Good little truck
Overall, I love my Santa Cruz. It is perfect for my needs, which as a homeowner it's my personal daily vehicle, and my weekend vehicle to take trips to the hardware store or haul bulky items. I like how it drives, the DCT transmission takes a little getting used to but as a car guy, I don't mind it. The truck accelerates quickly, has a nice ride, and the cabin is fairly quiet. The Bose sound system is really nice.
Negatives:
Fit and finish: It's subpar. The Alabama assembly plant needs retraining. My vehicle was missing fasteners in the right wheel well liner from the factory. One of the trim pieces for the rear seat wasn't installed at the factory. The factory worker just left it loose under the seat, assuming the dealer would fix it under warranty no doubt. The paint job is very sub par. There is so much orange peel its shocking. Furthermore, there are several defects in the paint. Paint "fish eyes", and random specks of dust look like got caught under the paint. Again, the Alabama plant needs retraining. I've noticed many new Tucsons and Santa Fe's with equally bad paint jobs. Also, the black chrome front grille is of poor quality. Normal wear and tear from driving on the highway really tears up the grille. Rock and stone chips easily chip the black chrome and it's starting to show signs of peeling. Again, this is very poor quality.
Infotainment Screen: It takes 10 seconds for the audio to start playing every time you start the truck. Why? It displays a "User agreement" screen for 10 seconds and the audio won't play until the 10 seconds is up. Also, I hate that when listening to FM radio I can't see the Radio station message. I like to know what song is playing and most radio stations displays a message that scrolls across the screen. But on this infotainment setup you have to go to a separate menu. Again, why? The screen is so large there is certainly enough room to fix this. Maybe push this on your next OTA update.
Gauge Cluster:
I like the customizable screens, but how come we can't get a digital speedometer readout in the center of the screen? My other Hyundai has the traditional analog gauges but it also as a digital speedometer in the center of the instrument cluster and it's quite literally the most driver friendly layout. You need to do an OTA and give us the digital speedometer in the center of the instrument cluster.
Automatic Wipers: Let me start by saying I'm not opposed to automatic wipers, but how they function in the Santa Cruz they are terrible. I wish they was a setting to turn the AUTO wiper off. Maybe in the vehicle settings you can push an OTA update to set the auto wiper on or off. The Auto wipers on the Santa Cruz are not consistent. It has trouble staying at the correct setting and it just becomes a nuisance to the driver. It wipes when it's not necessary, it doesn't wipe when it is necessary. And the auto wiper is constantly changing speeds while driving on the highway. Please give us an OTA to turn the Auto wiper off.
Automatic Emergency Braking: This is by far the worst fault of the Santa Cruz. Let me preface this first before continuing. I traded a 2023 Ford F150 for the Santa Cruz. The F150 had all the safety features as well, including Automatic Emergency Braking. The automatic emergency braking between the Santa Cruz and the F150 is a night and day difference. The Santa Cruz automatic emergency braking is WAY too sensitive. It has applied the brakes probably 15 times since I've owned it. I've owned it for 2.5 months and have 2,400 miles now. Yes, at least 15 times. To make matters worse, there is no way to permanently disable the system. It has to been disabled every time you restart the truck. Please either turn down the sensitivity of the Automatic Emergency Braking or at least make the system be permanently disabled thru the vehicle settings. My F150 never automatically applied the brakes. I really feel that the way the Automatic Emergency Braking on the Santa Cruz is programmed will lead to rear end accidents for no reason. Get this fixed Hyundai.
Tonneau Cover: I wish there was a way to remove the tonneau cover. It eats into bed space.
Towing: These trucks should come equipped from the factory with a tow hitch receiver and tow harness wiring.
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Verified Owner
