2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz Does More Than Truck On
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The once full compact truck space that was filled with budget-friendly small trucks that would handle the arduous task of hauling mulch from your local home store or moving a Go-Kart has disappeared.
Those small trucks either grew into the midsize trucks we know today or fell into the footnotes of history, like the rotary-powered Mazda REPU. The folks at Hyundai jumped back into the underserviced space with the crossover-based Hyundai Santa Cruz.
Riding on the same N3 platform as the similarly named Sante Fe, this Santa Cruz pickup essentially gives you the comfort and convenience of a modern crossover, with a separated, external four-foot cargo space—or bed, for the truck enthusiasts.
On this episode of Quick Spin, host Wesley Wren hops behind the wheel of the 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz and puts it through its paces. Wren takes you on a guided tour of the '25 Santa Cruz and highlights some of its updates and his favorite features.
Later, Wren takes you along for a live drive review and chats with Autoweek executive editor Tom Murphy about the Santa Cruz, the competitive set, and more. Closing the show, the pair breaks down what makes the 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz so special.
Tune in below, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever podcasts are played.
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Sebastien Ogier leads WRC Rally Sardinia after Thierry Neuville crashes out
Sébastien Ogier admits he is surprised to be leading Rally Italia Sardinia after an eventful Friday that caught out several of his World Rally Championship rivals. The eight-time world champion faced the effects of road cleaning in the morning, starting third, but completed Friday's six gravel stages with a 2.1s lead over Hyundai's Adrien Fourmaux. Advertisement Ogier defied his road position to grab the lead after the opening stage but dropped to third behind Hyundai duo Fourmaux, who took a 2.9s lead over Thierry Neuville into the midday service. However, the ultra fast and narrow Telti - Calangianus - Berchidda stage, that ruined M-Sport-Ford trio Josh McErelean, Gregoire Munster and Mārtiņš Sesks' days, once again wreaked havoc in the afternoon. Neuville clipped the left rear of his i20 N on a rock that forced the world champion to retire from the lead, having snatched the advantage away from Fourmaux by 0.2s. Fourmaux was unable to hang on to the lead he regained as a set up tweak made to his Hyundai i20 N in between stages didn't pay off for the Frenchman. Ogier pounced on the moment, winning the stage while taking 6.7s from Fourmaux to end the day in a surprise lead - a feat made even more impressive by his Toyota team opting not to test before the rally, unlike their rivals. Advertisement 'I'm very happy for sure. I would have definitely signed and not really bet on that especially considering the competition we are facing at the moment,' said Ogier. 'I have to be satisfied with what we did today and to pick up the best starting position for the rest of the weekend is ideal, but the gaps are still super small. One part of the job is done but a big part of the job remains.' Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Red Bull Content Pool Red Bull Content Pool Fourmaux was left to rue his set up tweak before the day's final stage but was buoyed to be in the fight for what could be a maiden WRC victory. Advertisement 'It is really close which is a positive point, and be two seconds behind Seb, but to be fair it has been a great day. I wish I could be leading and I should have been better on the last stage and unfortunately I made a mistake with set up and I lost time,' said Fourmaux. 'After what happened in Portugal [where we retired from the victory fight with a technical issue] I can be happy.' Hyundai's Ott Tanak ended Friday in third, 7.3s adrift of the pace after a broken front damper cost him valuable time in stage six. The 2019 world champion, who had been struggling with the handling of his i20 N in the morning, had closed to within 1.2s of then leader Fourmaux before the issue struck. 'For one stage things went better [with the car] but we had some trouble with the suspension and then in the last one we had to lose as little as possible. I don't know why it happened. We tried our best but we couldn't do anymore,' said Tanak. Advertisement Sami Pajari produced arguably his best showing of the season to date to complete a tricky day in fourth overall, 16.8s behind leader Ogier. The Finn headed two-time world champion Kalle Rovanperä, who ended the day encouraged by the pace he found after struggling with his GR Yaris in the morning, starting second on the road. 'This afternoon I would say I was pretty happy from a Sardinia level as I'm never super comfortable here but it seems we have found some pace,' said Rovanpera, who will start Saturday 22.8s behind Ogier. 'The biggest thing is I feel I need to push too much in the way of tyre wear. The times are coming if you push a lot but then also we have big tyre wear. This is what we need to work on tomorrow.' Championship leader Elfyn Evans faced the worst of the road conditions which was reflected in his times. The Welshman felt that it wasn't only the fact he had to open the road that left him 1m09.8s off the pace in sixth. Advertisement Evans fared better than team-mate Takamoto Katsuta, who clipped a rock at tight, slow speed right hander that tipped his GR Yaris onto its side. Spectators helped put the car back on its wheels allowing the Japanese to nurse a wounded GR Yaris home in seventh [+2m27,9s]. Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Red Bull Content Pool Red Bull Content Pool Neuville wasn't so lucky in the stage as his brush with the rocks at high speed ripped the left wheel from his i20 N forcing the world champion into a first retirement of the year. 'I lost the front and had to correct the line and at that point the rear went wide and I hit a stone and it was over,' said Neuville. Advertisement 'It could have been a massive crash but in the end we just went a little bit wide and it took off the rear. The smallest mistakes in rallying pays cash and sometimes nothing happens, but it is unfortunate for us as we were leading at the time.' The rally continues on Saturday with six stages scheduled, covering 121 competitive kilometres. 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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Sebastien Ogier takes record-breaking WRC Sardinia victory
Sebastien Ogier claimed a third win of the World Rally Championship season after surviving a final-stage mistake to conquer a demanding Rally Italy Sardinia. The part-time Toyota driver and co-driver Vincent Landais avoided the pitfalls of Sardinia's 16 rough gravel stages to take an impressive win, as Toyota extended its 100% winning start to 2025. Advertisement Ogier was locked in a tense battle with Hyundai's Ott Tanak for the majority of the rally before pulling clear of the 2019 world champion in Sunday's all-new quartet of stages. A half-spin followed by a small touch with a tree in the final stage threatened to derail his run to victory, but Ogier held on to win by 7.9s. Toyota's Kalle Rovanpera completed the podium in third [+50.5s], ahead of championship leader Elfyn Evans [+5m05.7s], who witnessed his points lead decrease from 30 to 19 points over Ogier. Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Elfyn Evans, Scott Martin, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 Toyota Racing Toyota Racing Toyota anticipated a particularly difficult challenge to claim victory in Sardinia with Evans, Rovanpera and Ogier at the top of the road order in a rally where the road-cleaning effect is significant. The Japanese brand also opted not to test before the event, unlike its rivals – including Hyundai, who had been defeated on the Italian island only twice since 2016. Advertisement However, Ogier defied his road position to lead after the first stage, only for the Frenchman to lose the advantage to Hyundai's Thierry Neuville on the next test. But it was Adrien Fourmaux who took a 2.9s lead over his team-mate at midday service. The lead then changed hands after each of Friday afternoon's stages as Neuville became the first of the title contenders to hit trouble. Neuville slightly misjudged a super fast and narrow section in the new Telti - Calangianus - Berchidda stage that caught out six Rally1 crews. The impact ripped the left-rear wheel from his car, prompting an early retirement. Ogier inherited a 2.1s rally lead from Fourmaux after stage six with Tanak lurking in third 7.3s adrift, after nursing a broken damper. Saturday was dominated by another intense Ogier versus Tanak scrap after a dramatic start that witnessed Fourmaux's demise, which resulted in Ogier briefly losing the lead. Fourmaux picked up a puncture in the day's first stage and initially decided to continue before stopping to change the wheel, which cost the Hyundai driver almost four minutes. Fourmaux rejoined the stage but his dust severely hampered Ogier's visibility for a portion of the test, resulting in a time loss of 29s and the rally lead. Advertisement Toyota appealed to the organisers, who provided Ogier with a notional time that put Frenchman into a 15.0s advantage over. Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Adrien Fourmaux, Alexandre Coria, Hyundai World Rally Team Hyundai i20 N Rally1 Austral / Hyundai Motorsport Austral / Hyundai Motorsport Tanak's charge was dealt a blow by a puncture in stage nine, although the loss was stymied to 10.5s. Tanak won two of the three Saturday afternoon stages to trail Ogier by 11.1s, which set up a grandstand finish on Sunday. Ogier however couldn't be stopped, and despite a moment in the Power Stage, the Toyota driver extended his advantage to take a 64th career win from Tanak, who was unable to find the pace to challenge. Advertisement Like Ogier, Rovanpera was the only other Rally1 driver not to suffer a significant issue. The Finn delivered a smart drive in a rally that doesn't suit his driving style, delivering a third consecutive podium. Rovanpera scored the maximum 10 Super Sunday points underlined by a stunning Power Stage win by 8.1s from Neuville. Evans faced the worst of the conditions on Friday, opening the road – and paid the price, losing more than a minute on Friday. However, the Welshman benefited from what proved to be a rally of attrition to finish fourth, despite picking up a puncture on Saturday that required a rapid wheel change. Evans added three Super Sunday points to his tally. Takamoto Katsuta recovered from a puncture and slow-speed roll in the infamous Telti - Calangianus - Berchidda test to finish fifth. Toyota stablemate Sami Pajari ran as high as third, before a puncture on Saturday and then a spin after contact with a tree on Sunday dropped the Finn to seventh behind Oliver Solberg, the top Rally2 runner [albeit not registered for WRC2 points]. After retiring from the lead, Neuville managed to salvage five Super Sunday points. Team-mate Forumaux wasn't so fortunate leaving the weekend empty-handed. A roll on Saturday afternoon after misjudging a braking point forced the Frenchman to rejoin the rally on Sunday, when he was opening the road. Advertisement M-Sport-Ford endured a disastrous rally losing its three works cars for Martins Sesks (roll), Josh McErlean and Gregoire Munster (suspension damage) in a matter of minutes on the Telti - Calangianus – Berchidda stage on Friday morning. McErlean and Munster rejoined the rally, which became an effective test session for Acropolis Rally Greece later this month. To read more articles visit our website.
USA Today
21 hours ago
- USA Today
2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz review: A compact pickup that defies expectations
I'm sharing my impressions of vehicles after living with them for a few days or as a make or model evolves. The car this week: 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz Limited AWD. What is it? Sporty compact pickup. Imagine replacing the rear third of Hyundai's popular Tucson compact SUV with a short pickup bed.
