![]() ![]() The question worth asking is: Does it have a completely separate bed capable of carrying a sheet of plywood without reaching into the cab? If you can answer that question in the affirmative, it’s a truck ( sorry Toyota bB Open Deck). I don’t think a ladder frame should be the only qualification for being a truck or not. I finally got my hands on a Santa Cruz last week and they sent me the fully loaded Santa Cruz Limited AWD, which was spec’d up to $41,810, delivered. This compares favorably with the Maverick’s turbo 2.0-liter four-cylinder, which offers just 250 horsepower and 277 lb-ft of torque. The turbo motor is only available with Hyundai’s HTRAC all-wheel drive system for obvious reasons. The most desirable flavor of the Santa Cruz is the one with the turbocharged version of the 2.5-liter engine, which has a much improved 281 horsepower and 311 lb-ft of torque. For another $1,500 you can add all-wheel drive, which isn’t available with the Maverick Hybrid, though the AWD Santa Cruz’s 21 MPG city/25 MPG highway fuel economy starts are also much less impressive. This motor produces 191 horsepower and 181 lb-ft of torque, which exceeds the 162 horsepower and 155 lb-ft of torque from the base Maverick. The base truck starts at $25,700 (pre delivery), is front-wheel drive, and has the 2.5-liter inline-four shared with a bunch of other Kia and Hyundai products. Right now, there are three basic flavors of Santa Cruz with a lot of trim variations, but all are four-door trucks based on the Hyundai Tucson crossover platform. I’m not sure I’ll ever be a fan of the rectangular-floating-screen-as-gauge-cluster look, but it’s mostly forgettable here and pairs well with the center stack. While the materials aren’t Bentley-nice, all the plastics feel nice and it looks attractive without being gimmicky or over-styled. Inside, the Santa Cruz feels like the high-end, near-premium crossover that Hyundai and Kia have gotten good at building. There’s no bad angle here, especially with the sharp c-pillar kink and porky fenders. The daytime running lights built into the grille are a nice, very Hyundai design element that work well here. It’s a handsome, rugged, and modern package. Similar to the concept, this is a compact truck that looks like a Hyundai Tucson with the rear chopped off and a bed added. Having driven both, I think Maverick is still a better deal and probably a better truck, especially in hybrid form, but the Santa Cruz is a better all around vehicle. While production issues seem to be easing, the waitlist for a cheap Maverick Hybrid is still long, so few people likely were able to take advantage of that deal. The base Maverick now starts at $22,195 (before delivery), so that price was very short-lived. It’s been a couple of years and it’s probably time to reconsider the Hyundai Santa Cruz in light of the data we have. The Santa Cruz, with its mediocre fuel economy, suddenly seemed too expensive and less of a value. While both are unibody, crossover-based platforms molded into trucks, Ford had the genius idea of launching with a hybrid version priced (in theory) under $20k that could return an EPA-rated 42 mpg in the city. The bad news is it took a while and, in the interim, Ford showed off the Maverick. The good news is we did get it, mostly in a form promised by the concept, albeit with an extra set of doors and Hyundai’s new (and improved) corporate face. I really hope Hyundai can bring this thing to market as close as possible to the concept. I actually think I’m more excited by this concept than the Ford GT, which is both the most insane and most rational thing I’ve ever thought, simultaneously. Here was Jason’s conclusion way back in 2015 when the concept debuted: There’s always a bit of trepidation when you go back and see what a past, probably dumber version of yourself wrote, but I feel better knowing that both my yearning for the Santa Cruz was matched by Jason and others after seeing the concept: I love the Maverick, I do, but a few days with the Santa Cruz convinced me it was every bit the vehicle I’d pleaded for almost a decade ago. ![]() In the interim, Hyundai did decide to build it and, oh, oops, the Maverick also came out and I got distracted. I was part of a movement of journalists trying to persuade Hyundai into building a production version of its Santa Cruz concept trucklet. Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
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