What sort of car is the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz? What does it examine to?

New for 2022, the Hyundai Santa Cruz exists within the heart of a Venn diagram of sedans, SUVs, and pickup vehicles. It’s extra like a Subaru Baja from 20 years in the past than something on sale now, although its open mattress and seating for 5 pit it towards mid-size pickup vehicles starting from the Honda Ridgeline to the Rivian R1T electrical truck. 

Is the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz an excellent automobile/SUV/pickup?

Evaluate continues beneath

It seems promising, however we gained’t know till we drive it someday earlier than its summer season on-sale date. (Learn extra about how we rate cars.)

What’s new for the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz?

The 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz is all new and in contrast to something at present on sale, although it shares a platform with the Hyundai Tucson compact crossover. Hyundai markets the Santa Cruz as a sport journey car, however its proportions seem like the best city weekend getaway car for sport, journey, utility, and parallel parking.

At 195.7 inches lengthy, it trails the Toyota Tacoma and Honda Ridgeline by greater than a foot, and it’s about three inches shorter in peak than the competitors. From the entrance it seems like an off-roadable crossover; from the rear, a square-box pickup. Both method, it attracts consideration as a contemporary tackle the Baja.

The entrance finish wears the stepped grille with built-in daytime working lights of the 2022 Hyundai Tucson. The DRLs solely turn out to be distinguishable from the grille at night time, in any other case the grille spreads its wings to the corners above the headlights. A skid plate girds the entrance bumper. 

The squat profile options tasteful and textured black cladding working over the rockers and round wheel arches that home 18-inch wheels customary or out there 20-inch wheels with a star design. 

Issues get much more fascinating at that rear. Bulging taillights within the form of hatchets body a tailgate that’s stamped with massive “Santa Cruz” lettering above the bumper. The daring stamping conjures sandboxes dominated by a Tonka truck. The rear bumper options built-in nook mattress steps, just like the Chevy Colorado, with a non-slip ledge on the highest. Hyundai guarantees a number of Easter eggs all through the design to specific its American-made spirit.

The mattress doesn’t have the depth or size of different mid-size vehicles, but it surely has some neat tips. It’s not a field, and at 52.1 inches the underside stretches out longer than the highest at 48.4 inches. Both method, it’s not less than a half foot shorter than the competitors, but it surely contains a built-in lockable tonneau cowl, hidden mattress storage about six inches deep with a drain plug, and out there mattress extending equipment.     

Intelligent storage areas proceed inside, with 60/40-split rear seats that flip as much as reveal a seat-length storage cubby. Mesh pockets line the entrance seat backs, however the utilitarian turns into a technocrat within the cockpit, headlined by an 8.0-inch touchscreen with wi-fi Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. A bigger 10.3-inch touchscreen is out there however smartphones will should be tethered. Non-obligatory tech upgrades embrace wi-fi charging and a ten.0-inch digital instrument cluster.  

Inside house seems roomy and the wheelbase is 10 inches longer than the Tucson, however Hyundai didn’t disclose leg room. The Santa Cruz has a Subaru-like 8.6 inches of floor clearance, a breakover angle of 18.6 levels and strategy and departure angles of 17.5 and 23.2 levels, respectively. For comparability, the longer Subaru Outback has a 19.4-degree breakover angle and 18.6 and 21.7 strategy and departure angles. The brief overhangs of the Santa Cruz ought to assist when the pavement ends and the journey begins. 

Hyundai affords two powertrains to get to that time. The usual engine is a 2.5-liter inline-4 that makes 190 hp and 180 lb-ft of torque. It makes use of an 8-speed computerized with front-wheel drive and may tow as much as 3,500 kilos. 

The uprated engine is a 2.5-liter turbo-4 making an estimated 275 hp and 310 lb-ft of torque. It pairs to an 8-speed dual-clutch computerized utilized in Hyundai’s efficiency N variants however with totally different tuning. With out there all-wheel drive, it could actually tow 5,000 kilos. 

The HTrac all-wheel-drive system comes with a middle locking differential that splits the torque between the entrance and rear axles. If the motive force doesn’t press the locker for low pace off-roading, the system routinely adjusts torque between the axles based mostly on situations and driver inputs. Sport, Regular, and Sensible drive mode settings shuttle energy appropriately, with Sport mode sending as much as 50% of the torque to the rear wheels. When cruising, many of the torque powers the entrance wheels the place it’s best. The Santa Cruz comes with 18-inch wheels, however bigger off-road tires or 20-inch wheels can be found upgrades. 

Whereas the off-road elements could also be non-obligatory, Hyundai assures Santa Cruz homeowners security on the highway. Normal driver-assist options embrace computerized emergency braking with pedestrian detection and energetic lane management, whereas choices equivalent to blind-spot displays, blind-spot cameras, and surround-view cameras assist get your bearings on path or additionally when slipping into that parallel parking spot. 

Related automobile tech features a 3-year Blue Hyperlink subscription that lets customers distant begin and situation the automobile, in addition to lock and unlock doorways and monitor its whereabouts if stolen or should you’ve confused it for that Baja within the seaside car parking zone. 

The Santa Cruz comes with a superb guarantee, together with a 5-year/60,000-mile restricted guarantee, a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain guarantee, and three years/36,000 miles of complimentary oil adjustments and tire rotations. 

How a lot does the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz value?

Pricing, trims, and specs shall be introduced nearer to the summer season supply date.

The place is the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz made?

In Montgomery, Alabama.