2023 Santa Cruz Limited 2.5T
The Santa Cruz isn't a truck exactly. In fact, I consider it to best fit the term "sport utility vehicle". It stands out from the crowd. It has plenty of power in the top trim levels with the 2.5 Turbo engine. The vehicle comes with many great features, including a pretty good stock sound and nav system. The safety features like four quadrant cameras and adaptive cruise work great. The Lane Keeping Assist works excellent as long as there are proper lines painted on the road (in other words, all but country lanes and back roads), and will keep you from going off the road if you get distracted. The seating is comfortable. The bed is smallish but useful for bulky or oversize items like a piece of furniture or carrying camping gear. It handles rough roads very well and the ride quality is great.
I don't want anyone to think I'm a "bot" or AI writing this. The vehicle has a few quirks or missed opportunities. These include lack of seat position memory, no physical knobs for the entertainment/nav system, bed should have been just a couple of inches longer, the hood is HEAVY with no lift assist shocks, and the interior slider (the cloth part) for the sun roof is NOT tied to the glass portion, you have to move it manually. The most glaring "problem" is a lack of ECO mode, which I feel cuts down on the MPG. It won't automatically go to the highest available gear, forcing you to shift with the paddle to get the RPMs down in order to get your mileage up. It always seems to stop one gear too low for the speed you are doing, such as in fourth when it should go on up to fifth. Of course this doesn't matter once you top out at full "highway speed" and the vehicle is in eighth gear.
Overall, though, the Santa Cruz is a great vehicle for the money you pay for it. I think they give you features and quality that would cost you quite a bit more if it was another manufacturer. The vehicle looks good (though get some stick on plastic letters to fill in the reliefs in the tailgate, looks too plain without it) and runs very well. I don't regret my purchase in the least, and with just a few tiny changes, I think Hyundai can take the Santa Cruz from very, very good to outstanding.
Recommended
Verified Owner
