I drove (only briefly however) a V6, AWD Venza yesterday. It was cloth seats model and stickered about $35K. Other than the leather seats, and heated seats, it had all the other toys and goodies (including two moonroofs, the rear one of which is huge). I only drove it for about 10 mins and didn't get chance to go more than about 80KPH. It felt funny when I started out, in that the rake of the windshield and the sloped nose take a bit of getting used to. The drive was fine and I did not find it "rough" like one previous poster who drove it did. It feels "big" to me, and you sit lower than in the HL, which may account for why it feels bigger. Visibility was good, even the rearward corner check for traffic. It seems very roomy inside. I like the dash and console layout.
I agree with those that think it will steal sales from RAV4 and Highlander. The salesguy agreed with me on that. I do think the pricing is very attractive, and Toyota will sell a bunch of these vehicles. I happen to like the looks of it, but is it a replacement for the Highlander? I really don't know, as we want of go smaller and the Venza is definitely not smaller. I also would not be a buyer until they had lots of 20" (or even 19") winter tires in stock.
In the short 10 mins I had it, I couldn't really get a firm opinion on whether or not I really would want one. Maybe we'll look at it again in the Spring, closer to the time that we may wish to deal off the HL.
