It’s easy to write off the 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz. It’s the company’s first-ever pickup for North America, but it’s not the kind of truck most Americans picture. It’s based on the Tucson, meaning it’s unibody, “small” by U.S. standards, and comes with front-wheel drive as standard. It’s a crossover with a truck bed, and that’s not everyone’s style.
But these days, maybe it should be.
[Ed note: As one of the site’s fellow Texans, I think it’s amusing that we’re both big fans of small trucks. I haven’t driven the refreshed Santa Cruz, but I drove one a couple of years ago and thought it was quite good for what it is. Let’s see what Alanis thinks… MH]
Why This Car Exists
The Hyundai Santa Cruz originally appeared as a concept in 2015, and Hyundai called it a “crossover-truck” for “urban adventurer millennial lifestyles.” The production Santa Cruz debuted in 2021 for the 2022 model year, and while it had a similar shape to the concept, it had a new design language that left behind one of my favorite features of the concept: coach doors! Those would have rocked.
The Santa Cruz is a reflection of the modern U.S. car market. It’s an affordable, outdoorsy compact vehicle that’s all about adventure aesthetics, from its plastic cladding to its bright-red exposed recovery hooks. It offers people a truck bed carved out of something other than a $100,000 luxury pickup, and as American trucks continue to get bigger, that’s an important gap to fill.
In Texas, where I live, people buying 1,700-square-foot new homes usually get a two-car garage, but big modern trucks often don’t fit. Instead, I see those trucks in driveways and on the street, suffering hailstorms and UV rays regularly. As full-size trucks grow and homes fail to fit them, I get why people would go for something small like the Santa Cruz.
Practical adventure vehicles are also a big trend in 2020s America, ever since people started buying cars to get out of their homes and cities into nature during the pandemic. The Santa Cruz is on the market alongside other unibody adventure vehicles like the Ford Bronco Sport and Honda Passport Trailsport, both of which I’ve taken off-road and loved.
I’ve anecdotally noticed more outdoor-oriented “normal” cars and buyers this decade, even if those cars never leave the pavement. I’ve asked a few automotive product planners if the pandemic-induced adventure cravings influenced the decision to make them, and they’ve said yes. The Santa Cruz feels similar.
2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz XRT: The Basics
In America in 2025, you can spec the Santa Cruz in five trims: the SE, SEL, SEL Activity, XRT, and Limited. The base SE trim starts at $28,750, and it comes with a 191-horsepower, four-cylinder engine, an 8-speed automatic transmission, and a towing capacity of up to 3,500 pounds. Front-wheel-drive is standard, and all-wheel drive is a $1,500 option.
The SE, SEL, and SEL Activity all have that 191-horsepower engine. The top two trims, the XRT and Limited, get 281 horsepower and all-wheel drive as standard.
- Price: $28,750 base ($41,810 as tested)
- Engine: 2.5-liter, 4-cylinder turbo
- Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
- Drivetrain: All-wheel drive (AWD)
- Power: 281 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque
- Fuel Economy: 18 mpg city, 26 highway, and 21 combined
- Body Style: 5-seat unibody pickup
What It Looks Like
The Hyundai Santa Cruz is cute. That may not be what truck buyers want to hear, but it’s true: It’s a crossover with a bed cut out of the back, and that makes its shape rounded and adorable.
I don’t like most black exterior cladding on cars, and the Santa Cruz has a ton of it. It’s meant to feel sporty and adventurous, but I often think it looks cheap. But on a tiny truck like the Santa Cruz, it’s … cute. I’m saying “cute” a lot, but that’s how I feel when I look at the car.
The red front recovery hooks also add to the adventurous aesthetic. And even if you never use them to recover the Santa Cruz while off-roading, you can kick them and show people how sturdy they are.
What About The Inside?
The first thing I noticed inside the Santa Cruz was the logo on the steering wheel, which is a silver bar with four dots. It’s an “H” in Morse code, and Hyundai’s using the logo more and more. People love taking photos of their steering wheels, and a logo like that is a conversation starter.
The logo mirrors the minimalist approach to the interior. My loaner Santa Cruz XRT had an all-black interior, and the minimalist styling didn’t work as well because of that; there wasn’t a lot of variation to carry my eye throughout the cabin, and too much of the surface area was piano black, which gets dusty, greasy, and scratched almost immediately.
But there are tons of things to like about the inside of the Santa Cruz. It has a storage shelf built into the dashboard, which is a modern trend that makes use of an otherwise useless space. It also has a long screen setup for the driver instrument cluster and infotainment system, which looks clean and is easy to use. I also had probably six inches of legroom in the rear seats with the front seats all the way back.
The truck bed on the Santa Cruz is small — 4 feet — and I’m sure the rear legroom is one of the reasons. But I assume people buying the Santa Cruz will have rear passengers more often than they have massive cargo in the bed (otherwise, they’d get a bigger truck), so it feels like the best of both worlds.
How It Drives
The Santa Cruz XRT has almost 300 horsepower, and because it’s a crossover-truck, it’s moderately quick. Crossovers feel more agile than big, body-on-frame trucks, and the Santa Cruz is similar. It’s a manageable size with the practicality of a truck bed, and it’s fun.
There’s a moderate amount of road and wind noise, especially on the highway. Even at neighborhood speeds, I could hear the road underneath me, but not loudly. The smooth suspension helps counteract the noise; bumps and dips aren’t rough, and that allowed me to better ignore the sounds seeping into the cabin.
While I had the Santa Cruz, I picked up a bookshelf and large mirror that wouldn’t have fit in a lot of SUVs. Together, they didn’t lay flat in the bed because it was too small. But I had unlimited vertical storage to work with (like I do in my Mazdaspeed Miatas), proving the Santa Cruz’s real-world, practical use.
The Santa Cruz is a logical vehicle, in both its use case and its driving experience. I grew up in Texas, where tons of people have huge trucks. Even in high school, the kids around me drove trucks they never truly used. Every day, the beds were empty as they traversed city streets instead of off-road terrain.
They didn’t need those trucks; they just wanted them for show. It was a waste, but the Santa Cruz isn’t.
Does the 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz Fulfill Its Purpose?
Crossover-trucks like the Hyundai Santa Cruz have a place on the market, because they’re usable without being obstructive. They’re comfortable, compact, and enjoyable to drive, and they’re more efficient than the full-size, body-on-frame trucks most people never fully use.
The Santa Cruz is a truck for people who don’t need a truck every day of their lives, but like the convenience of one a few times a year. The rest of the time, it’s a crossover-like vehicle with a comfortable ride and room for rear passengers.
In America, that’s a great gap to fill.
What a concept! A car that fits in the garage.
The oversized 1-car garage at the house I grew up in fit the two Ford Econolines we had over my youth. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized how wild it was that it could even fit in there. I can’t believe the size of so many garages, let alone the idea new garages are still being made too small.
Unless you go custom or semi-custom homebuilders will do anything to save a penny, even to the detriment of the home itself.
If they check the box for a minimum size of a garage thats it, even a garage door opener is an optional extra, disgusting.
I sat in one at the dealer when I used to have my Sonata N Line. Not sure who the market is but I will say that it was useless as a family car. Way too tight of an interior, especially lacking in rear legroom when 6’4″ me wanted to try and get into a remotely normal driving position. Way too small, even compared to a CRV or Rav4 interior. IF you could have Sonata space with a small bed, maybe this becomes more attractive.
I love the styling but the bed is less functional than a Maverick, also higher sticker price. Maverick AWD Hybrid will be the sweet spot for me
I DO love me a set of proper front recovery points!
I wish Toyota would pay attention to this rather than burying them under the front bumper or not offering them at all (Tundra).
The only part better than this quote:
“The red front recovery hooks also add to the adventurous aesthetic. And even if you never use them to recover the Santa Cruz while off-roading, you can kick them and show people how sturdy they are.”
Is that there’s a picture to show it as well.
Thank you for the laughs
Expect high MPG with small truck. Where is the hybrid option? Tucson hybrid is very competent so why not Santa Cruz Hybrid?
I just realized that if you change the spacing in your name, it becomes ‘Alan is King’. I have nothing else important to add to this. Long live King Alan, I guess.
Small Truck Texan here too. Santa Cruz and Maverick were on the wife’s short list. Maverick won on primarily hybrid and more conventional looks. If the Cruz had a solid hybrid option, I think they’d have a runaway winner.
there are at least a dozen of us out here.
I am kind of digging the °°°° logo on the steering wheel. It’s not hugely attractive, but I like it better than the Hyundai swoopy H, and I admire that it’s a little ballsy to use it.
This is the first I’ve seen or heard of it. Where else is it used? Did I miss that Hyundai has a new standard logo?
The Ioniqs are the primary ones.
Morse Code H for Hyundai, started on the Ioniq 5 and 6 before spreading across the lineup
It started on the IONIQ line with the “parametric pixel” design language, but started to migrate to other vehicles, first the Kona, then the Santa Cruz, Tucson, and Sonata.
Also a Texan and while I don’t need a pickup I do like the styling on these.
I bought a ’24 Santa Cruz, and couldn’t be happier. It hauls everything I need it to and pulls a utility trailer for plywood and everything else. Maybe you should learn how to pull and back up a trailer three times a year for larger loads. Bed will hold three sets of golf clubs (four if you leave the cover open) or carry three trash cans to the landfill. Nice interior, comfortable, almost 300 hp, quiet, lots of storage, and the best warranty in the business. The design will age well, unlike the Maverick where everything looks like it’s drooping or sagging by comparison. The anti-bro truck vehicle.
Congrats on your Santa Cruz. I was excited when Hyundai announced these because I wanted a small pickup truck. But I’m disappointed they haven’t slipped their very competent hybrid drivetrain in yet. I bought a ’24 Maverick hybrid instead and am very pleased so far; my lifetime (16k miles) average mpg is 42.7, better than I expected.
I don’t agree with your comment about the design though, which I find fault with most Hyundais. All these swoops, gashes and other jarring elements will age quickly once the market moves in a new direction. The Maverick may not have much style, so the design will age more gently. VW is a brand I admire from a design viewpoint; they play it safe by not following extreme trends, and as a result their vehicles appear fresher for longer. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder….
The problem with this vehicle is that the bed is useless. It’s just too short. You don’t need a bed for top soil or mulch, you put that into the back of your far more useful SUV. And SUV has a convertible space – people or, fold the seats – stuff. But a pickup shape is two compartments with a barrier between them. The tiny bed and the cramped back seat. So it looks cool and all but this vehicle along with the Ford Maverick are poor choices. Otherwise, explain to me how I can bring eight 2×5 studs back to my house from Home Depot, because I can get them into my CRV. But it’s going to be difficult in this Santa Cruz because they’ll be hanging waaay out the back of the very short bed.
To be fair, and a hair biased (due to owning a Maverick), the bed is incredibly useful. The tailgate can be folded at an angle that matches the top of the wheel housings and can carry 4X8 sheets of plywood with ease. It’s also bedlined, so it can take the beating that a CRV (something I also own) would never. It can also hold 1500 lbs in the bed (I hauled a load of pavers a few months back with ease!). Finally, the wheel housings are spaced so you can load a pallet in the bed, which can’t be said for the CRV.
Yes, these trucks are not the same size as a midsize or larger, but they are incredibly helpful tools for those who also daily their trucks and/or don’t want to have an extra truck sitting. Side note is that I have more leg room in the back than a Tacoma and Ranger would have.
I actually sold my crew cab Tacoma and Mazda3 for this Maverick. It tows better than the Tacoma did (it was lifted and WAYYY undergeared), and holds almost as much in the bed. Finally, it’s one less car to insure and watch rot outside in the AZ sun.
As someone who has put a 4×8 sheet of plywood in a minivan, I agree to some extent, but I’ve also put mulch and topsoil in there, and both leak nasty stainy liquids that I’d rather keep out of my car, so I can see the appeal of something like this.
I cannot imagine throwing a ton of mulch or topsoil inside my car. I just mulched my garden beds last weekend and was left with a nice mess in the bed of my truck.
Sounds like you need a Dodge Magnum instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo3wcPgelIM
If you’re buying 2X5 studs then I suspect you’re not actually buying any studs to carry in a pickup
Where are you buying 2×5 studs? I just threw 40 bags of mulch in the back of my Silverado last week, I don’t know about you but I have zero desire to throw that mess in the back of my wife’s SUV. Bags of mulch and top soil are extremely dirty/wet and they always spill a little bit.
I dig the Santa Cruz, and have since it launched, but pricing once spec’d has been the turnoff for me. The fact the “as tested” model has a 50% price jump based on options is crazy to me. I know that’s a problem with a lot of “budget” vehicles nowadays but would it be too hard to get something at least moderately spec’d that doesn’t approach $40k?
As someone who works at a Hyundai dealer, I find the price is a touch high, and the gas mileage is a couple touches low, for what I’d want out of it.
There must be something in the water in my small SW Ontario city (along with all the hard minerals and occasional whiff of sulphur) because the Santa Cruz is weirdly popular here.
As a fellow Texan and life long Southerner I can confidently claim 85% of trucks are hauling nothing but air. Most Texans only use 1/3 of their trucks (the front seats, rear seats and bed remain empty). My last car was an 89 Miata that survived Dallas and handled 95% of my needs for six years until it was stolen by a crooked towing company. I absolutely love my 2018 Frontier. My dog rides in the back seat, my bed has all my detailing stuff and fire wood and random camping/off-road stuff. I put a set of Yokohama MTs (best tires I have ever owned by far) and was ready to really explore off-road now that I live in a more rural part of Texas. Unfortunately there is not a single public trail here, everything is on private property. I wish I could take my truck off-road every day so maybe other people do too. We just don’t have anywhere to do it.
And of that 15% that are actually doing truck things, 5% are fleet vehicles and 9% are lawn guys.
Don’t they call that ‘All hat, no cattle’ down there?
Yup.
15% of the time unused or driven miles sounds about right, but I bet the percentage of folks who own a pickup and use it for “truck stuff” a couple of times a month is way higher. There’s a lot of folks that will tow a boat, or go camping, or grab mulch or a load of rocks or furniture or car parts, or whatever fairly regularly. I use my truck a couple of times a month that way and depending on the season and the yard work or projects in process, more often. Granted, most of the time it does drive empty and unused, but I use it often enough that I’d lose a lot of utility if I didn’t have a truck. Sure there are status queens out there with trucks just to have a truck but I think that’s a much smaller group than folks think.
I think 85% is still too low a number from what I see on my daily commute….
The Santa Cruz and the maverick are absolutely the truck that 99% of the people need 99% of the time. Sadly, the stigma of little truck is there, especially here in Central Texas and they are passed over for mid size and full size trucks that are status symbols. Frankly, if I had 1 less kid, I’d have a maverick as a family car.
It’s small. but I’m sure the bed on a Maverick can hold the youngest with the tailgate closed.
You get a gold star for that one. I got a good laugh there
It does get shockingly bad fuel economy. 21 combined is not good. The 5.0 4wd f150 is rated at 19. The Tucson it’s based on with AWD gets 26, which is not great for it’s class. I’m surprised a covered bed loses them 5 mpg.
Hyundai’s powertrains in general are basically a full generation behind all their competitors. It’s just something you have to be willing to put up with. With how heavily they’ve invested in EVs they don’t really have any impetus to improve them at this point either. The mileage whatever ICE Hyundai/Kia/Genesis product you’re looking at would’ve been competitive 10 years ago but they’re usually at the very bottom of whatever class they’re in today.
For what it’s worth they do have some hybrids, but they’re unconventional and include a turbocharged engine and torque converter auto. I personally wouldn’t want to mess with that much Korean engineering in engine bays that small but hey…they do have a 10 year powertrain warranty. Maybe for some folks that makes the rice roll worth it.
Yeah, I get 21-22 combined in my full size Ram 1500. Hard to make this add up; Maverick hybrid OTOH is most interesting.
Hey Alanis, great to see you here again, miss your F1 writing
I would like to come to the defense of at least a few fellow Texans, there’s a nice community of Kei Truck owners where I live, and the place where my son trains jujitsu has two Actys and a Highjet in the lot most nights. I see a pretty good amount of smaller trucks rolling around here from time to time, and they’re always a joy to see.
I’m not saying I wasn’t shocked when I moved here at the rather staggering amount of giant, oversized and under-used monster trucks, but there are at least a few folks around here that aren’t compensating for some missing qualities
I lived in Dallas for 8 years then I moved to Wichita Falls two years ago. In Dallas I drove a slammed Miata that met 95% of my needs. Unfortunately it was stolen. I now have an 18 Frontier SV and it is amazing. My dog rides in the back seat, my camping and off-roading gear stays in the covered bed. I put on a set of Yokohama MTs and the traction is mind blowing. I assumed living in a more rural part of Texas would mean plenty of places to go off-road. Unfortunately there is no public land here and I don’t know anyone to get permission to drive on their property. In my case it’s not that I got a truck I never use for truck things, it’s because there is nowhere to do truck things with it.
I drive a wagon right now and it’s probably 95% of what I need (it’s a VW so really the other 5% is just it needing something fixed). I just see so many trucks being used as giant SUVs and I can’t figure out why you would buy a truck for SUV things, because they really aren’t that great at those. Who knows, maybe I’m wrong since I haven’t been in a modern truck, but it just seems crazy when I watch all these moms driving through the parking lot in the giant mostrosities that looks so unwieldy to turn a basic circle in to pick up their kids. Just seems crazy to me
Seconded for the F1 coverage. Let’s get some more motorsports coverage going on the Autopian!
I wish I liked these more but they’re a hard sell. The back seats are tiny, they don’t really offer any fuel efficiency benefits over their competitors regardless of whether they’re unibody or body on frame, putting a DCT in them is a baffling decision, they’re deceptively expensive, the list goes on. The Maverick is cheaper, more efficient as a hybrid or pure ICE, and is similarly tiny on the inside.
You can also get a barebones Colorado, Taco, FORD FUCKIN RANGER, etc. for the price of a reasonably spec’d Santa Cruz. They all offer BOF benefits and compromises, so it depends on what you want…but the Ridgeline is also right there and has a bombproof NA V6 and torque converter auto. If you want a lifestyle vehicle/soft roader you can get a Wilderness trim Subie as well and there’s a Forester hybrid that’s about to hit lots too.
With this you’re also subjecting yourself to the nightmarish experience that is shopping for and potentially owning a Hyundai. You may pay $41,000 for it or whatever but in two years it’ll be worth $25,000 on a good day and you’ll have seen unspeakable horrors at your local Hyundai dealership. Anyway…if this came out 5-7 years ago I think it would be cool but in 2025 it’s kind of a non starter for me personally.
41k sure is steep. But none of those BOF trucks, or the Ridgeline seem to dip down to those prices, at least around here. The cheapest Ranger I can find is about 44k. Same for the other. Granted, a lot of this is trimflation related and local dealers refusing to keep anything reasonable around.
I agree the Maverick is probably the better bet, but let’s not pretend Ford is somehow a paragon of reliability compared to Hyundai…
I’ll add that the Santa Cruz makes a hell of a lot more sense at around 31k with the torque converter auto and the 2.5, than this upgraded one with the turbo and the DCT. 31k for a Tuscon with a bed seems totally acceptable to me.
I actually dig how the Santa Cruz looks. It’s not trying to be a butch pickup. Actually has that kind of Subaru Brat pizazz that should come back to more cars.
Hey Alanis, since we are talking about poorly secured cargo did you see some sturdy tie-down points in the bed? Putting your stuff in an open bed is easy. Keeping it there while you cruise at 70 down the interstate is the hard part. I won’t call anything a true pickup bed if I don’t see a way to put ratchet straps or at least a cargo net over my stuff.
People love taking pictures of their steering wheels? Is this a trend I’ve been missing?
Also the storage shelves are great right up until you need to make a hard turn and whatever was there submits to physics.
Watching all of your crap go tumbling off the shelf is annoying, but it does give you an excuse to shout “Curse you, Sir Isaac!” when it happens.
People love to post pictures of rare bottles of whiskey with their steering wheels. These posts typically include: Steering wheel, rare whiskey, watch, and receipt. You apparently get bonus points for each of these that are more expensive than someone else.
I swear if I ever win the bottle lottery for something taters are after, I’m using my wife’s Kia (bonus points in my mind for having the “old”, legible Kia badge and not the “K-Backward N” badge), and grabbing a cheap-o Casio to take the picture.
That’s just…disturbing.
Especially when you consider the angle this necessitates requires a crotch shot at the same time. It’s dumb!
Try the gimps who instagram their new gun purchases behind the wheel!
Nothing quite like realizing we give vapid, insect-brained fools who can’t stop preening multiple ton vehicles, firearms and phones to give you existential despair.
Boy am I glad I’m not anywhere online where I’ve ever heard of or seen this.
Sounds obnoxious as hell.
With the right group of people it can be fun to see what was found. In the greater online world, you’re spot on!
I’m in one automotive-related group where this might be happening (haven’t been there in a few years), but I’ve been there only for technical information so it has been easy enough to block people who post on the automotive group about weapons. It has been the only way to make it readable.
Just remember after 50k miles have it ready for trade in or keep a case of engine oil in the bed as you will likely need it.
Amen. I have 3 family members with Hyundais….90k is the magic number to get rid of it. 2 out of 3 have had serious engine issues well before the warranty was out and received no warranty assistance from Hyundai. They both drive Hondas now.
IMHO the standard for short bed pickups in the US is if it can fit a 48″x48″ pallet in the bed between the wheel wells, which is the largest and second most common pallet size in the US.
The Santa Cruz can’t even fit a 48″x40″ pallet so it’s out of the running.
That being said the Maverick only has 43″ of clearance between the wheel wells.
Nothing like ordering a pallet of shit only for said pallet to be a 48″x48″ pallet and so now you have to break down the pallet to load its contents into your Maverick.
I would wager that 99.9% of all Americans have never had the need to load a pallet of anything in their vehicles so that’s a moot point.
Well I certainly have.
Just last weekend I had to take a pallet to the dump after getting a dumbbell set delivered to me. So I took measurements and determined it would fit in the back of my Leaf with the seats folded down. However due to the Leaf’s stupid hatchback design where it’s narrower at the bottom the pallet would have to be elevated to fit. Luckily I had a heavy duty tub full of glass bottles I also needed to recycle which it fit on perfectly, but said pallet barely fit inside with the rear hatch barely latched because of it hitting the rear seat latches because of the height necessitated by the stupid hatch design.
I’ve also had the remnants of a ’73 Saab in the bed of a truck, but I’m not going to tout that as some supposed “standard” of usability.
Since when have the remnants of a 73 Saab been a common agreed upon cargo standard?
Since when has a pallet for non-commercial use?
Who says you can’t use a short bed pickup to haul individual pallets commercially?
No one, just don’t act like it’s some kind of common practice though. There is good reason Ford & Hyundai didn’t try to accommodate some commercial requirements like pallets in the bed; commercial use of these is probably in the low single digit percentage of overall sales and people wanting to fit a pallet in the back is probably even lower. They weren’t designed to target commercial users, why would they try to conform to commercial standards?
Because they’re a standard. Name a Civilian cargo standard for short bed pickup Truck beds.
“Name a Civilian cargo standard for short bed pickup Truck beds.”
Washing machine, dishwasher, dryer, refrigerator, jetski, # beer kegs,…
You think many Santa Cruz buyers are expecting to haul individual pallets commercially?
People trying to do commercial stuff typically buy commercial shit. That means a box truck, or at the very least a flat-bed on the back of an HD truck.
Now, yes, there are some people that use a half-ton truck to haul around pallets, but that’s just silly because:
I know this, because I used to unload pallets from a guy that would deliver via an F150.
A barrel of beer is also a common agreed upon cargo standard, but using it in the context of a Santa Cruz is equally odd.
Finally; put the pallet on end.
Good point. It’s hardly a standard without specifying the model.
You’ve never heard of TEUs – Trollhättan Equivalent Units?
A pallet of anything would probably exceed the payload capacity of this little guy anyway, unless maybe it was a pallet of bubble wrap. Which is fine. If you need to transport pallets of goods you should probably just buy a half-ton.
Sometimes the cargo is pallets. The only reason I can see myself getting a short bed pickup that is as wide as regular cars (so not the Daihatsu Midget II) would be to haul pallets of stuff.
I get it, but if you’re taking an empty pallet to the dump why not break it down? If you’re taking an empty pallet to sell and don’t want to destroy it, why not put it in the bed on a diagonal? Seems like those things would still be totally doable in a Santa Cruz. And if you have a need to regularly transport large quantities of pallets, a trailer would be the way in either a half-ton or a Santa Cruz.
I didn’t have the tools to break it down unless I wanted to use my hand saw to saw it in half, and the pallet wasn’t in amazing condition.
For the Maverick with a 48″x48″ pallet you could put it on a diagonal with it leaning against one of the wheel wells, but said you had more than one 48″x48″ pallet, then you got this leaning tower of pallets thing you gotta figure out or make multiple trips. If the pallets could be stacked flat like pallets usually are, then it would be no problem hauling them.
Some people live places where they have no room for a trailer, so that means either renting a trailer all the time or using a pickup.
Got it. Just trying to defend tiny truck more than pick a fight 🙂
Username does NOT check out 🙁
Why did you pick an industrial unit to benchmark a consumer vehicle? Wouldn’t a wheelbarrow or 30Gal trash can be better?
Sometimes you get shit delivered and it shows up on a pallet. Read my reply to Vinny Patton in this thread below.
Sometimes, yes- but not often enough to warrant being used as a general benchmark.
Just cut it up? Or throw it on marketplace for free and someone will happy pick it up from the curb
The Santa Cruz has 42.7 inches between the wheel wells, so it can fit a 48×40 pallet. The bed overall is 52.1 inches long, only 1.9 inches less than the Maverick. Journalists frequently misquote the bed length at four feet because they’re subtracting four inches at the top of the bed for the retractable tonneau. Thing is, you don’t have to buy the factory tonneau and/or can purchase an aftermarket folding or roll up cover which doesn’t impact bed length. If you add an aftermarket retractable cover to the Maverick, it would lose the same four inches. Basically the Maverick has enough room to carry a couple extra briefcases side by side than the Santa Cruz: measurable, but not particularly significant. The Santa Cruz bed is about an inch wider at its widest than the Maverick and about an inch shallower than the Ford. It does have a lockable in bed trunk the Maverick lacks. Both trucks handle 4×8 plywood above the wheel wells using a partial open tailgate setting. Payload and towing is nearly identical between the two. So, pretty comparable vehicles cargo-wise.
The only pic of the Santa Cruz with a pallet of any type in the bed is an oddly narrow one and long one with the tailgate down.
Understandably, Hyundai tends to focus more on the “adventure” aspect of its marketing rather than its work truck possibilities. I’m surprised you found any pictures with a pallet load. I have carried a 48×40 pallet in a Santa Cruz without issue with one caveat. If it has the factory tonneau, the height of pallet cargo will be limited to just over a foot. If the load on the pallet is four feet or less long it can go higher. And of course, with no tonneau, the load can be as long as the pallet and as high as you feel comfortable carrying up to the payload limit.
Fair enough.
The Maverick is set up to carry 4×8 sheets of plywood on top of the wheel wells, I’ve done it a handful of times with mine. Could easily fit an empty 48″x48″ pallet in the bed. A loaded pallet would probably work, depending on the size.
I mean no offense but I wouldn’t trust a 2000lb pallet balanced on the wheel wells of the Maverick, and I hope you wouldn’t either.
The payload on the Maverick is 1400lb so no I would definitely not put a 2000lb pallet in it
I should have said 1500lbs, I mixed up the original towing and payload numbers. I wouldn’t trust a 1500lb pallet balanced on the wheel wells of the Maverick either.
You’d want to put boards spanning the width which the bed has stamped inserts for.
I hauled probably 1200lbs of pavers in my Maverick and it was fine.
it’s the balancing of a pallet of stuff on the wheel wells that’s the concern, and how much weight the wheel wells by themselves can bear.
With how I see most people loading their pickups I would guess the Santa Cruz owner will just drop the pallet on top of the wheel wells and let it rock and roll. They’ll realize it was a bad idea when they have to stop hard and their cargo smashes the back window.
Fair point.
Question is why would someone get this over a Maverick? Especially at the 41k tested price that is Lariat Maverick prices and you will get way better fuel economy in the Fjord. Though to me 40k+ for a truck I would rather just have a bigger truck.
They generally don’t. The Maverick sells circles around this thing.
^callback to yesterday’s malapropisms post
Yeah, with the price difference, you’re really talking apples and barrels of monkeys.
A bush in your hand is worth two of these birds.
My wife actually wants a small truck for her next ride and we have considered the Maverick, the Santa Cruz…and then the Ridgeline entered the chat. At this price point it’s tough to not keep glancing at the Ridgeline as the answer for a non trucky truck.
Neither option is as small as you think, but it’s definitely worth avoiding a modern “full size” pickup if you can help it.
If only there was a Ridgeline Hybrid. I like the size of the Ridgeline but I got 56 mpg in a 35 minute rush hour drive yesterday in my Maverick Hybrid. The Ridgeline probably makes sense over a gas Maverick.
Yeah, nothing will beat the Mav mpg, but we both work from home and simply don’t drive enough for it to make a huge difference. If either of us commuted, the Mav would be way out ahead.
I would buy the Maverick over the Santa Cruz for myself but here are some areas where the Hyundai outshines the Ford:
And the back seat is a lot better. I WANTED to like the Maverick, but then I sat in one and it’s all “WHOMP – there’s a headrest!”
The Santa Cruz still feels really enclosed back there, but the driver’s headrest did not leave NEARLY the visual impact that the Maverick’s did.
…and then I went and sat in a Ridgeline and discovered STADIUM F-ING SEATING in the back. Yes, PLEASE!
Too late to edit my reply, so here’s another: The Mav is hecho en Mexico, the Santa Cruz in Alabama, so the price difference could flip on its head with Trump’s new tariffs.
While I’d probably get a Maverick, the Hyundai interior is light years ahead of the Ford. If I wanted A Car That Hauls Dirty Stuff and is Semi-Luxurious, it’d be the Hyundai. If I just wanted a small truck to abuse, it’d be the Ford.
That said, I have a Rivian, so am weirder than either of these two choices.
The Rivian is so compelling… shame they hardly depreciate compared to the other EV’s. I’d do an R1T for 30k.
I think the Maverick is pretty ugly, while I like this quite a lot. I believe it can also be equipped to tow up to 5000 lbs, which as someone with a trailer in that weight range would be a killer feature.
That said, I’m not trading my full-size in on one of these, which sort of proves your last sentence correct.