If you’re curious about the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz, this is a good opportunity to find out from one of the designers from California!
The 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz is generating a ton of buss right now. A majority of that comes from its unique-looking design and interesting utilitarian approach to small pickups. Sure, it’s similar in execution to the Honda Ridgeline, but this is a much smaller vehicle.
There are quite a few people who are not fans of this type of design, many of which feel it’s not a proper pickup truck. I agree about the “truck” part, as it is devoid of a frame, so I simply call it a pickup, or a utility vehicle, as both are accurate. Hyundai calls it a “Sport Adventure Vehicle.”
You can read about, and watch the hands-on review (here).
Soon we will see a bunch of these little utility pickups in showrooms. You already know about the Honda Ridgeline, and this Hyundai Santa Cruz, but we will soon see a Ford Maverick pickup too. All of these pickups have a front-wheel-drive setup, that can feed rear wheels. In some cases, 4WD or AWD will be an option.
When the Hyundai Santa Cruz comes out, it will have two powertrain options. The base powertrain will have a 2.5-liter, four-cylinder engine that will make about 190 horsepower, and approximately 180 lbs-feet of torque. It will come with an eight-speed automatic transmission, and the front-wheel-drive will be available. The second powertrain will be a 2.5-liter, turbocharged four-cylinder that should make about 275 hp and an estimated 310 lb-ft of torque. This setup will come with an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission (DCT).
Hyundai’s improved HTRAC AWD system will be available on various models.
In this video, Roman interviews one of Santa Cruz’s designers as they do a walk-around. They discuss the reasons behind the exterior design choices, and they show us “fun” Easter Eggs.
