 James up you guys, welcome back to another one. If you are new to this channel, I am Gold Pony at the new car track SUV reviews on YouTube and today we're in the brand new 2024 Toyota Venza courtesy of younger Toyota in Hagerstown, Maryland for more information on their inventory. Please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. So today we're in this one because this is an all wheel drive SUV that gets 40 miles per gallon, which is insane. You do also get two years for 25,000 miles of complimentary maintenance as well. And this particular Venza, of course, is known for legendary reliability. Just take a look at consumer reports for that. But ultimately in this video we'll be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering field, ride quality, sound system, exhaust lip, all that fun stuff. So having said all that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so as you can imagine, there are several different trim levels for the 2024 Venza. First one being the LE, starting at $35,070. XLE for $39,280. Nightshade Edition for $39,980. And lastly, the limited being the one we are in today, starting at $43,215. But regardless of trim level that you go with, the power plant on the Venza is going to be the same. Powering the Beast is a 2.5 liter four cylinder with three electric motors, putting out a combined 219 horsepower at 5,700 RPM, 163 pound feet of torque coming in at 5,200 RPM, that power being sent to all four wheels through a CVT, zero to 60 time coming in at approximately 7.1 seconds with MPG numbers coming in at 40 in the city, 37 on the highway taking regular unleaded fuel. You gotta love that. And so before we do any kind of fun acceleration test here in the Venza, I did want to mention to you guys the drive modes. There's a toggle switch located directly in front of the shifter there. Drive modes will include Eco, Normal, Sport and EV, adjusting things like the shift points, the throttle response, the steering sensitivity, and there is actual EV mode button to put it in full EV mode to just driving pure electric driving at lower speeds typically, if everything is fully charged that is. So now having got all of that out of the way, what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find a straightaway. Let's put the Venza here to the test end. Let's see how quickly we can get our new 2024 Venza here up to speed. In sport driving mode, let's go. It switched from that electric mode to the gas mode real quick when you really hit the gas. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. Zero to 67.1, that is plenty respectable. So you're 100% not gonna have any issues in merging onto the highway. Having said that, I'm not sure how often you're really gonna do that acceleration test, maybe if you're merging onto the highway. So other than that, yeah, you're not gonna have any issues there. But anyways, too cold all with that acceleration is always braking is equally important. So upfront, you will find 12 inch ventilated front discs in the back, 11.1 inch solid rear discs. As far as that 60 is your stopping distance goes that comes in at 121 feet, that is plenty respectable of a number. As far as the braking feel goes, whoa, it's on the firm side. I love that. This thing instantly comes to a stop. So if you need that insane braking power, this is pretty darn good. And honestly, 60 is zero and 121 feet, that is better than average for sure. Typically with SUVs at least, you find upper 120s, if not the 130. So 121 feet, that's borderline sports sedan, which typically is the one team. So nothing wrong with that whatsoever. Then touching on suspension and handling upfront, you're gonna get independent McPherson strut front suspension. In the back, independent multi-link rear suspension, of course, front and rear stabilizer bars. As far as ride quality goes, as we're cruising over some super smooth roads here in Hagerstown, Maryland, it's been perfectly fine in my short little test drive here today, nothing crazy, nothing too luxurious, but it's definitely a pretty smooth ride. So I don't have any issues there. As far as steering feel goes, let me actually put it back in sport driving mode real quick. Okay, I don't mind that. Now let me put it back out of sport driving mode. Actually feels pretty similar. There's a little bit of a variation there, but a little heavier of a weight to it in that sport driving mode. It does loosen up a little bit when you take it out. But honestly, it's not the crazy. It's what you would expect the Venza to feel like in terms of that steering feel. So not a heavy steering feel, definitely not a very loose steering feel either. Like a lot of times you will find it SUV. So I'll say it's just right, but then touching on cabin noises, we're going 57 miles per hour right now. I honestly don't have any issues. There's maybe a teensy bit of road noise, but it's a pretty quiet cabin for what the Venza is. So again, no issues there. Touching our rear visibility, I can see perfectly fine out the back because of the shape of this. You really shouldn't have any issues there, but it did what I also mentioned with our limited trim level that we had today. I just hit the rear view mirror here and there is a rear camera mirror that is specific to the limited trim level. So essentially if you're going to like Ocean City, Maryland or Myrtle Beach, or you're going on a long road trip essentially with the kids in the back, all of your stuff packed up in the cargo area to the ceiling of this thing. So you can't see out of that rear view mirror. That is what the rear camera mirror is for. Since it's mounted on the exterior of the vehicle, you can see what is behind you whereas you wouldn't be able to if everything is packed in the cargo area. So I love the rear camera mirror there for that specific reason, but rain-sensing windshield wipers also coming standard on the limited. So when the Venza detects any kind of mist or rainfall, it's going to automatically turn on those windshield wipers for you. So just one last thing you got to worry about, kind of like automatic headlights. And last thing I want to mention, specific to the limited yet again, I am looking at a head up displayed projecting my speed, speed limit and safety features up onto my windshield. So better helping me keep my eyes on the road so you can better enjoy the drive in the Toyota Venza. So anyways, that pretty much rounds out the performance segment of this review, you guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2024 Toyota Venza. All right, so here she is, you guys. The new 2024 Toyota Venza finished in windchill pearl in case you were curious of our exact exterior color name. But by the way, this paint color is a $309 option in case you were curious. But as always, let's go ahead and start with where the Venza is made. Taking a look at the Ven first character is the letter J, indicating that the new Toyota Venza is built and assembled in Japan, completely actually, 100%, so completely JDM. You gotta love it. But let's go ahead to start up front on this one dark gray front grille with chrome accents with active grill shutters as well. So the grill shutters are gonna open and close dependent upon the engine cooling that is needed at any given time. So they're gonna open up when more engine cooling is needed and they're gonna close up when it is not needed. So that is pretty cool. You do have the blue Toyota kind of logo upfront as well indicating that the Toyota Venza is a hybrid of course. LED projector headlights with LED daytime running lights coming standard for all trim levels across the board. I remember reviewing this one just a couple years ago and the LED reflectors used to come standard. But now the projectors, meaning the better lighting, illuminating further out at night is going to come standard for every single trim level across the board. So you gotta love that. Automatic feature coming with those as well along with automatic high beams. So if you have your high beams on at night and it senses a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's gonna automatically dim them back to low beams. And when the vehicle is gone, it's gonna automatically bounce it back up to high beams for you there. So you gotta love that. And you guys can probably see those LED fog lights down below as well. They will come on the XLE trim level end up in case you were curious. So that's why we have those with us here today. But anyways, that pretty much rounds out the front end of the Venza. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the side. Find someone else since we are around to the side of this one, low profile silver roof rails coming with the XLE and the limited trim levels. Guys can see those up top there. Rear privacy glass, of course, coming standard as well. You're gonna find chrome windows surrounds. The hybrid badging is officially gone for the front fenders. I remember it used to have the hybrid badging on the front fenders, but it has been removed. So maybe that saved the Toyota a couple bucks when producing this one. Take a look at the side mirrors, body colored power adjustable side mirrors do come standard. There will actually be gloss black, of course, on the night shade. Don't wanna forget to mention that. Heated side mirrors coming standard, LED integrated turd signals also coming standard. And believe it or not, you get puddle lights coming standard as well for every single trim level. That's nuts. You never see that, but limited trim level though is going to add to that puddle lights with the Venza lettering. So you wanna be fancy, go with the limited like we have today here. Take a look down at the wheel setup, 18 inch multi spoke machine finished alloys for the LE, 19 inch multi spoke chrome alloys for the XLE and limited. And you're gonna find 19 inch multi spoke gloss black alloys for the night shade, of course. But that pretty much rounds off the side profile. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the back. Alright, some announcements. So we are around to the back of this one all the way to the top body colored shark fin antenna. Just below that rear spoiler with the integrated brake light. Just below that, you got the rear window wiper, of course. LED tail lights coming standard across the board. That is pretty cool. You got the blue Toyota badge. And yet again, since again, we still have the hybrid here. Just below it all though, Toyota did a really good job with this. So many manufacturers right now are tucking away the exhaust, but Toyota actually still exposes the exhaust, which I personally love that look. So you do have dual exhaust outlets with chrome tips. So having said that, I do believe you guys know what we have to do next here. As always here is that exhaust clip. And so now since we are around to the back of the Venza here, when it comes to opening that rear tailgate, get this hands free power tailgate coming standard for every single trim level across the board. Again, one of those things you only see on upper trim levels typically with the competition. So got to love that. Once opened up, cargo capacity comes in at 28.8 cubic feet. If that was not enough space, there is a 60 fully split, meaning the rear seats do fold down, bumping that up to 55.1 cubic feet. In case you were curious, there is a cargo cover once again coming standard for all trim levels across the board. The LED cargo lighting back there as well. Typically you find the halogen bulbs in the cargo area. So the fact that LEDs are standard, not a huge deal, but pretty cool nonetheless. And then if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor, you are going to find a spare tire as opposed to the fix of flat. And you got a good bit of storage surrounding that spare tire. So you probably throw an ice scraper back there too if you wanted to. But then make your way up to the rear legroom that comes in at 37.8 inches for reference, I mean even six feet tall. This is how much space I had in the back seats there. Rear center armrest with cup holders does come standard rear ventilation, also coming standard end, dual rear USB charging ports, also coming standard. You got to love it. But then make your way up to the front seats, cloth seating for the LE trim level, soft techs upholstery for all the other trims essentially. It's what you guys are looking at. Eight-way power driver seat with power lumbar for all trim levels, memory settings for the XLE nightshade and limited trims, power adjustable passenger seat for the limited trim level only, heated front seats for the nightshade, XLE and limited and then ventilated front seats for the limited trim level only. But overall, as far as seat comfort goes, the Venza has incredibly comfortable seats. So it's definitely a solid second place right behind the Lexus F Sport seats. But these seats are absolutely incredible in terms of seat comfort. You're definitely not gonna have any issues taking this thing on a long road trip. So I absolutely love that. But now let's go ahead and take a look at the steering wheel. It is tilt and telescoping. It is gonna be leather wrapped for all trim levels, heated for the limited trim level. And it will be power adjustable actually for our limited as well, which I love seeing that. But now let's go ahead and make our way to the startup here. Let me start by showing you guys the key. It is a Venza-specific key. You got the Venza lettering on the one side when you flip it over, lock, unlock, and the button to pop the rear tailgate there. But it is all keyless entry with a push button start. So all I'm going to do here is simply put my foot on the brake and press that engine start button located kind of just in front of the shifter there. And so once started up, when it comes to the gauges, speedometer is all the way to your right. You have a full digital speedometer front and center. And then to the left, you got some of your battery indicator statistics, but there's outside temperature, trip A, trip B, and this can all be controlled by using the steering wheel amount to controls found on the left side of the steering wheel. There's a ton of different things you could check out up there. So pretty much everything you could possibly want on a digital gauge cluster. But now let's go ahead and make our way to overall interior quality. There is gonna be a Stargaze panoramic moonroof, which is optional on the limited. We don't have that option, so we got nothing. But LED interior lighting for all trim levels, wireless phone charger, all trim levels, dual zoom climate control, all trim levels yet again, homelink controls for the XLE night shade and limited trim levels. That's for up to three different garage doors found in the bottom portion of that frameless rear view mirror there. Eliminated footwells for the XLE night shade and limited trim levels. You got some woodgrain style trim for the XLE night shade and limited trims as well. And that's gonna be found in different colors. There's gonna be some black finishes, some dark finishes, a light finish actually as well. So I definitely like that. But soft text finish surrounding the shifter, you almost never see that. Typically that's left either in a gloss black or like a matte gray plastic. So the fact that Toyota finished this and a soft text finish, that's what other manufacturers should be doing. Like I just got done checking out an Acura TLX, brand new one. And it had matte gray finish surrounding all of this. This is a more luxurious finish than that Acura I just got done driving. So this is incredible. I love the interior quality on this one. So a lot of soft text finishes on the doors as well. You got the contrast stitching that woodgrain style trim also found on the door. So when it comes to interior quality, Toyota crushed it with the Venza. This is definitely leaning on more of a luxurious interior as opposed to otherwise. I love it, but now let's go ahead and take a look at the infotainment screen because it is massive. You get an eight inch color touchscreen display for the LE trim, but all the other trim levels get a 12.3 inch color touchscreen display. It gives you Bluetooth and audio streaming wireless Android Auto Apple CarPlay. There's a cool energy monitor screen up there as well. Along of course, with your radio information. And so when it comes to the sound systems, there are two of them. You're gonna find a six speaker sound system for the LE night shade and XLE trims, but then a nine speaker JBL sound system for the limited. That sound system by the way is optional on the XLE, but that is the one we have today since we have the limited of course. So let's go ahead and turn on the radio see what we got playing today. And let's test out the clarity of this one. It's okay. It's pretty good. Honestly, I expected a little bit more with it being the upgraded sound system. So the way I see it here, the bass was plenty fine. You guys probably saw the JBL subwoofer back in the cargo area. I actually had an aftermarket JBL subwoofer in my very first car. I'll have you know, and I loved it, but it's pretty good bass, but it's only nine speakers. I would have probably threw a little more speakers in this thing with an upgraded sound system because although the clarity was good, it didn't necessarily give me that concert experience. Maybe I'm being too picky, but maybe I'm used to testing out these 16, 17 speaker sound systems lately where it's coming at you from all directions, making you really feel like you're at the concert, but clarity was good. Bass was really good. Just doesn't give you that full concert experience that some of the other upgraded sound systems not a test I'll give you. But anyways, last thing I want to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen is when you do put the Venza in reverse, you will find every review camera coming stated across the board. The Panoramic View Monitor is gonna be available as well, which is always is going to lead us into safety. And so first, let me start by saying IIHS Top Safety Pick. So pretty much does it all right there. Front side, side curtain airbags do come standard. Got a driver's knee airbag up front, passenger seat cushion airbag as well. In the back, you're gonna have latch AKA lower anchors to tether your children for the rear car seats, rear child door locks, temperature monitoring system, but also coming standard Toyota Safety Sense 2.5 Plus. That gives you a pre-collision system with pedestrian detection, lane departure alert with steering assist, lane tracing assist, dynamic radar cruise control, road sign assist and a blind spot monitoring system with rear cross traffic alert as well. So overall, when it comes to my final thoughts here of the Venza, excellent fuel economy for an all wheel drive SUV, 40 miles per gallon in the city. That is incredible. Great interior quality as well. Really it beats a lot of the luxury cars that I drive quite honestly. So nothing wrong with that. Very comfortable seats is something I always say when I drive the Venza I feel like because I instantly notice it. Having a bad back, there's only two seats that I absolutely am obsessed with. That's the F-Sport seats from Lexus and these Venza seats, whatever they are. They are absolutely amazing. The only room for improvement honestly I could probably think of is, actually there's a couple things. So multicolor ambient lighting would be nice to see. Heated rear seats I think would be pretty cool as well since the rest of the vehicle's luxury why not go all out? And some rear window sunshades I think would be cool if you got kids in the back as well. But anyways, let me know what you guys think of the Venza in the comments section below. That is about it for this one you guys. Thank you so much for watching. Feel free to follow me on social media if you wanted to see what's coming next on the channel before it gets to YouTube. Be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button if you're in a new car reviews because that is what we do here on this channel after all. Do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay Gold.