In January of 2015, Hyundai surprised the world with the debut of a brand new concept pickup truck called the Santa Cruz. One of the first car-based unibody truck America had seen (after the Honda Ridgeline and Subaru Baja), the sharper, edgier, and cooler Santa Cruz drew adoration from the public, with such overwhelmingly positive feedback that Hyundai greenlit the project. The problem was, it took forever to come to market, and by the time it did, Ford had launched an absolute showstopper in the Maverick. But does that mean the Hyundai Santa Cruz isn’t a great vehicle? I just test-drove a traded-in 2025 Santa Cruz, and while I found it extremely disappointing, I also think it’s a good deal. Here’s what I mean.
The Hyundai Santa Cruz could have been something special. It should have been. The amount of buzz surrounding the vehicle when it hit the scene meant the South Korean automaker was poised to disrupt the market with a truly cool pickup truck that could offer the comfort and efficiency that go along with a unibody car-platform. Small, efficient, and with looks like that? Everyone was excited. Including our own Jason Torchinsky, who wrote this at Jalopnik:
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. I really hope Hyundai can bring this thing to market as close as possible to the concept. I guess we’ll see.
I felt the same way.
Wards Auto said Hyundai’s plan was to fast-track development if people liked the truck (they did):
Hyundai will take the Santa Cruz to multiple U.S. auto shows this year to gauge media and consumer interest. If feedback is positive, the automaker could accelerate its normal 4-year product launch timing to 3 years for a Santa Cruz production model, Zuchowski says.
But three years later, Motor Trend reported that the truck was still two years from showrooms, writing:
Hyundai showed a concept of the “crossover truck” at the 2015 North American International Auto Show and it garnered enough positive feedback to act on. Then-CEO Dave Zuchowski pushed hard for it to be added to the brand’s car-heavy portfolio, and in late 2016 the decision had been made to greenlight the project to arrive in 2018 as a 2019 model. An announcement was coming soon, Zuchowski said.
But even that was optimistic; the Santa Cruz didn’t actually hit the market until late 2021 as a 2022 model-year. That’s six years after that Detroit Auto Show surprise-debut. Auto Blog talked with Gilbert Castillo, who ran Hyundai’s product strategy and regulatory compliance in North America to try to understand what took so long:
Castillo explained that the problem was the platform they were working with. At the time, the plan was to use the previous generation Tucson crossover platform. The team developing the truck discovered they would have to make many compromises to use the now-old platform and weren’t going to meet internal targets for the truck.
Instead of trying to put out a subpar truck, the Santa Cruz was put on hold for the next Tucson. And as development began for the crossover, the platform was developed with the idea of adapting it to a truck later, giving us the pickup design we saw unveiled today. And as you can see, the truck has changed a fair bit, taking on more styling cues from the Tucson that provided its platform. It also picked up a larger rear seating area than the concept, which Hyundai product planners felt would be more appealing to buyers…
[…]
So there you go, the Santa Cruz took a while because Hyundai wanted to get it just right, and that took a new generation of small crossover.
That conclusion — that Hyundai waited so they could get it just right — would make sense if Hyundai got it just right. They did not.
The Santa Cruz Is Disappointing Because It Could Have Been So Much Better, Even Late To Market
The car I drove was a 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz SEL with the base 2.5-liter naturally aspirated engine. In Sage Gray, the truck looks awesome from every angle. I love the sail pillars between the cab and the bed; I think the rear end looks aggressive; and up front, the face, while busy, is definitely fitting for a truck.
The interior is especially nice. The badgeless steering wheel thing that Hyundai has done on some cars like this and the Ioniq 5 feels a bit odd, but materials are good, and the styling gave off a nearly-luxurious vibe.
There’s a giant horizontal screen that contains the infotainment display on the right and the gauge cluster on the left. Down below the center stack are HVAC controls (sadly, too many of them are touch-screen and not physical buttons), and under that is a chunky T-handle shifter.
To the right of the main screen is dashboard storage and to the left is a speaker.
I like the competing Ford Maverick’s interior as well, but whereas the Hyundai’s cabin feels a bit upscale, the Maverick’s feels a bit chunkier/Tonka Truck-like:
The Hyundai Santa Cruz’s interior isn’t its problem. The problem is the powertrain, which is — compared to the Ford Maverick’s — simply awful. It’s the same 2.5-liter naturally aspirated GDI four-cylinder one might find in a Tucson, Sonata, or Sorento. It makes 191 horsepower, 181 lb-ft of torque, and absolutely struggles to move the 3,800 pound truck down the road, despite a competent 8-speed automatic.
I haven’t called a modern automobile slow in a long time, in part because I drive lots of old, legitimately slow machines, but the Santa Cruz feels lethargic even compared to vehicles like my 1991 Jeep Wrangler YJ. Why? That old YJ makes 190 horsepower, weighs about 3,200 pounds, and does 0-60 mph in probably around 10 seconds. No new high-volume car should be that slow, and yet, per Consumer Reports, the all-wheel drive Santa Cruz with the base engine scored a 0-60 time of 10.3 seconds. Again, I drive lots of old cars, so I can tell you that 10.3 seconds to 60 is livable, but on a vehicle this quiet and refined, it feels even slower than it does in my Jeep rattle-trap (to be fair, the car I drove was a front-wheel drive model, and those seem to do 0-60 mph in around 9 seconds, per various sources. Still slow.).
What makes the Santa Cruz so disappointing is two things. First, that slow, 191 horsepower powertrain gets awful fuel economy. Check it out:
Look at that absolutely gargantuan chasm between the Santa Cruz and the hybrid Ford Maverick, which, despite making the same 191 horsepower, is quicker to 60 mph (just under 8 seconds, per various sources) and is cheaper. 25 MPG combined compared to 38 is laughable.
What’s also laughable is the fact that the turbocharged, 250-horsepower Ford Maverick — which does 0-60 mph in the 6s and also costs less than the Santa Cruz — also scores better fuel economy than the anemic, base Hyundai.
I get that driving a car isn’t all about numbers. And the Hyundai’s cabin and overall refinement are worth celebrating (the Maverick, for example, doesn’t have vents for the rear passengers), but for the Santa Cruz to be slower, more expensive (~$31K vs ~$30K) and way, way less fuel efficient (a 20 MPG delta in the city!) makes it a huge disappointment in my eyes, given how long it took to get this thing to market.
I hear things are different when you get behind the wheel of the Santa Cruz Turbo, as my colleague Matt once wrote, “The Hyundai Santa Cruz Is Exactly The Great Car-Truck We Asked For,” saying:
Thankfully, the Santa Cruz is good and nicely serves its mission of being a truck-type object that you could live with daily, park in a city, and occasionally use to haul things around while returning fuel economy that doesn’t make you feel bad…
[…]
Here in the United States we only have two small unibody pickups, so your choices are the Maverick or the Santa Cruz. My advice is to get either the cheapest Hybrid Maverick you can find or, if have more budget, get the higher end trim level of the 2.5T Santa Cruz. T
The problem is that the good version of the Santa Cruz, the 281 horsepower turbo that does 0-60 mph in about six seconds and that Road & Track says is “great to drive” — costs over $41,000. That’s a lot, and there’s still a 6 MPG fuel economy delta with the 250 horsepower Maverick.
It’s Still A Good Deal
That may all sound pretty damning, but then you look at used Santa Cruzes. The one that someone traded in to Galpin for a Mazda (I think a Miata) is listed on Galpin’s website at $26,072. That’s an amazing deal for a soulful, four-door vehicle with only 13,600 miles on the clock in 2026. In fact, just a cursory look at Santa Cruzes versus Mavericks shows that these Hyundais are actually quite cheap, despite their higher MSRPs:
Here are some Mavericks, for comparison:
So yes, the Santa Cruz that we all prayed would come to market ended up arriving with a sad powertrain, making the vehicle a huge disappointment. But if you have the scratch for a turbo model, that may be worth it, and if you just want the cheapest small truck that won’t bankrupt you in fuel costs compared to other pickups, snagging a used Hyundai Santa Cruz seems like a pretty good option.