Despite the advent of sporty turbo-petrol motors, naturally aspirated petrol engines continue to comprise a major chunk of sales in the compact SUV segment. Two of the most popular compact SUVs, the Hyundai Venue and Maruti Suzuki Brezza, are offered with naturally aspirated petrol mills. Question is, which one fares better when you put your foot down? To find out, we put the Venue and Brezza through our instrumented performance tests.
Hyundai Venue vs Maruti Brezza NA petrol MT specs and price
*Excluding premiums for dual-tone finishes and cosmetic packages.
On paper, the Brezza takes the lead right off the bat thanks to its larger 1.5-litre engine – around 25 percent larger than the Venue’s powerplant. The Brezza also makes 20hp and 24Nm more than the Venue does, though the Maruti Suzuki SUV does weigh 63kg more. Despite that, the Brezza’s power-to-weight and torque-to-weight ratios are considerably higher than those of the Venue.
Pricing is a win for the Venue, though. For the NA petrol-powered variants, the Venue's prices start at Rs 26,000 less than those of the Brezza, while at the higher end, the Hyundai SUV is more affordable by Rs 62,000. The substantial price gaps are largely on account of the Venue’s smaller engine placing it in the 18 percent tax bracket, while the Brezza attracts a 40 percent rate; its 1.5-litre engine does not qualify for the 'small car' GST criteria.
Hyundai Venue vs Maruti Brezza NA petrol MT 0-100kph acceleration test
Up until 10kph, the Venue is ahead of the Brezza by an ever-so-slim margin of 0.03sec, following which the Maruti SUV edges ahead and keeps widening the gap. By the 50kph mark, the Brezza manages to pull a near-1sec lead over the Venue, which expands to a significant 2.67 seconds as both compact SUVs breach 100kph.
It’s clear that the Brezza’s higher power and torque figures do well to offset its slightly heavier kerb weight and beat the Hyundai SUV in head-to-head acceleration.
Hyundai Venue vs Maruti Brezza NA petrol MT rolling acceleration test
Like in the 0-100kph test, the Brezza emerged the victor on the rolling acceleration front. Going from 20-80kph in third gear, the Venue took 0.49sec more than the Brezza, and from 40-100kph in fourth gear, the Maruti SUV was a whopping 3.06 seconds quicker.
Autocar India’s testing standards
Before we conduct our performance tests, we check and maintain tyre pressures per the manufacturer’s recommendations and ensure the car is charged to 100 percent. The car is then tested in a controlled environment with two people on board, and the data is collected via highly accurate GPS-based timing equipment.
All prices are ex-showroom, India.
Uday Singh
Dipan Sur
Rivan RS 
