Hyundai Santa Cryz as Tow Vehicle

For those of us, myself included, who don't like driving around in big pickups, there are two new entrants this year in the compact pickup category, which haven't been available in the US market for a very long time. The Ford Maverick and the Hyundai Santa Cruz.

The Maverick is available in hybrid form and gets up to 40 mpg, which is excellent. The Santa Cruz only comes with a conventional ICE so far, so it's mpg is not great. Unfortunately the Maverick only has a 4000 lb tow rating max. The Hyundai has 5000 in it's AWD turbo version. That should be fine for towing a mid sized rpod or other TT.

Both are unibody crossover based vehicles, whether that is a pro or a con for you is a matter of personal choice For me it's a pro.

Hyundai is talking about adding a hybrid, a plug in hybrid, and pure EV versions over the next few years if the vehicle is a success in the market. I personally really like it's size, capabilities, and styling. Having grown up in Santa Cruz I'm partial to the model name....

Yes, I would expect the Santa Cruz to tow about the same as my Highlander, which I think was just fine.

And yes, the F150 is a sensible alternative for many folks, especially if towing a travel trailer is more of a priority than being a daily driver in an urban/suburban location is.

So I have considered the F150 and I even placed a refundable deposit on a F150 Lightning. That vehicle is quite interesting in many ways, There are other threads on this forum (and many others) about it's pros and cons.

But I no longer have the rpod and my towing is limited now to utility runs and the occasional short haul one horse trailer tow. We have a lightweight well balanced European horse trailer and a light utility trailer for those purposes.

So for our use a compact pickup would be preferable. Smaller, easier to park, and more nimble. My wife and I miss our old early 90s Toyota truck (pre Tacoma when it was actually a compact not a mid sized vehicle) so the comeback of the compact truck (Santa Cruz and Maverick) is promising.

Unfortunately about the only thing the Maverick has going for it is it's inexpensive, if you look at one after the Hyundai it looks like something that Ford put together from the parts bin one afternoon. My wife took one 5 second look and got back in the car to leave the dealership, wouldn't even sit in it.

Hyundai OTOH has really come a long way, their vehicles have excellent fit and finish, and appear to use high quality materials. They have a California based design center and have done great job on the Santa Cruz. Also Hyundai is the first mainstream manufacturer to go to an 800V platform for their EVs (unless you count Porsche as mainstream) which allows for 250+ kw fast charging.

I'm hopeful the Santa Cruz will be a success and Hyundai will put that EV system in it for the next generation. That would be a great combination for our use. Toyota has announced a Tacoma EV to be released mid decade, thats another possibility.

I also would like to see how the V2H and V2G technology rolls out for EVs. Ford has announced V2H for the F150 and claims to have V2G in the works, which would be a first in the US.

So for now I'll wait and see what happens. Being retired (me) and working from home (my wife) we don't put a lot of miles on our vehicles anymore, and our 12 year old Prius runs perfectly and gets 48-50 mpg, still about as good as it gets in the ICE/non plug in hybrid world. The Highlander gets very limited use (snow and hauling) so it's 25mpg gas guzzling (15 towing) isn't really much of an issue.

In the meantime I posted about the Santa Cruz because I thought it might also appeal to other folks here with or planning for a small to medium rpod or other trailer. I think it would do the job while being more comfortable for many as a daily driver than a full size or even mid size pickup would be.