 What is up you guys? Welcome back to another one. If you are new to the channel, I'm Gold Pony out your new car truck SUV reviews on YouTube and today we are in the new 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz courtesy of Jack G Mbalvo Hyundai in York VA for more information on their inventory. Please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. And so super excited to be in this one because this is an all new vehicle from Hyundai for the 2022 model year Hyundai's first truck as well by the way. It's kind of like a unique styling blend of maybe the Hyundai Tucson mixed with some added practicality because of the bed in the back of course which is pretty darn cool but anyways. Of course it also comes with America's best warranty being 5 year 60,000 mile bumper to bumper, 10 year 100,000 miles on the powertrain. You also get 3 years or 36,000 miles of complimentary maintenance. That's a little bit of peace of mind as well you don't have to pay for things like the oil changes, tire rotations for the first 3 years. So that is pretty darn cool. And so in this video I will be testing out and going over everything about the Santa Cruz from acceleration to braking, steering for a ride quality sound system exhaust clip, all that fun stuff. So having said all of that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it and as always let's start with pricing. And so as you can imagine there are several different trim levels for the new 2022 Santa Cruz. First one being the SE starting at $23,990, SEL for $27,190, SEL premium for $35,680 and lastly the one we are in today being the limited starting at $39,720 and by the way their first two trim levels was actually a front wheel drive configuration. The other two come with all wheel drive but if you wanted to add all wheel drive to this first two trim simply add $1,500 to those prices. But as you can imagine with all of those different trim levels there are a couple different power plants for the Santa Cruz. First one belonging to those first two trim levels being a 2.5 liter direct injected inline four cylinder putting out 191 horsepower at 6,100 rpm, 181 pound feet of torque coming in at 4,000 rpm power sent to front wheels or all wheels through an eight speed automatic. Zero to 60 time for that one is going to come in at approximately 9.3 seconds. MPG numbers coming in at 21 in the City 26 highway for the front wheel drive, 21 City 27 on the highway for whatever reason for the all wheel drive, towing capacity for that engine configuration comes in at 3,500 pounds. But so then there is that other engine configuration belonging to the SEL premium and limited being the engine that we have today. That one is a 2.5 liter turbocharged inline four cylinder cranking out 281 horsepower 5,800 rpm, 311 pound feet of torque coming in at 1,700 rpm, power sent to all wheels through an eight speed dual clutch with paddle shifters. That's pretty cool and you guys know we will be testing out the paddle shifters here in a little bit. Zero to 60 time coming in at approximately 6.5 seconds with MPG numbers coming in at 19 in the City 27 on the highway towing capacity for this one bumping that up to 5,000 pounds then. But before we do any kind of fun acceleration or paddle shifter test I did want to mention to you guys the drive mode toggle switch located directly behind the shifter that will give you sport, smart, snow and normal. So that's going to be adjusting things like the shift points, the throttle response and the steering sensitivity and the all wheel drive system engagement then as well. So now having got all of that out of the way on this extremely foggy day that we have here. Let's go ahead and put the paddle shifters here to the test. There actually is a full manual shift mode. What you want to do is just simply slide the shifter all the way to the back and to the left. It's actually going to display what gear you were in up on the digital gauges there and I'll get more to those digital gauges later in the video because they are pretty stinking cool. But anyways let's go ahead and put the paddle shifters here to the test. I just want to see how quickly they are going to react worse here. I think they're going to be fine. Reason being is this is a dual clutch but let's go ahead and test them out. All right you guys we are in first gear sitting in a red light here and here we go. It's not bad. To be honest there is a little bit of a delay which kind of surprised me because typically Hyundai's dual clutch transmissions within its sport mode with the paddle shifters are really quite good but I don't know for whatever reason in the Santa Cruz there's a slight delay to the paddle shifter so I did want to mention that but anyways let's not go ahead and give back full control to the Santa Cruz. I'm just going to slide the shifter back to the right and let's do that acceleration test here and let's see how quickly this turbocharged four-cylinder is going to get us up to speed. All right a little bit of a rolling start not much though but here we go. Whoa no slipping and it's wet out today that was impressive. Yeah okay this is plenty of power that was quite nice. You're definitely not going to have any issues in merging onto the highway. Another thing I didn't mention to you guys yet there's actually an all-wheel drive lock button directly behind the shifter as well. I use that a lot in my Hyundai Santa Fe. Reason being is because we get quite a bit of snow here in Pennsylvania in the wintertime so when that happens push that button that's going to lock it into all-wheel drive and it grips incredibly like you go through snow with no problems whatsoever so that's another big bonus here to the Santa Cruz at all-wheel drive lock button but anyways to go along with that excellent acceleration as always breaking is equally important so as I'm pulling up to a red light here up front you're going to find 12.8 inch ventilated front disc in the back 12.8 inch solid rear disc as far as the braking feel goes it's actually perfectly fine as I like I said just pulled up to a red light it's not a soft braking feel it's not a firm braking feel either I would actually say it's just right so definitely no issues when it comes to the braking feel in the Santa Cruz then touching on suspension and handling up front you're going to get a McPherson strut front suspension in the back independent multi-link rear suspension front and rear stabilizer bars as far as ride quality goes as we are kind of avoiding this uh accident here it is perfectly fine I've had no issues with ride quality so definitely absorbing Pennsylvania's road imperfections quite nicely as far as cabin noise goes I will say as I was getting higher up in speed maybe 50-55 miles per hour there was a little bit of wind noise coming in from the driver's side that doesn't always happen with Hyundai but they are kind of known for that so I was kind of curious if the Santa Cruz was going to have that and it does unfortunately it's not bad it's not something that bothers me because I actually have a Sonata with the same thing so it doesn't bother me on a regular basis but it is there so I did want to mention that as far as steering feel goes that actually kind of impressed me when I first started driving this thing without it in sport driving mode it was kind of normal which which I didn't expect because typically with Hyundai they have looser steering feels and then when you put it in sport driving mode it gets an even heavier steering feel which I personally prefer so definitely digging the steering feel in the Santa Cruz so Hyundai definitely did a very good job when it comes to that and this thing as far as visibility goes I will say it's not the biggest rear window there when it comes to trucks but having said that it's really not all that bad I can't see perfectly fine out the back and it's definitely something I'm sure you get used to but if you're comparing this to other pickup trucks out there I will say the other trucks of course have a larger rear window for a little better visibility but again it's not bad this isn't a big truck so you're not going to have any issues there dude also want to mention though there is a blind spot view monitor that comes with our limited trim level that we have here today essentially what that is is when you put on the turn signal it's going to display what is in your blind spot up on the digital gauges up front here which is one of the coolest systems out there right now I got to say so definitely a huge fan of that as well but that pretty much rounds out the performance segment of this review guys let's now go ahead take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz all right so here she is you guys the new 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz I believe finished in Hampton Gray from seeing it on other Hyundai's out there although there's no window sticker anymore because it's actually one of the employees that works at jack to you in Volvo Hyundai so didn't want to mention that but anyways let's go ahead and start up front on this one a very Hyundai Tucson looking front end which looks dang good because in that front grille they have incorporated the daytime running lights which you don't see on any other vehicle out there right now I think it's one of the coolest looks it's very creative by Hyundai and it definitely makes a statement and it's now instantly recognizable as either the Santa Cruz or the Tucson at this point so definitely a big fan of that I actually think that the next redesign for the Palisade they plan on doing the same thing with that as well so definitely a cool look I dig it but anyways in case you were curious by the way that daytime running lights being in the front grille like I said the headlights are going to be down below and speaking of LED headlights do come standard for every single trim level across the board love that automatic feature coming with that meaning when it starts to get dark at night those headlights will turn on automatically for you then again LED daytime running lights you actually have your adaptive cruise control sensor located down below at the bottom portion of that grille there there is front skid plates actually down below as well and in this particular circumstance a lot of dark chrome which looks dang good on this thing so very very nice looking front end very different very unique so I'm a huge fan of the front end of the Santa Cruz to say the least but anyways let's not go ahead and make our way to the side of this one all right so now since we are around to the side of this one roof rails do come standard for all trim levels across the board you guys can see that there's also a floating roof line you guys can see just after that rear window there rear privacy glass does come standard for all trim levels in case you guys were curious yes the owner of this particular Santa Cruz did tint the front windows as well that does not come standard but the back ones do come standard tinted so they call that rear privacy glass but anyways when it comes to the side mirrors body color power adjustable side mirrors coming standard across the board heated with LED integrated turd signals for the SEL trim level and up guys can see then looking down there is a matte black side skirt which ties in with the front bumper there's a little bit of matte cladding on the front bumper as well but the coolest part about that matte black side skirt is it continues just above the fender wells here and there is actually a little picture of a Santa Cruz come on focus there it is there's a little picture of the Santa Cruz within that matte cladding as well so I thought that was pretty cool so I wanted to mention it to you guys zooming back out taking a look at the wheel configuration 20 inch alloy wheels actually do come standard for all trim levels across the board and they definitely look good it's kind of a silver or a machine finish slash gloss black finish combination so big fan of them but anyways let's now go ahead and make our way to the back of this one all right so now since we are around back of the Santa Cruz all the way to the top you guys can probably see there is a gloss black shark fin antenna just below that incorporated brake light on the top there there is a little bit of a rear spoiler of course just above that brake light you got the rear window we'll touch on that more when we get to the interior of this thing but on that back tailgate there you do have led tail lights coming standard for all trim levels across the board you actually have the Hyundai lettering kind of etched into that handle to open that rear tailgate and then you got Santa Cruz just below that on the tailgate that's pretty cool age track found next to the 2.5t age track meaning Hyundai's all-wheel drive system essentially because every manufacturer has to name their all-wheel drive system of course you do have some steps to actually get into the rear tailgate and I'll show you guys that in a little bit here but that is pretty cool as well and just below it all there actually is a single exhaust outlet kind of tucked away so having said that I do believe you guys know what we have to do next as always here is that exhaust clip aren't you guys and so now since we are around back of the Santa Cruz when it comes to opening that rear tailgate there of course is a handle on the tailgate itself that is one way there's actually a button on the key fob then as well it's yet another way you can kind of unlock it there but once opened up when it comes to that bed size it's going to come in at 48 inches also known as four feet it's going to be a composite molded bed which is definitely a very high-end bed because a lot of times with pickup trucks especially it's just going to come with a steel bed and then you can add either a drop-in bed liner or a composite bed liner which is what I would prefer like the Santa Cruz comes with so I'm a big fan of that when it comes to payload capacity it's going to range dependent upon the engine configuration you're either going to get 1579 pounds or 1906 pounds for that turbocharged four cylinder and it is a hydraulic tailgate release by the way so it's not going to just completely drop out on you so it's pretty cool you do have cargo lighting back there in our case LED cargo lighting which I found was pretty nice tonneau cover actually comes standard and there's a cool thing about this tonneau cover I'm going to show it to you guys here so you actually just press this handle kind of push it towards the back end of the Santa Cruz and it's going to slide out there halfway down or all the way down so you have the ability to adjust how much you want to actually open up that tonneau cover and then there is a string attached to it when you want to close it you just simply out what I do is I go around to the side and then I pull it because it's kind of a reach for you to reach it because of the four foot bed from the back but it is super easy to use I will say that so I was definitely a big fan of that tonneau cover there's actually cup holders on the tailgate I found as well which was pretty cool and there is storage within the side of the bed times two so that is pretty cool I'm going to show that to you guys real quick so if you wanted to conceal some things back there you do have the ability to do that there's a 115 volt power outlet back there there's plenty of tie down cleats but one of my favorite things just like the Honda Ridgeline actually there is some in-floor storage with a drain that drains out onto the ground so if you wanted to kind of use this as a tailgate vehicle you could put some ice back there put some drinks back there go to the Ravens or Eagles game whichever you prefer here in Pennsylvania I'm a Ravens fan but I know there's an Eagles plate on this particular Santa Cruz but either one is fine but either way you're pretty much set to go with this in bed storage and then once the ice melts again there's a drain within that so it's just gonna fall back down to the ground so that is pretty darn cool I love that and again to get up into that tailgate there's actually steps like I was telling you guys so it was very easy to get into there so definitely a big fan of that but now let's go ahead and make our way to the rear legroom that is going to come in at 36.5 inches so for reference I mean even six feet tall this is actually me sitting behind my own driving position so I don't know I think it could have been a little bit more wouldn't have minded if they made it a little bit bigger but it's not bad it'll get the job done rear ventilation does come standard there are two usb charging ports back there as well and there is a manual rear sliding window of course in typical pickup fashion for those rear passengers or if you wanted to put an extra long maybe two by four in there as well so center armrest with cup holders does not exist unfortunately on this Santa Cruz but now let's go ahead and make our way up to the front seats eight-way power driver seat with power lumbar coming with the SEL trim level and up there will be heated front seats again for the SEL trim level and up leather seating with the limited trim level only and ventilated front seats for the limited trim level only as well and by the way all of those buttons for the heated ventilated seats are located just in front of the center armrest here they're kind of on the center armrest really so didn't want to mention that but overall seating was incredibly comfortable I will say that definitely surprised me I don't know why I always expect pickup chucks not to have comfortable seating but the Santa Cruz definitely has very comfortable seating so I'll say that anyways now let's go ahead and make our way to the steering wheel it is tilt and telescoping it is leather wrapped for the SEL premium and limited trim levels only and then heated for the limited trim level only and by the way that heated steering wheel is located in the middle of those heated and ventilated seat buttons in case you were curious where that was located but steering will tend to grips though are perfectly fine as well definitely on the thicker side of things which I like but anyways now let's go ahead and make our way to the startup let me first start by showing you guys the key you do have your Hyundai logo on the one side then when you flip it over lock unlock that button to pop the rear tailgate and the circular button that says hold that is going to be your remote start and by the way the remote start and push button start does come with the SEL trim level and up so I wouldn't mention that and you actually do get a Hyundai digital key if you go with the SEL premium trim level and up and simply with that is I have it on my sonata you just download the Hyundai app and then you have the ability to lock and unlock your vehicle with your phone as well as start it up by simply placing it on the wireless phone charger them as well so you never actually need your key so that is pretty cool but anyways now making our way to the gauge cluster it's actually a 10 and a quarter inch digital gauge cluster if you go with the SEL premium or limited that's going to be optional on the SEL but we do have it today so I wouldn't mention it otherwise you're going to get the traditional analog gauges for that bottom trim level but this thing is pretty cool because when you change the drive modes that's my favorite part when you put in the sport it's going to do this kind of like explosion kind of graphic and then it's going to give you carbon fiber and red hues which I think is pretty darn cool and then if you put it back to all the other driving modes essentially look the same which is a very nice looking kind of white and black look but it is digital like I said and there are steering wheel mounted controls found on the right side of the steering wheel which allow you toggle between different things like a digital speedometer there is a compass up there your tire pressure information different safety features when you need your next oil change the list goes on so outside temperature how many miles you have left until you hit empty but definitely a very nice looking digital gauge cluster and I've seen these before in other Hyundai's but definitely a big fan of that anyways let's now go ahead and make our way to overall interior quality there is a power sunroof that's available it doesn't come standard but we do have that so a big fan of that auto dimming rear view mirror with homely controls for up to three different garage doors found in the SEL premium trim level and up dual zoom climate control again for the SEL premium trim level and up leather wrapped shifter for the SEL premium trim level and up that's really the sweet spot I think the SEL premium or the limited of course but a lot of extra features coming with those I like the design to the air vents as well because it kind of ties together with each other kind of follows this line on the doors and then it continues onto the air vents and it really continues all the way around the driver and passenger so I think that's a pretty cool look you have this nice kind of cloth feel kind of texturized cloth feel just above the passenger side glove box that continues onto the doors a lot of soft touch leather in this thing so both my left and right elbow were extremely comfortable I was just cruising on the road there because it is such as soft touch leather on the doors here there's tons of gloss black accents as well found around the shifter as well as around the infotainment screen which we'll get to in a second anyways just in front of the shifter you'll find that wireless phone charger found on the right and there is a little bit of rubberized storage then on your left there's a 12-volt power outlet dual USB charging ports to the right of the shifter you're going to have dual cup holders which is pretty cool and a lecture mechanical parking brake as well and within the center armrest you were going to find a decent amount of storage it looks like and they heck of a lot of change in this case anyways I actually love the interior quality of this like I said a lot of soft touch a lot of high-end materials even with the little knobs for the air vents it has a nice little silver finish on the tips to it so it's pretty darn cold but let's now go ahead and make our way to the infotainment screen because it keeps getting better eight inch color touch screen display coming with the s e s e l and s e l premium but with our limited trim that we have today you were looking at a 10 and a quarter inch color touch screen display 10 and a quarter inch of course to match the digital gauge cluster that makes sense but bluetooth and audio streaming do come standard wireless android auto apple car play here's the kicker for the eight inch screen only you actually have to plug it in still for the 10 and a quarter inch screen for whatever reason but I thought that was pretty cool though factory navigation system coming with the limited trim level only can of course adjust your climate control settings up there as well there is also a quiet mode which actually eliminates the speakers in the rear if you have your kids sleeping possibly and I believe the limit is like seven a volume of seven in the front so it keeps it low in the front as well completely shuts off the speakers in the back to keep your kids asleep I think that's pretty cool but one of my favorite parts about this thing is the ambient lighting you can adjust through this infotainment screen and so if you go to settings and then you go to vehicle then you go to lights and then you go to ambient lights you got to follow a little bit of a trail there wouldn't have minded if they gave the ambient lighting maybe its own widget on that main screen I think that would be pretty cool but you can adjust the brightness you can adjust the colors there is a set custom color option that's how you get your 64 different colors of ambient lighting so definitely a heck of a lot of options there right now it's set on orchid green which is pretty cool but yeah tons of different colors there and that's one of my favorite parts the ambient lighting in this thing but anyways you do also have a voice memo system so you can record your voice maybe if you don't want to forget something then play it back at a later date that's also very nice and your radio information is up there as well and by the way when it comes to the sound systems six speakers coming with the SESEL and SEL premium but you actually do get a Bose sound system if you go with the limited term level that we have today so having said that what do you guys say let's go ahead and turn on the radio see what we got playing today and let's test out the clarity of this one definitely a good bit of bass with that sound system I will say that you could tell it's a Bose sound system and I've had Bose sound systems in my cars before they've never failed me never broken or anything like that but that is a heck of a sound system for the Santa Cruz the only constructive criticism I have with that sound system is that there's no circular dial to maybe turn up and down the volume I don't mind adjusting the station with the infotainment screen the actual touchscreen itself because you don't adjust the station all that much and you can set your presets but with the volume I wouldn't mind if there was an adjustment kind of knob although you kind of adjust it with the steering wheel mild to controls the knob I think is still necessary maybe it's just maybe anyways last thing I wanted to mention to you guys on the infotainment screen is when you do put the Santa Cruz in reverse you will find an extremely high definition rear view camera that's a heck of a lot better than my Santa Fe I'll say that but my Santa Fe is a little older but anyways it's also a 360 degree monitor I'm looking at as well which is pretty darn cold with the picture of the Santa Cruz letting you know what is completely all around you which is always is going to lead us into safety and so to start front side side curtain airbags do come standard in the back you're going to have latch aka lower anchors to have their children for the very car seats rear child door locks tire pressure monitoring system but also coming standard for all trim levels will be forward collision avoidance assist with pedestrian and cyclist detection lane keep assist and a driver attention warning system as well and then if you were to go with the SEL trim level enough you will also find a blind spot collision avoidance assist system and again like I said with the limited also have that blind spot camera found on the digital gauges then as well so overall when it comes to my final thoughts here of the Santa Cruz I actually I'm digging this thing to me it's essentially like an SUV like the Hyundai Tucson but with the practicality of a truck if you're somebody that's into landscaping you constantly are buying bags of mulch or maybe you have some woods in the backyard and you're chopping down limbs or branches are falling down and you want to take them to the dump that's the kind of thing you don't want to put in an SUV because maybe the spiders are the bugs on the actual branches but you have no problem putting them in the bed of a truck so definitely a big fan for that particular reason excellent tech on this thing as well with the digital gauges with this massive 10 and a quarter inch infotainment screen with ambient lighting with wireless android auto apple carplay usually don't get on other manufacturers out there right now great interior quality great exterior styling it's different it's different exterior styling it's probably gonna be hit and miss with people but I actually like it because it's different it looks like nothing else on the road room for improvement as far as that goes the base engine from what I remember from driving it in other vehicles is kind of slow but this engine is freaking awesome there's no volume knob I wouldn't have minded that back to the plus side you do also get America's best warranty which means you get that 10 year powertrain warranty which is insane and you get three years of free maintenance as well which is going to save you some money so let me know what you guys think of the Santa Cruz in the comments section below I love reading your comments on these things that is about it for this one you guys thank you so much for watching feel free to follow me on social media at the bottom that's great if you want to see what's coming next on the channel before it actually gets to youtube be sure to hit the subscribe and the bell notification button if you're in a new car reviews that is what we do here on this channel after all do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video stay gold