2024 Hyundai Venue vs 2025 Jeep Wrangler

The 2024 Hyundai Venue was available in SE, SEL, and Limited trim levels, with prices ranging from $21,275 to $24,525, including the destination charge. The Venue SEL, priced at $23,275, was recommended for its enhanced exterior appearance and additional convenience and safety features. The Limited trim test vehicle, painted in Ecotronic Gray, had an MSRP of $24,735. Despite limited options, the Venue's design was appealing, offering a sense of genuine style. Inside, the Venue featured hard plastic materials, but they didn't appear cheap. The interior boasted unexpected style elements, such as seat stripes and piping, and white trim around the dashboard air vents and transmission shifter. The digital instrumentation and 8-inch touchscreen infotainment display were highlights, showcasing Hyundai's attention to quality and design.

In contrast, the 2025 Jeep Wrangler Sport S hardtop, encountered as a rental in Honolulu, was less fortunate in its color choice, featuring a heat-absorbing black-on-black combination. Despite this, the Wrangler's appeal lay in its ability to embrace the Hawaiian environment with open windows and removed roof panels. Jeep offered the Wrangler in various trims, including the powerful Rubicon 392 with a 470-horsepower V8 engine. The Sport S model had a few options, including a turbocharged four-cylinder engine, bringing its MSRP to $49,175. The Wrangler's interior, though lacking sophistication, featured classy gray fabric dashboard trim, metallic accents, and a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system. Its design evoked themes of American freedom, rooted in its military vehicle heritage and off-road capability.

The 2024 Hyundai Venue was equipped with a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine producing 121 horsepower and 113 pound-feet of torque. Weighing 2,612 pounds in base SE trim, the Venue's continuously variable transmission (CVT) 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 roads, resulting in a busy ride quality. On highways, it could maintain freeway speeds but sounded unpleasant when pushed hard. The Venue lacked all-wheel drive, with power directed to the front wheels, raising questions about its crossover SUV classification. It offered 6.7 inches of ground clearance, making it capable of handling snow with winter tires. The Venue achieved an EPA rating of 31 mpg in combined driving, though our testing yielded 30.3 mpg.

The 2025 Jeep Wrangler offered a choice between a 3.6-liter V6 engine with a six-speed manual transmission and a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine with an eight-speed automatic transmission. The latter produced 270 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque, offering better fuel efficiency with an EPA rating of 21 mpg in combined driving. Our rental, equipped with the four-cylinder engine, averaged 19.2 mpg during a week of driving in Hawaii. The Wrangler's standard four-wheel drive, high ground clearance, and off-road capabilities made it well-suited for the island's terrain. However, its ride was rough, and the steering felt disconnected. The Wrangler's three-star rollover resistance rating from the NHTSA was a concern. Despite its off-road prowess, the Wrangler's handling and ride quality left much to be desired.

The 2024 Hyundai Venue's increased ground clearance made it easy to enter and exit the front and back seats. Despite its small dimensions, comfort was decent, with manual height adjustment for the driver's seat and tilt-and-telescopic steering wheel adjustment. The front seats featured fabric inserts, artificial leather bolsters, and heated cushions. The back seat technically accommodated three people, but two were more comfortable. Taller passengers might find the hard plastic front seatbacks uncomfortable. Rear-seat riders had USB ports but limited storage space and no air conditioning vents. The Venue lacked dark-tinted rear privacy glass, requiring window shades for infants. Cargo space was on par with a compact car, offering 18.7 cubic feet with the seats up and 31.9 cubic feet with the back seat folded.

In contrast, the 2025 Jeep Wrangler posed challenges for entry and exit due to its high ground clearance, tall door sills, and narrow door openings. Step rails were available but could complicate access. Once inside, the front seats were comfortable, with cloth upholstery and heated options. The driver's seat had a manual height adjuster, but it could lower over time. The Wrangler accommodated five people, but four were more comfortable. Rear-seat legroom was adequate, but taller passengers needed to avoid plastic hooks on the front seatbacks. Storage space was limited, with small items often ending up in cupholders. Cargo access was cumbersome, requiring the tailgate and rear window to be opened. The Wrangler offered 31.7 cubic feet of cargo space, expandable to 72.4 cubic feet with the back seat folded.

The 2024 Hyundai Venue featured an 8-inch touchscreen infotainment display with modern graphics and logical menu structures. Standard features included Bluetooth connectivity, wireless Apple CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, Bluelink connected services, and a six-speaker sound system. The Limited trim added a navigation system, SiriusXM satellite radio, a wireless smartphone charger, and Bluelink+. However, the upgraded system required wired connections for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, diminishing the wireless charger's utility. Despite this quirk, the Venue Limited's infotainment system was sophisticated, with impressive voice recognition. Music streaming through Apple Music and Pandora was effortless, though the stereo speakers could have been better.

The 2025 Jeep Wrangler boasted the Uconnect 5 infotainment system with a 12.3-inch touchscreen display, Bluetooth connectivity, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and SiriusXM satellite radio preparation. The Sport S trim came with an eight-speaker stereo, with a nine-speaker Alpine premium sound system optional. Higher trims offered navigation and Jeep Connect services, including a Wi-Fi hotspot, Adventure Guides, and GPS Trail Logs. The touchscreen remained bright and easy to use, even with the roof panels removed. The Convenience Group pack added a 7-inch digital display, passive entry, remote engine starting, and rear parking sensors. These features enhanced the Wrangler's technology offerings, making it a capable and connected vehicle.

The 2024 Hyundai Venue came equipped with Hyundai SmartSense, a suite of driver assistance systems. It included forward-collision warning with pedestrian detection, automatic emergency braking, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, a driver monitoring system, and a rear-seat reminder system. The Venue SEL added blind-spot monitoring with rear cross-traffic alert, while the Limited trim included cyclist detection. However, adaptive cruise control and lane-centering assist were not available. The lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist systems occasionally produced inaccurate alerts, but overall, the Venue's safety features were effective. The IIHS awarded the Venue Good ratings in three crash tests, with an Acceptable rating for the Limited trim's LED headlights. The NHTSA gave the Venue an overall rating of four stars.

The 2025 Jeep Wrangler introduced side curtain airbags for front and rear seats as standard equipment. Advanced driver assistance systems were optional, with blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert available on most trims. Forward collision warning with automatic braking was exclusive to the Sahara trim. Other safety features included adaptive cruise control and automatic high-beam headlights. Our rental lacked these upgrades, but the Sport S model offered them in the Active Safety Group package. The NHTSA had not conducted new side-impact tests since the addition of side airbags, but it rated the Wrangler four stars for frontal impact and three stars for rollover resistance. The IIHS awarded the Wrangler Good ratings for side-impact protection and moderate overlap frontal-impact tests, but a Marginal rating for the small overlap frontal-impact test.