system and other recent Toyota models could be affected.
By the way, the only place you can put your phone without obstructing the view or screen is the vent left to the steering wheel, which is not that comfortable. Or use the CarPlay. And you cannot buy a normal tech package without navigation, at least there was no such option when we leased our Venza, so we are paying for things that are dangerous to use in certain circumstances.
Lane keep assistance is buggy too, I have driven tons of rental Corollas and they just keep you in the center like they should. Our Venza jumps from one markup line to another and you have to force steering every second with LKA turned on which makes no sense compared even to the cheaper Corolla. Other safety features work great: speed limit sign recognition, blind spot monitors, adaptive cruise and so on work perfectly in any weather and lightening conditions. But Lane Keep Assistance is something we turned off in the first couple days and never used again.
The interior looks great from the first sight, and from the second. But after 3 months the black interior is covered in scratches on the cheap crappy plastic below the line of sight. Kids will damage the interior very quickly. The vinyl seats also get damage from kids much more that any leather or cloth. This is not a big problem, but it is the thing that definitely could be better especially in the above-lowest trim. Also there is no sunroof you can open to let fresh air inside, there is no such option at all. I do not know why designers thought that looking at the sky is much more important than fresh non-AC air but this is fact. You definitely can open the windows, but on the highway speed they will make much-much louder noise than any average sunroof.
Other than above it looks nice, drives like you expect and feels reliable. At least feels, time will show but people used to trust Toyota and hope this model will not become an exception. Even such a simple thing like spare wheel which is not available in many modern SUVs of this class makes you feel more comfortable on the long trips. It has a good and enough large trunk space, the rear bench is comfortable to seat even for 6ft+ persons, and the driver's visibility is much nicer than in some rivals of this class and even upper classes.

I’m waiting on a Ruby Red Flare Limited with all the bells and whistles in the Java color with the skyroof and large digital screen. The all black color feels cheap and is boring, no sparkle. For $46K I want to love this SUV for the next 10 years

My dog and I just finished a 10-day roundtrip of driving 2600 miles from Minnesota to the east coast in my 21 Venza limited. Overall it did well with no problems except for the highway range which in no certain terms, is the worse of any of the 16 vehicles I’ve owned in my lifetime. The mpg for the trip was 38.7 which is fantastic for a compact 4wd. SUV. However, the # of times having to fill the tank approaching empty is ridiculous. The car NEVER took more than 10.5 gallons on fill up and at my best, only went 420 miles. The Venza manual says it has a 14.5 gallon tank but in over 5000 miles in 3 months, I’ve never filled it past 11 gallons when empty. The car drove well, was roomy enough for my dog and I (if you have a family, the space is very limited) and very comfortable and quiet which was surprising. I did turn off many if the nannies like lane centering and swerve control which over assisted and just made the car less manageable and tiring to drive IMO. It’s a good car, but I’d trade the silly non opening roof for a opening sunroof and beg for more interior lighting especially in the back. Would I pay $44,000 for this car if I had to do it over again - NO. Too many other good choices at that price point.