Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Hyundai Santacruz

Anyone have experience with one of these mini p.u.’s. I know it’s not a real truck, but other than that how about value as a grocery getter, or for a dump run?

Thnx

Bob

I would buy the Ridgeline before buying anything Hyundai or Kia, Build quality is substantially better .

From Car and Driver:

Outdoorsy? Ok, that's a grocery and golf club hauler. If you want something that will leave the pavement and negotiate a gravel parking lot, you need more than this. Within it's strict limitations, nothing more remote than a city park, it might be ok.

Thanks guys. You’re sharing my sentiments, but I might just be curious enough to have a close up look.

Bob

I'ts the alternative to the Ford Maverick; most people just can't get past the looks. For a "ranchette" vehicle, I don't see much of an issue. Other than it's just fugly.

Yeah and it is a 100k max vehicle because it is a Hyundai.

And they can't get past the plastic bed that has about half the payload of the steel bed in the Maverick. The Maverick is the better bang for your buck in the unibody truck class. It is only a bumper longer than the Santa Cruz while offering more lengroom and bed length.

The Santa Cruz is designed to drive like a sedan for the city person who wants to haul a couple bags of mulch or camp on a maintained roadway. It is a replacement for the ageing Subaru Outback Bajas.

Consumer reports ranks Hyundai brand reliability at #11, above Chrysler, Chevy, and Ford (#18), in that order.

Lexus is #1. Lincoln is last (#28). Tesla is next to last.

So, there's that.

https://www.kbb.com/car-news/consumer-reports-lexus-makes-the-most-reliable-cars-lincoln-the-least/

I've got a Maverick on order; I was surprised it has a 1,500 lb payload. Not bad for a trucklet.

Wheelbarrels
Lincoln makes a truck?????
Lexus makes a truck??Maybe a yota

They are being generous at 11 . I would not put much faith in what KBB publishes or where it gets it's data. Hyundai is a throw away at 100k.


Hyundai engines are almost entirely direct injected. Some manufacturers do that better then others but DI is not a good thing even in a properly designed engine.

Ok. The Elantra I had ran to 160,000 miles with literally nothing but oil changes before it got totaled by a little blue hair running a red light.

Sorry for doing it wrong...........

Even a blind squirrel..............

A Lincoln is just a Ford with $10k worth of expensive fancy crap added to make it 'special'.

I used to drive past a dealer with 2 of those in the parking lot. He was quite proud of them

Don't know anything about the Santa Cruz, but we have Hyundai Santa fe for our sales reps and everyone of those has over 300K miles. They have been good vehicles.

Pretty much every engine designed within the last 15 years is direct injected, that's not something that's even remotely exclusive to Hyundai. Direct injection is good for about 15% better fuel economy, it's basically a requirement to make CAFE standards. You seem to have a beef against Hyundai since you're bashing them in every post here. I don't own one but know several people with them and they've been universally happy. I'd certainly pick one over any domestic maker.

To the OP, you're probably asking this question on the wrong forum. As you can see, whenever someone asks a question like "I know it’s not a real truck, but other than that how about value as a grocery getter, or for a dump run?" the chorus immediately chimes in that nothing less than a $100K King Ranch Ford F350 PowerStroke dually will do to haul groceries or a bag of garbage.

I have a 2014 Honda and it does not have direct injection, my 19 Highlander did not have direct injection neither did my 2017 Tundra. My POS 2016 ford f150 had DI and they were known to have carbon issues. It was bought back by the factory because of issues DI caused (like low vacuum) They went to DI and MPI in 2017 to fix those problems.

I don't know of a person that has owned a Hyundai or Kia that has kept it long unlike those that have owned Honda and Toyota.

I'm not sure what kind of Honda you have so I can't speak to that. If you've got a 2019 Highlander with a V6 then it is direct injection, that's all they made that year. The 5.7L V8 in the Tundra is not a direct injection engine but it came out in 2007 which is why I said anything designed within the last 15 years or so. Yours might have been made in 2017 but it's an old, but reliable engine. I have a 2016 Tundra.

The early direct injection engines had carbon buildup issues on the intake valves. It was discovered that since the fuel was directly injected into the cylinder the valves weren't benefitting from the fuel cleaning them like in a normal engine. That issue was solved by using a dual mode injection which injects a small amount of fuel into the manifold (port injection) with the main charge being direct injected. This small amount of intake fuel is enough to keep the valves clean which solved the carbon problem. That's what Ford did that you described. The problem was not unique to Hyundai and to my knowledge nobody makes a DI engine that does not have the dual mode system today, Hyundai's webpage specifically describes their dual mode system. I think that when Toyota started using direct injection they always used the dual mode system so they never had the problem. Early on some of the luxury car makers like BMW and Audi went in heavy on direct injection before the problems were understood and they had a lot of problems with carbon buildup. So yes, they had problems when direct injection first came out but they've been solved now. While there may be a few older designed engines still being produced that don't have direct injection, almost all new gas engines are going to have it, it's good for about a 15% fuel economy boost because it lets them run a higher compression ratio.

I've never had a Hyundai or Kia, I'm a Toyota guy. I know several people that have owned them and all have had good service out of them. I've never heard of anyone with premature engine problems from them. I'd certainly trust them over any domestic manufacturer.