[cornishjock]

Hi everyone, newbie here. I’ve got a 2010 Venga 1 Air and put 125K miles on it due to adventures and being a community nurse.
Looking to ‘upgrade’ to an auto (knees and comfort) and found a 19 plate ‘4’ locally for sale but as always lots to research. Just wondered what people’s real life experience was with having the pano sunroof and using roof bars with bikes, boards - ie is it easily scratched etc. We currently have Thule Aerobars which should fit according to their website. We hadn’t considered the sunroof but thought it a nice luxury ..but we also use our car like a pack horse so it’s a head v heart thing (much like the fuel economy but we love the driving position and space) We may contemplate a towball in time. I was also wondering with the audio unit when phone connected via Bluetooth does it show tracks when playing music through Spotify and can you skip songs etc. I’m guessing it doesn’t mirror google maps ?
Gleaned some great info on here so many thanks in advance.
John

 

[rpaco]

As far as I know and I may be wrong, you cannot fit the normal roof bars to the Venga with the Panoramic roof. I have the 66 plate 4 auto 6 gear. I am pretty sure that the glass covers the areas where the roof recesses are that the normal roof bars fit into. If you already have the bars you will know how they fit on your current car. Go and look at a Venga with pano roof and see if the necessary features grooves are present.

To be honest I have never found the pano roof to be of any great benefit and always have the sunshades closed underneath it.

If you are buying an auto, beware the low mpg you will get. Use the cruise control a lot it helps the mpg enormously. Though in hilly areas beware the cruise lag of approx 1 second, this may give acceleration just as you reach the crest of hill. But it is very good in flattish areas.

Re the bluetooth I have only ever used it as a connection to the phone and for music stored on the phone, never tried live streaming. I do not use spotify. I also use the phone hotspot for wifi connection which enhances the map and shows speedcams. Also gives live traffic info, shows slow or closed roads. But the speed limits on the my map are several years out of date. (We have had many extra limits imposed and some reduced here in Lincs.)

 

[cornishjock]

Thank you rpaco. Great advice. I had assumed the lip would be there but looking at photos it seems it’s flush all the way over and glass as you say. I was going for an ‘80’s vibe with the sunroof and was looking forward to staring out at the mountains when we eventually can go back. (Live in Norfolk so just big skies here).
The mpg is such a shame for a great do it all spacious car. I should consider diesel but feeling hesitant to go down that route. Tried the Niro which was nice but the extra cash up front will cancel our fuel savings for us over 5 years as a quick calculation. Really wanted to stay at £10k max as car will get abused on my patient rounds. We’ve had the initial fun of looking but now it seems like a right PITA. I put the £99 deposit down at Motorpoint so feeling bit rushed to decide but think I’ll hold off and take more time after trying to forget about it for a few days...if that’s possible 🙈

 

[Phil in Wales]

As far as I know and I may be wrong, you cannot fit the normal roof bars to the Venga with the Panoramic roof. I have the 66 plate 4 auto 6 gear. I am pretty sure that the glass covers the areas where the roof recesses are that the normal roof bars fit into. If you already have the bars you will know how they fit on your current car. Go and look at a Venga with pano roof and see if the necessary features grooves are present.

To be honest I have never found the pano roof to be of any great benefit and always have the sunshades closed underneath it.

If you are buying an auto, beware the low mpg you will get. Use the cruise control a lot it helps the mpg enormously. Though in hilly areas beware the cruise lag of approx 1 second, this may give acceleration just as you reach the crest of hill. But it is very good in flattish areas.

Re the bluetooth I have only ever used it as a connection to the phone and for music stored on the phone, never tried live streaming. I do not use spotify. I also use the phone hotspot for wifi connection which enhances the map and shows speedcams. Also gives live traffic info, shows slow or closed roads. But the speed limits on the my map are several years out of date. (We have had many extra limits imposed and some reduced here in Lincs.)

Dont have an auto and dont like the Pano roof and dont cycle .. so pass on this to those more qualified..like the above post ^^^

 

[Uvox2]

Yes you certainly can fit roofbars to a Venga with a panoramic sunroof as you can see below.

Just be carful as the roof not only slides back but tilts open too if needed albeit its only 2 inches or so.

Go to any roof bar site and select correct model details are met for correct type of fittings.

And for what its worth, the Venga was the jewel in Kias crown....most practical car I have ever owned....easily.

Go get them.....surfs up!

Paul

 

[Phil in Wales]

And for what its worth, the Venga was the jewel in Kias crown....most practical car I have ever owned....easily.

Correct.. 👌

 

[2012vengaman]

Hi Cornishjock
Welcome to the forum.
I have a generation 1 auto Venga with the panny roof.
I also use roofbars with a roof box so feel qualified to comment.

My experience is:-
The auto is ridiculously thirsty for a modern car, especially around town.
Mainly because the engine is a Gamma series and has its roots back in 2007 but also because it has a torque converter auto which while generally reliable aren't the most efficient.
Low 20mpg's around town is normal, but you can crack 40mpg and more on a run if you aren't driving like Lewis Hamilton.
I've seen 45mpg on a run at around 60mph which for a gen1 is actually more than Kia reckon.
Cruise control helps the mpg on a run but I found my foot was better around town as cruise doesn't activate below 25mph.
Mine is a 4 speed but a 2019 will be the later 6 speed which is a little more efificent.
I can't comment on Bluetooth as yours will have a different head unit to mine ie: the 2 line red display you have in your old one.

And so lets talk about the panny roof and roofbars
It lightens the cabin enormously.
Depending where you park in winter it can promote condensation as it isn't a thermal roof.
The centre rubber seal can crack due to sun / heat and I had mine replaced under warranty. If it cracks and water can get through there is a gutter underneath which stops rain entering the cabin but do watch out for this although it shouldn't be a problem yet on a 2019.
It is important to grease it regularly with the correct grease. I'd imagine yours will be dealer serviced to keep the warranty so do check after every service they have cleaned and refreshed the grease (its white so is obvious).
We don't run with the roof open as it gets noisy due to the Venga's less than outstanding aerodynamics but we do like the light and airy feel it gives the cabin (and in fact we didn't realise it was an opening roof until we test drove ours so had no illusion about driving along with wind in our hair - Ok well maybe not me as I don't have much hair left)

As Uvox2 has shown, you need roof bars that grip the roof edge and pull up on the underneath of the door shuts.
I used www.roofbox.co.uk and bought the Cruz Optiplus ST bars as I'm only an occasional roofbox user . Rroofbox.co.uk also do just foot packs so you may be able to find the right foot pack for your bars. For mine the footpack is CR5490. They do stock Thule so I imagine they will have the correct pack for your bars.

I've found that to get the correct tension on the bars, the feet will slightly indent on the doorshut area through the rubber pad supplied as part of the foot pack (although it doesn't break the paint). This isn't an issue for me as I keep cars until they die but if you are looking to resell its something to be aware of and a follow on buyer might ask why the weird indents.
To be honest unless you know what to look for an average buyer wouldn't notice but thought I'd mention it. And it does give a nice marker as to where to put the feet when you reinstall the bars

On no account open the panny roof when you have the bars on. When closed the roof is helping with the mechanical strength needed to allow the bars to tension correctly. If you move the roof when they are on, you alter that equation and body twist can happen / panny roof might not go back square etc. It also says this in the handbook. Dealers will reject any panny roof twisted warranty claims if they suspect you've opened the roof with bars on.

As you are a roof bar user already you know that getting things up and down requires some physical capability. I mention this because you will be loading above a pane of glass (albeit toughened) so you need to be sure you can physically cleanly lift things up and down. You will be looking at £500 or more for a broken sunroof panel with fitting. Also as an aside, the windscreen on these is not the same as the full roof model. If you ever need a windscreen from the replacing companies, they will always need to order it in as it isn't a stock item with any of them and last time I checked it was £700 or more. And like all glass, it will scratch if you drop sharp things on it.

Having said all that, we do like having the panny roof as it simply makes the cabin a nicer place to be with the increased light.

Pete

 

[cornishjock]

And for what its worth, the Venga was the jewel in Kias crown....most practical car I have ever owned....easily.

Go get them.....surfs up!

Paul

🏄‍♂️ I wish the surf was more 'up' in Norfolk these days 😩but thank you for checking about bars. I couldn't see the wood for the trees yesterday morning so that's great news. Thank you Paul

 

[cornishjock]

Low 20mpg's around town is normal, but you can crack 40mpg and more on a run if you aren't driving like Lewis Hamilton.
I've seen 45mpg on a run at around 60mph which for a gen1 is actually more than Kia reckon.

I think I'd be happy with that as I just pootle along country roads and some A roads in Norfolk. What I've seen on the roads over these last 2 years has been a bit of a shocker so I've just chill now and avoid the chaos !

Depending where you park in winter it can promote condensation as it isn't a thermal roof.

It would be on drive overnight that's food for thought

It is important to grease it regularly with the correct grease. I'd imagine yours will be dealer serviced to keep the warranty so do check after every service they have cleaned and refreshed the grease

Great advice. We have a local independent that services using all Kia parts and invoices so hopefully that should keep the warranty intact.

As you are a roof bar user already you know that getting things up and down requires some physical capability.

Oh yes !!! And certainly something I need to bear in mind. The sunroof probably needs to be a night and day experience (excuse the pun) as there will be a faff factor involved. MTB are on fork ups so there not too bad to load/unload.

And it does give a nice marker as to where to put the feet when you reinstall the bars

Lol...yes it is handy. The Thule footpack has been pretty gentle on ours so far but like you , we tend to drive to destruction !! Previous Ford Focus 170K petrol and Kia Venga 137K and needing TLC now.

That's been brilliant advice Pete...thank you so much for your time.

Loving the forum

John

 

[Phil in Wales]

Just one word on your post Re: warranty.. using an Indi could void your warranty if certain conditions are not met so be aware.. I walked away from mine on my last venga and will be doing the same on my current car with still 2 years to go on this one..as far as I am concerned ..dealers in our area dont get good rep on quality of work and price ..yours may be different so I would check for customer satisfaction if I were you..well known fact that dealers will try to fob you off on many things and will do which I find shocking.. hope you enjoy your new car which just leaves me to say welcome to the Venga massive section..

 

[cornishjock]

dealers in our area dont get good rep on quality of work and price ..yours may be different so I would check for customer satisfaction if I were you

Thankfully we have an amazing local garage who look after us very well and their printouts have the Kia points of inspection for each service. It's a good point though and definitely must catch a few people out. Motorpoint said that they weren't aware of needing the receipts/invoices for the service record and phoned Kia to confirm. It was thanks to the forum I thought to double check.

hope you enjoy your new car which just leaves me to say welcome to the Venga massive section..

Fingers crossed it ..and Motorpoint ticks all the boxes tomorrow - always been glad to be on The Venga Bus bandwagon - owning a Venga is like being a Rush fan - most people don't get it but those that do know it's the best thing in the world😄

 

[cornishjock]

Just an update after everyone’s useful advice. Experience at Motorpoint was shocking in the end. Car itself drove well but then the wheels came off the deal 😉 Mismatched tyres, rear camera misted up, no antenna , deep scratches on interior. When it came to reviewing service history(bearing in mind I had asked for this to be checked prior to travelling over) almost had to prise book out of their hands, no stamp for first service, no idea who’d done it (if done at all )but the rep said she’d written in mileage but couldn’t stamp book as that’s illegal 😳, Motorpoint service for second service but no paperwork. Advised we check with Kia about warranty - if they weren’t happy Motorpoint would cover any warranty issues and not to worry about it. Can’t decide if I’m more upset that I wasted my one day off that week faffing about or that I look like an idiot who could be taken advantage of. I’m off to practice my erudite face in the mirror 🙈
Thanks again for help ...Take Two !
John

 

[Phil in Wales]

Sorry to say we have never had good service from Motor Point.. wife bought a brand new Grande Punto from them and despite there being a well known problem with rear door locks from the factory they didnt get the issues sorted before the wife collected her car.. we walked into the car park and I checked if the rear doors would open..Uh OH nope.. car had to go into a local dealer so the problem could be sorted and go back a week later to collect the car ..