TRAVIS LANGNESS: There's a whole new vehicle segment popping up.
And there are only a few vehicles in it--
the Hyundai Santa Cruz and the Ford Maverick.
They are smaller than midsize trucks like the Honda
Ridgeline or the Toyota Tacoma.
This is the first one to arrive.
Pickup trucks are back in compact size!
It's a crossover with a bed.
It's a compact pickup truck.
It's a ute.
It's whatever you want to call it.
Hyundai is calling it a sport adventure vehicle.
But its real name is the Santa Cruz.
And we are going to take a first drive in it.
We're gonna let you know what our first impressions are out
on the open road.
And we're gonna take a closer look
at all the capabilities this compact pickup truck has got.
Before we dive into all the details on the brand new Santa
Cruz, click the Like and Subscribe buttons below.
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We've seen the Santa Cruz in a number
of static configurations.
But now that we have the chance to drive it,
I want to talk about that first-- what
the driving impressions are.
Hyundai didn't bring out any of the base 2.5-liter models.
They just brought out the 2.5-liter with the turbo
and the DCT.
And it's got pretty punchy acceleration.
It feels like it will easily pass on the highway.
And it feels pretty nimble in the corners.
There's some drive mode selectors
so you can go from normal to sport or to smart and then
to something like snow, which would probably reduce
the slip you have in the snow.
But in normal mode of drive, it's just fine.
It is a little bit loud on the inside.
On the highway, even at 60 miles an hour,
there's some pretty significant wind noise from these mirrors
and the doors.
And at 70 or 75, it gets even louder.
The ride quality?
Not much to complain about.
Even with 20-inch wheels on this platform, it's pretty smooth.
You can feel when the road gets choppy.
But the chassis mutes it well.
It doesn't make its way into the cabin.
And even big impacts don't last very long.
I'm a fan of the way this vehicle steers and handles,
too.
It's light enough and nimble enough
for small spaces, parking lots, things like that.
It's got a really tight turning radius.
And if you change from Normal to Sport Mode
while driving, it makes the steering a little bit heavier,
kind of gives you a little bit of a feel
of a more nimble and agile car, something that's
more connected to the road.
There isn't much of a connection,
really, between the steering and the front wheels.
But it does simulate it well.
The gearshifts from the 8-speed DCT are fast.
I thought there might be some issues
in regards to this being kind of a pickup style vehicle
and having a DCT.
So far, no problems.
We don't have any off-road opportunities
today or any towing opportunities,
so I'm not going to be able to inform you
on those kinds of driving scenarios.
But once we get it back in-house,
we're absolutely going to take it off road.
And we're absolutely going to hook up a trailer
and see what it's like to drive in those scenarios.
But for now, it feels good on the highway.
Feels good in city centers.
And it's happily something I would drive on a daily basis.
So after a little bit more time on the road,
there are a couple of things worth noting about the Santa
Cruz, especially with this 2.5-liter turbo engine.
It can drone a little bit on the highway,
especially if you're using manual in the paddles.
The sounds aren't that great.
It's kind of whiny.
The other complaint worth noting is the size and location
of the rear window.
It's pretty small, and it's mounted pretty high.
So even if you're sitting in a high seating position,
you don't see the bed of the truck, which is something
I'm used to with trucks.
Though I really do enjoy the way this Santa Cruz
drives in the city and on the highway.
Other than that, I really do like the interior.
So let's talk about that next.
Aside from a couple of gripes while driving it,
there isn't much to complain about on the interior
of the Santa Cruz.
The first few things I will say is
that it's missing this kind of cover
over what would be physical gauges, but is now a screen.
And while it doesn't completely blast out
those gauges, when you get some sunlight on there,
it doesn't do great things for visibility of the gauges.
Otherwise, I was worried about the touchscreen-only and
non-button setup here on the center console when we first
looked at the Santa Cruz.
And in practice, it turns out it's not that hard to use.
There are a lot of redundant buttons on the steering wheel.
And these are easy to learn after just a couple of minutes
behind the wheel.
Now, the base trim levels of the Santa Cruz
come with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android
Auto, which is a nice feature.
But when you upgrade to the higher trim levels with
the optional 10.2-inch five touch screen,
you have to switch back to wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
So you're still getting the functionality,
but it's less user-friendly.
You have to plug in your phone if you want to use it.
And Hyundai says that's a problem
they're going to try and address in the future.
But it connects well.
And the graphics are great.
The seats are really comfortable.
Long drive today, no problems with comfort
except for this strange hard panel right behind me.
I don't know why Hyundai would put that on a seat.
And if you lean back hard enough,
you'll kind of whack your neck on it.
When it comes to interior surfaces,
materials, everything really feels nice in here,
feels high quality.
Yeah, you're looking at a pretty pricey vehicle,
but you don't feel like they've cheaped out
on any of the interior stuff.
Lots of great room for cups, cans, water bottles,
your smartphone, several USB ports up front,
and a large center console.
On this top trim Limited, you've got
heated and ventilated seats, as well as a heated steering
wheel for colder climates.
I could spend a long time in this vehicle on a road trip,
thanks to the comfort of the seats and the ride.
But the driver aids-- stuff like adaptive cruise control, lane
keep assist, blind spot monitoring,
those are all a little oversensitive.
The rear seat of the Santa Cruz has
plenty of space for adults, lots of leg room and head room.
It's got two USB ports and nice vents.
But strangely, it's missing a center arm rest.
We've already looked at the exterior of the Hyundai
in our First Look video.
And it's no secret that I'm a big fan of the styling.
I like that it's dynamic instead of flat and simple.
And sure, it looks like what we thought
futuristic cars would look like in the '80s,
but that's pretty cool.
Now, when it comes to the engines,
there's the base 2.5-liter engine that's putting out
around 190 horsepower.
It's got an 8-speed automatic.
And then there's this--
the 2.5-liter turbo charged engine that puts out around 280
horsepower and over 300 pound-feet of torque,
which is really impressive.
And the pricing came in on the Santa Cruz a little bit
lower than we first estimated, around 25 grand for the base
trim and working its way up considerably higher
to around $41,000 for this top Limited trim level.
Now that's not cheap.
It lines up with stuff that's kind
of in the mid-range of the midsize line-up
like a Ridgeline.
But it does have a lot of features to offer.
How about capability, though?
Let's take a closer look at the bed of the truck
and talk about some very specific numbers.
There are lots of cool features in the Santa Cruz's bed,
so let's just hit them real quick.
First is the in-bed storage.
It's like a trunk that you can drain out.
Or you could store icy beverages at a ball game there.
Then there's the fact that this tailgate can
attach to a different point.
So you can have 4x8 sheets of plywood hanging off the bed
and secure them while you drive home.
Then there's the factory available tonneau cover, which
Hyundai says is a first amongst pickup
trucks, instead of a port for a dealer-installed option.
And there are several small storage areas
on the side of the bed as well as a standard bedliner, which
the Maverick doesn't get.
You got to pay extra for that with the Ford.
Then there's the issue of the numbers.
So many of you left us so many comments
about the Maverick versus the Santa Cruz.
And I want to try and clear things
up between these two trucks.
So let's talk about payload versus bed capacity.
Now, when Hyundai first came out with the Santa Cruz,
they said it had a 660-pound bed capacity.
Then they released the payload number,
which was over 1,700 pounds.
Pretty impressive.
And a lot of the Ford people out there said, oh.
Well, we've got a 1,500-pound payload available to us
in the Maverick.
But we can put as much of it as we want in the bed.
Not so fast.
Payload is everything.
It's what me, the driver, weighs;
my passengers; all the stuff I put inside;
the tongue weight of a trailer; and what I put in the bed.
Combine all those, and you get the number that's payload.
So if you have me-- a 200-pound driver, two
200-pound passengers, 200 pounds of tongue weight,
suddenly you're dropping the payload down in the Maverick
from 1,500 down to about 700, which is pretty on par
with a 660-pound bed capacity.
Now all that is to say that Hyundai's walked back
that 660 pounds.
We asked and asked and asked at dinners, presentations,
and lunches with the Hyundai folks,
and weren't able to get them to confirm what the bed
capacity of the truck is.
But they did release new payload capacity numbers.
And on the base SE, it's as high as 1,900 pounds.
It's like full-size truck capacities.
On this one, the Limited, it's 1,568 pounds.
That's a lot.
And they may change that again.
But what we've come to realize is
that when it comes to bed capacities and payloads
with this Hyundai Santa Cruz, we're
going to have to wait to get it in house
to see what it can really handle.
So what have we learned about the Santa Cruz?
For me, it's really fun to drive.
The turbocharged engine is really peppy.
And it feels great around the corners
or comfortable on the highway.
And it's pretty classy.
We also know that it's got average
to middling fuel economy.
22 or 23 MPG is not that great for a compact pickup truck.
But there's some things we don't know yet.
Like when will a hybrid arrive?
We know that Hyundai has said they're open to the idea.
It's possible that they could use
the hybrid or plug-in hybrid stuff that they've
got going in the Tucson on this platform,
or maybe even go full EV.
So fuel economy estimates could go up.
Finally, we don't know what it's like to go off-roading,
to tow something, or to haul a really heavy load
in the back of the Santa Cruz.
But you can rest assured that as soon
as it gets into the Edmunds office,
we'll update you with a video about just how it is with all
those trucky things happening.
For more information on the Santa Cruz,
including all the nitty gritty details on payload capacity
and how it stacks up against pretty much every other truck
on the road, click the link in the description below.
And if you want a cash offer on your car today,
go to edmunds.com/sellmycar.
Thanks for watching.