The 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz is a big personality in a little package.
Hyundai Santa Cruz Driving Dynamics
Engine size – 2.5 Turbo charged 3 cylinder
power – 281 hp and 311 lbft
ITS KINDA QUICK
Transmission – transmission is Hyundai’s corporate 8 speed wet DCT – it’s good at speed, but at lower RPMs in 1st and 2nd it’s a little clumsy
Drivetrain – fwd is standard, but we’ve got H-trac and that comes with a locking center diff to synthesize a 4×4 system
Suspension – this is not a truck, even though google says it is, so you get coils in the back, no leaf springs – the ride isnt quite as smooth as a sedan but better than a truck
Drive mode differences – normal, smart, and snow (all the same dash) sport (red dash)
Ride/overall feel – I know this type of vehicle is polarizing for some people but what they tried to do here is make it the best of both worlds. It rides better than a traditional body on frame truck, and it has more capability than a normal SUV. The ride is pretty good, but on broken pavement the rear can get a little choppy with nothing in the bed. Steering is good, suspension is soft and comfy
Hyundai Santa Cruz Truck Stuff
Since this isn’t a truck, but has a bed we should still talk about truck stuff
Towing: standard it tows 3500 lbs which out of the box is impressive, but it tops out at 5000 lbs which is more than Paolos jeep and as much as Matt’s 4Runner
Payload: maxes out at 1748 which is more than the benchmark midsize tacoma AND the brand new Nissan frontier.
Bed size: however, the bed is only 4 feet deep whereas the smallest beds in midsize trucks are typically 5 foot. HOWEVER, you can still fit a 4×8 sheet of plywood in it. Rest it on the wheel arches, the tailgate stays at 45 degrees and you just strap it in. Pretty impressive
Other bed stuff: you have your typical tie downs and rail points, but you also have a cubby on one side AND a cubby on the other side with a 115V plug there. I tested it to run my sump pump while my power was out this week and it was 5V shy on power (std house outlet is 120V).
Another thing you have in the bed is an underfloor cubby that has a drain so you can make it a cooler which seems to be more and more common these days and it’s super cool.
Finally, you have a factory tonneau cover built into the bed which can support up to 220 lbs. I tested it. It bent but did not break, great feature you arent giving up the security that comes with an SUV
And then of course you have bed lights as well so all-in-all really nice use of space
Exterior Design
Paint – you get a bunch of colors and they’re not even on the hyundai website yet – thats how new this thing is, but we have the white and i like it. It’s just a normal white, but you can get like a green and blue and some more interesting colors
Headlights – this is where it gets very Tucson. The running lights are built into the grille and it’s super cool and interesting looking. You have a separate housing for your full projectors down below
Grille/bumper – Again it’s very tucson, but with a little more geometric masculine design
wheels – We have the upgraded 20 inch wheels and they look cool, but you can get smaller wheels on lower trims
Profile – This is where it gets crazy – the shape is like nothing that anyone has ever seen before. It’s not el camino, its not ranchero, it’s not even Baja. It’s taller than all those and it’s more contemporary looking than the Maverick.
I had this thing all weekend, went to my cabin in middle WI and this Santa Cruz got more looks than anything we’ve ever had here at Downshift. Not exaggerating. I pulled in to get pizza at a local place one night and in the parking lot were 2 C8s, one Jaguar F type, and a Mercedes AMG GT and THIS SANTA CRUZ GOT MORE LOOKS THAT ALL OF THOSE
The front is so Tucson, but once i got past people and they saw it had a bed it was snappin necks. People were coming up to me in parking lots, asking what it was, etc.
Taillights – they go into the tailgate which isnt normal for trucks but this isnt a truck. They make a H for hyundai
Easter Eggs on the exterior. Little drawings of the car on the wheel arches, on the bed sides, and the tailgate step
Interior Design
Design (overall) – Again, it’s very tucson in here from a design perspective and that’s a good thing. We both really liked that.
You also do get a little orange flair on the passenger side
Materials – leather seats (with orange), leather steering, some piano black but it hasnt been too bad
space/comfort – the front seats are very spacious, heated, cooled, heated wheel
The back seats are a little more cramped, but I thin I could sit back behind myself for about an hour and be fine
The sunroof isnt pano so the back seats can become a black hole, but you get chargers and vents
Technology – Car play, AA (wired), sounds of nature, all the usual hyundai stuff we’ve covered in oher videos
Safety – this is on eof my biggest selling points. They standard safety suite is excellent, but then you have Highway driving assist which is fantastic, i love it. It works so well
gimmicks – not much on the interior other than that little bit of orange
Price/Competition
Base price – starts at just over 25k
Price as tested – Limited tops just under 41k
What does it compete against – this is the interesting conversation because during the hyundai presentation they kept telling us it isnt a truck, but that’s exactly what everyone is going to think it is. Truly the only real competitor currently is the Ford Maverick and on paper this thing beats it out in a lot of categories, but we havent tested that yet.
What we have tested are things like the nissan frontier and toyota tacoma and this Santa Cruz has a smaller motor making the same or more power, more efficiently, it drives better, it has less towing but more payload, but a smaller bed.
Against midsize trucks this beats them in everything that isn’t traditional offroading or hard duty truck stuff like towing and having a bigger bed.
Also we know truck people arent buying this thing, but this Santa Cruz really does do a lot and it does it pretty well
How expensive is it against the competition – really the only competition is the Ford maverick and that’s quite a bit cheaper at base and maxed out, but it also lacks some features so if you have the money i might lean this way, but until we get to do more testing with the Mav we can’t say for sure