We’ve done a more thorough breakdown of its size elsewhere, which you should check out, but the key takeaway is this: It doesn’t look big. It’s 4 inches shorter from bumper to bumper than the Ford Maverick and more than a foot shorter than the Honda Ridgeline. What the Santa Cruz also lacks, at least in the realm of pickups, is size. I also appreciate that while the sides of the Santa Cruz have some sharp, sculpted lines, it doesn’t have the “pre-dented” look of Hyundai’s Elantra sedan or Tucson SUV. It’s much more appealing in person, if a bit unusual-looking. Visually, the Santa Cruz is something of a compact, modern Chevrolet Avalanche, though I will say I don’t think photos do it justice. Small in Size, Trick in Features OutsideĢ022 Hyundai Santa Cruz | photo by Brian Normile And between its looks and Hyundai’s unwillingness to call it a pickup truck, I have a feeling the Santa Cruz is going to be a more competitive choice among SUV shoppers, not those looking for a pickup - and having now driven one, I find the Santa Cruz a strange-looking but compelling choice. The Santa Cruz looks even less like a pickup than the Maverick or Ridgeline, appearing to be more of a mid-size SUV with a bed. (I will not be discussing whether a hot dog is a sandwich or if cereal and milk is soup.) That’s by no means a bad thing we’re very excited about another unibody compact pickup truck, the 2022 Ford Maverick, and the less traditional unibody Honda Ridgeline is consistently a top finisher, if not a winner, in our mid-size pickup comparison tests. If a vehicle has a pickup bed, it’s a pickup. Related: Hyundai Reveals Almost Everything on Its 2022 Santa Cruz Pickup: Size, Power, Towing But I’m going to let you in on a little secret. No, the Santa Cruz is a Sport Adventure Vehicle, according to the automaker (Not to be confused with Sport Activity Vehicle, which is what BMW has always called its SUVs). We’ve been teased by the idea of a Hyundai pickup truck for years and now, finally, here it is: the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz.
The Santa Cruz takes a more premium and unconventional tack, but it seems more likely to face competition both from Hyundai and other brands’ compact and mid-size SUVs rather than traditional (or less traditional) pickups. Versus the competition: We haven’t yet driven the 2022 Ford Maverick, the other new compact pickup on the block, but we’ve been impressed by what we’ve seen thus far. The verdict: A small pickup truck that doesn’t much look like one, the Santa Cruz “Sport Adventure Vehicle” (Hyundai’s preferred nomenclature) provides an impressive driving experience and utility in an unusual package that historically has struggled to find buyers.
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