2009 Toyota Venza

Toyota's only all-new model for 2009 is basically a Camry wagon, but its $26,000-plus price and lack of a third row will hurt it with family buyers

By Thane Peterson

Editor's Rating:

The Good: Choice of engines, good looks, available all-wheel drive

The Bad: Pricey when you add options, no third row of seats

The Bottom Line: A stylish Camry station wagon

Reader Reviews

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Up Front

Toyota (TM) only has one all-new '09 model in North America, the five-passenger Venza crossover vehicle. Designed in California, engineered in Michigan, and manufactured in Kentucky, the Venza is derived from the same platform as the Camry sedan and very much designed to appeal to American tastes. However, the crossover segment is already crowded, and my prediction is that the Venza will mainly appeal to Toyota loyalists and the over-50 crowd. It's a nice-looking vehicle, but there are many roomier and less expensive alternatives.

Toyota bills the new model as "more useful than a sedan, but more car-like than an SUV," and sees it as filling a gap between the Camry sedan and the Toyota Highlander SUV. In reality, it's a gussied-up station wagon. The company dropped the Camry station wagon after the 1996 model year, but that's what the Venza is—a revived Camry wagon with a taller profile, sleeker styling, and higher price than a traditional station wagon. It just couldn't look like a wagon because that would be the kiss of death with American consumers.

The Venza's main competition is the Highlander, as well as competing crossover SUVs such as the Nissan (NSANY) Murano, Ford's (F) Edge, and the new Chevrolet Traverse. The Venza is nearly identical to the Highlander in length (189 inches), width (75 in.), and ground clearance (8.1 in.). The big difference between the two models is that the Highlander, as befits a classic SUV, is six inches taller than the Venza and comes with a third row of seats that raises its maximum seating to seven.

Like the Highlander, the Venza is available with front- or all-wheel-drive and comes with two choices of engine, a 2.7-liter, 182-horsepower four-banger and a 3.5-liter, 268-horsepower V6. The only transmission is a six-speed automatic with a manual shifting function.

Aside from more seats, the main advantage of the Highlander is that it has more cargo capacity with its rear seats down (95 cu. ft. vs. 70 for the Venza), as well as more towing capacity (a maximum 5,000 lbs vs. 3,500 for the Venza). However, the Venza has a voluminous 30 cu. ft. of luggage space behind its single row of rear seats, vs. just 10.3 cu. ft for the Highlander when all three rows of seats are in use.

The Venza also is priced similarly to the Highlander, with a starting sticker that ranges from $26,695 with the four-cylinder engine and front-wheel drive, up to $29,970 with V6 power and all-wheel drive. However, the Venza's average selling price is a relatively steep $33,551, a few hundred dollars more than the '09 Highlander's average of $33,193, according to the Power Information Network (PIN). That's because the Venza's price mounts rapidly when you start adding options. Two premium packages that add such niceties as leather seat trim, push-button starting, a backup camera, and mahogany dashboard trim cost a hefty $4,345 and $3,845, respectively. A navigation system goes for $2,590, a rear-seat entertainment system for $1,680, and a panoramic sunroof for $1,080.

Fuel economy is a tad better than the Highlander's. With the smaller engine, the Venza is rated to get 21 miles per gallon in the city and 29 on the highway, dropping to 20/28 with all-wheel drive. With V6 power, the Venza's rating drops to 19/26 with front-wheel drive and 18/25 with all-wheel drive.