Hyundai won’t overtly acknowledge the Hyundai Santa Cruz is a truck – at least not until it wins an award for being a pickup. But it is a truck: it’s a useful, super comfortable compact truck that drives like a crossover because, technically, it is a crossover with a small truck bed. There is logic behind Hyundai’s preference to use terms like “lifestyle vehicle,” though. The word truck implies something utilitarian, unsophisticated, and used for work, whereas, unlike Ford and the Maverick, Hyundai aims the Santa Cruz at people who want the practicality of a truck bed for more leisurely pursuits, like camping, antiquing, hiking, and so on. The idea is that the truck bed is practical enough for large items and to keep things out of the interior. Think wet or muddy items like camping equipment or scuba diving gear.
The Santa Cruz is a close relative of the Tucson crossover, which means it packs a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine making 191 horsepower for base models or a turbocharged version making 281 hp for higher trims. This also implies it has great driving manners, excellent ride quality, and a comfortable interior.
Exterior: Not Trying To Be A Truck
If there’s one thing truck makers have learned about truck buyers, it’s that they want their vehicles to be boxy, aggressive-looking vehicles. In that sense, the Santa Cruz is refreshing with its modern, crossover styling that isn’t afraid of splitting opinions. Like its siblings, the Santa Cruz hides most of its lights in the grille until they come on, and boasts plenty of creases in the bodywork to give shape and style.
The Santa Cruz is 195.7 inches long, with the truck bed measuring 48.4 inches. The wheelbase is 118.3 inches, and this all adds up to a vehicle that is easy to maneuver in tight spaces while still having a useful amount of cargo space.
Interior: Still Not Trying To Be A Truck
Time spent inside the Santa Cruz feels essentially like being in a Tucson. And that’s a good thing. There’s more space than you think a compact truck would have, particularly in the back.
Interior styling is contemporary and punches above its price class, and the materials on our Limited AWD tester were on point. The interior space is used well to incorporate storage for water bottles and general items, too, which underscores the lifestyle approach the vehicle has. The touch-sensitive buttons under the infotainment screen can be, excuse the pun, a touch sensitive while the vehicle is moving, but the traditional shifter on the center console is appreciated, and we prefer that to a dial or buttons.
Infotainment: Hyundai Fare
The base models come with an eight-inch infotainment touchscreen, while the 10.25-inch screen only comes standard from the SEL Premium – this trim will be replaced by a more aggressive XRT trim for 2024.
Standard features on the 2023 range include HD/Satelite Radio, Apple CarPlay, and Android Auto. The most important update for 2023 is in safety, with blind spot collision avoidance assist and rear cross-traffic collision avoidance assist becoming standard on all trims; this is still rarer as standard equipment than it should be, in our books.
Powertrain: Average Or Peppy, Take Your Pick
The two available engines are a 2.5-liter unit making 191 hp and 181 lb-ft of torque, or a much peppier turbocharged version of the standard unit making 277 hp and 311 lb-ft of torque. The upgrade in the engine makes all the difference, with the more powerful version imbuing the Santa Cruz with a much more fun-to-drive feeling, and making it more confident on the freeway. Naturally, this impacts the fuel economy figures, too. The base engine is more frugal, but opting for the turbo motor sees the figures change from a best of 22/26/23 mpg to 19/27/22 mpg on city/highway/combined cycles.
All turbocharged versions are all-wheel-drive by default and base engines can choose between FWD and AWD. Either way, power is distributed by a more than competent eight-speed automatic transmission.
On The Road: Avoiding Being A Truck
There is nothing that feels truck-like about driving the Santa Cruz. It’s agile, the ride quality is excellent due to the independent suspension, it corners surprisingly well if you push it around, and there’s little road noise coming through to the interior. The steering is sharp, and there’s minimal chassis lean in corners. You won’t notice any minor differences between the Santa Cruz and the Tucson unless you drive them back to back – and that goes for the passengers as well.
The non-turbocharged engine is great for urban and suburban use and will suit a lot of buyers, but the turbocharged version is the most fun and much more suitable for those who like to hustle. It’s an engine with poke, and the transmission snaps through gears with surprising alacrity.
Off The Road: Not Truck-Like
While the ground clearance and axle articulation aren’t there for extensive off-roading, the Santa Cruz is designed with dirt tracks in mind, just like the Tucson. Getting off the tarmac, there’s no rattling or undue bouncing from the back. Hyundai’s HTRAC AWD system is excellent and will inspire confidence when getting a bit of a hustle on by sending the power to the correct wheels at the right time. When it gets slippery, it does the same thing – you just need to watch the ground clearance through long, muddy puddles, though.
Conclusion: It’s A Great Truck
The Santa Cruz’s truck bed is incredibly useful, despite being on the short side compared to every other truck on the market; the bed is some six inches shorter than its closest competition. But for everyday use, and more leisurely applications, it’s often more useful than the cargo space on a crossover. We love that you keep the smell of wet and/or dirty gear out of the interior, and you can hose the bed down when you’re done. Hyundai also has solutions to fit a couple of bikes in the back, but our bikes have quick-release front wheels, which makes that unnecessary.
The key accessory for any trim level, we believe, is the lockable tonneau cover. Being able to leave stuff in the back while stopping for coffee or wandering away for a few hours on a hike is something Hyundai should think about making a standard feature.
Is it better than a Ford Maverick? For most people, yes, but it is more expensive, which is likely why the Ford sells more Mavericks. Where the Maverick starts at under $25k for 2023, the 2023 Santa Cruz’s MSRP is $25,450 for the base trim. However, the user experience is much better in our opinion – unless six inches is make-or-break for you.