- The 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz receives a new front-end design as well as eye-catching colors.
- Inside, Hyundai’s compact pickup truck has a restyled center console with a curved housing for the optional dual 12.3-inch screens.
- The XRT trim is also bolstered by more distinctive styling and new 18-inch wheels wrapped in all-terrain rubber.
Hyundai’s first foray into the pickup truck market, the Santa Cruz, arrived back in 2022 with a striking face and offering a potent turbocharged engine. Now the sharply styled compact pickup is receiving an overhaul for the 2025 model year, bringing a revised design, a more distinctive off-road XRT trim, and an upgraded infotainment system.
Hyundai’s Little Truck Looks Bolder
The Santa Cruz looks bolder than before, with a new front end that puts it in line with the refreshed 2025 Tucson SUV on which it’s based. There are also flashy new wheel designs. Two new paint colors are offered (Rockwood Green and Canyon Red) along with a new Medium Gray hue for the seats.
Meanwhile, the XRT trim, which before simply featured minimal trim changes, now looks even more suited to off-roading with exclusive front and rear bumper designs, which also improve the approach angle by an unspecified amount. There’s also a more clearly differentiated grille and more capability thanks to new 18-inch wheels now shod with 245/60 all-terrain tires. The XRT model also comes with a surround-view monitor and a blind-spot-view camera that displays in the digital gauge cluster.
A More Interesting Interior
Inside, the refreshed Santa Cruz sports a curved housing, which combines an available 12.3-inch digital gauge cluster and a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system. The outgoing model’s upgraded screen and digital gauge display both measured 10.3 inches. Hyundai says the new central controls are more ergonomically designed, with physical switchgear retained for crucial audio, navigation, and climate functions. There’s also more space for your stuff with a new shelf sitting above the glovebox.
The air vents and steering wheel have been restyled, while the rear-seat center armrest now features two cupholders. All trim levels feature wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and the cabin is peppered with USB-C ports. The Santa Cruz also adds a driver-assist called Forward Attention Warning, which uses an infrared camera to monitor the driver’s face to help prevent distracted driving.
Same Santa Cruz Powertrains
The powertrains carry over unchanged, with the standard 2.5-liter four-cylinder producing 191 horsepower and 181 pound-feet of torque and pairing with an eight-speed automatic gearbox, which Hyundai claims is now more responsive. A turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four is also still available, boosting output to 281 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque; it pairs with an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic.
All-wheel drive remains optional, and the Limited and XRT models—fitted with the turbocharged engine—also gain a new tow-centric drive mode. As before, the base four-cylinder can pull 3500 pounds, while the turbocharged powertrain is rated at 5000 pounds.
The 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz will reach dealerships this summer, with pricing to come later. We don’t expect a huge increase over the 2024 model, which starts at $28,275.
Caleb Miller began blogging about cars at 13 years old, and he realized his dream of writing for a car magazine after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University and joining the Car and Driver team. He loves quirky and obscure autos, aiming to one day own something bizarre like a Nissan S-Cargo, and is an avid motorsports fan.
Source: Motor - aranddriver.com
