Up Close With the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz's Cargo Bed
The all-new 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz is one of the more interesting small pickup trucks to hit the U.S. market in a while. With its unibody construction and standard crew-cab body style, the Santa Cruz shares attributes with the mid-size Honda Ridgeline, though it’s more than a foot shorter than the Ridgeline and other mid-size trucks like the Ford Ranger and GMC Canyon. Even so, we were still interested to see how its cargo bed and box features compare with its larger rivals, which we last evaluated in a four-truck comparison test.
Related: Ranger, Gladiator, Ridgeline, Canyon: Which Has the Best Bed and Tailgate?
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We followed the same test procedures from that comparison when evaluating the Santa Cruz’s cargo bed, which measured 41 inches long, 42.75 inches wide and 18.5 inches tall. The bed’s width and height aren’t far off from those of the Ranger and Canyon, thanks in part to modest wheel-well intrusion. (We measured between the wheel wells, when present, to determine bed width.)
The Santa Cruz’s 41-inch-long cargo box, however, is around 1.5 feet shorter than the box in the crew-cab Ranger (58.25 inches) or crew-cab Canyon (59 inches). We took these measurements at the top of the cargo box with the tailgate closed; the Santa Cruz’s bed length is 51 inches when measured at the floor. The sizable difference comes from our as-tested truck’s optional roll-top bed cover, which takes up a considerable amount of space where the bed meets the rear of the cab.
The Santa Cruz’s underfloor storage area takes a page from the Ridgeline’s playbook. The hinged rear section of the cargo floor lifts up to reveal a storage bin that measures 18.25 inches long, 37.75 inches wide and 7 inches tall. That’s a foot shallower than a similar in-bed feature in the Ridgeline, which limits its usefulness. It’s also harder to access because you have to reach across the lowered tailgate. The Ridgeline’s tailgate can swing open horizontally like a door in addition to lowering vertically, which lets you get closer to the storage well. That said, the Santa Cruz’s shallower underfloor storage area leaves room for a spare tire under the rear of the bed. Honda perches the Ridgeline’s spare, by comparison, on a ledge in the storage well, which could make for difficult access when the bed is loaded.
While the Santa Cruz’s cargo bed is significantly smaller than that of your typical mid-size truck, it does offer a lot of amenities. There are two sliding tie-down cleats, one in each bed wall, that are rated to 250 pounds apiece. There are also two fixed cleats. A cargo light at the rear of the cab is standard, and bed-wall lighting is optional. The tailgate is damped, and you can lower it using the key fob. An optional household power outlet is rated to 150 watts.
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How Would It Compare?
Broadly speaking, our earlier comparison of mid-size truck beds combined scores for as-tested volume as well as scores for cargo-bed features. In the first half of that equation, the Santa Cruz’s small bed would have struggled versus the other four trucks we tested — the Canyon, Ranger, Ridgeline and Jeep Gladiator. The Hyundai’s 18.8 cubic-foot cargo bed would earn just 12 out of a possible 20 points in the as-tested volume category. By contrast, the Ranger and Ridgeline, which tied for the largest cargo beds in our prior test with around 30 cubic feet apiece, each got 20 points toward their total scores. Still, the Santa Cruz would fare well in the bed-features side of things, tacking on another 7 points versus the Ridgeline (5 points), Gladiator (4 points), Canyon (2 points) and Ranger (1 point).
Ultimately, the Ridgeline came in first with a score of 25 out of 30 total points. The three other trucks in the test each scored 21 points between both categories. Judged on the same criteria, the Santa Cruz would have earned 19 points in total.
“Small” and “pickup trucks” haven’t gone together in the U.S. for a while now, but with today’s mid-size trucks approaching the dimensions of full-size models from a few decades ago, perhaps it’s the right time for some new, small entry-level trucks. The Santa Cruz and upcoming 2022 Ford Maverick fit the bill, and it’ll be interesting to see how popular they are with truck shoppers.
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