The compact truck market is heating up and the 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz XRT turns the heat up. With the unique styled front end, it was getting everyone’s attention. The big grille hides the unique day time running lights, while the actual headlights are small projection LEDs. The red tow hooks stand out against the Hampton Gray color this Santa Cruz was painted in. The lower body cladding added a cool rugged look to the Santa Cruz, as well as provided some protection from the unpaved roads I drove it on. The 18-inch XRT exclusive wheels had a bead-lock like design that lent to the overall package of the Santa Cruz

Getting in, the interior fell a little short of excitement. In parts where where different colors could’ve been use as accents, the choice of an all black color was selected. The seats weren’t too bad but were mounted fairly high which may limit this compact utility truck to shorter drivers and passengers. The rear seats also limit the passengers that can join you, as the legroom is very limited.

Under the hood, the 2.5L turbocharged engine delivered 281 horsepower and 311 lb.-ft. of torque. The 8-speed wet dual clutch transmission was a problem for me. The nature of the first gear engagement made it difficult to use the brake hold in stop and go traffic since it did require significant gas pedal input to get moving. I predict that being an issue if you decide to go off-roading since you’ll want to have throttle control that is responsive and not requiring significant input in order for it to engage first gear. The other thing I found interesting is the fact that there was no off-road mode in something like the XRT trim model. Reworking throttle, traction control, and power delivery optimization for light off-roading

Overall, the 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz XRT is a step forward in bringing more options to the compact truck market. I do feel like they have a lot of things to work on but as a first generation, I’d say it’s a decent offering.