2025 Ford Maverick vs. 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz Review

2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz XRT ・ Photo by Brady Holt

In 2022, two unusual pickups hit the U.S. market. They rode on compact crossover platforms, rather than traditional truck frames. And they were smaller and less expensive than any other pickup on sale today. One of those pickups, the Ford Maverick, was a runaway sales success. The other, the Hyundai Santa Cruz, found far fewer takers. 

Now, for 2025, both the Maverick and the Santa Cruz got overhauled. They wear restyled faces, boast new infotainment systems, and have other changes. And both have starting prices below $30,000. For this review, we tested the updated 2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz and 2025 Ford Maverick to compare them in each of eight categories, and then name an overall winner. Keep reading to learn which one we chose and which one sounds like the best small, light-duty pickup for you. 

Exterior Design

Since its debut, the Santa Cruz has been a flashy pickup. It leaned into its car-based roots to look nothing like a traditional boxy truck. Start at its squinting headlights and intricately patterned grille (with more lighting hidden inside), then move around to its hunched-forward cab. The 2025 update brought a more vertical front end, and our XRT test vehicle has off-road cues that include a bigger, blacked-out grille. But it’s still obviously a Hyundai Tucson crossover with a bed. Some people will love that, while others will prefer a more truck-like design. 

The Maverick keeps things simple and traditional. It’s an upright box like other pickups, just smaller. The 2025 model has flashier new headlights that are wedge-shaped instead of last year’s rounded-off rectangles. Some folks will appreciate the extra pizzazz, but others might prefer the honest simplicity of the old Maverick. A new Lobo model emphasizes on-road performance, while the Tremor is Ford’s answer to the off-road-themed Santa Cruz XRT; our XLT test vehicle keeps things simpler. We’ll let you choose your own winner between the outgoing Hyundai and businesslike Ford. 

Winner: Tie

2025 Ford Maverick Hybrid XLT ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Interior Design

The Santa Cruz shares its interior with the Tucson crossover, giving it a slick and high-tech flavor by pickup standards. It’s gracefully curved rather than truck-style blocky, and it looks and feels fancy for an entry-level pickup. This year, the digital gauge cluster now joins the 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system in a single panel that spans most of the dashboard. Other controls also got redesigned, with easy-to-use buttons and knobs replacing some of last year’s annoying touch-sensitive controls. 

The Maverick’s interior embraces simplicity. It’s angular and uses solid plastics that don’t pretend to be fancy, including blue rubber inserts. Some people will prefer the fancier Santa Cruz, but we appreciated the Ford’s workmanlike ambiance. This year’s Maverick gets a big new 13.2-inch touchscreen, which absorbs last year’s physical climate controls. The big screen looks good and works well, but it was easier to adjust the climate settings with a knob than by tapping on a screen. 

Last year’s Maverick would have beaten last year’s Santa Cruz in this category. But the Hyundai’s controls have gotten easier at the same time the Ford’s have gotten more complicated. So we’ll just say now that the winner – as with exterior design – comes down to your aesthetic preferences. 

Winner: Tie 

2025 Ford Maverick Hybrid XLT ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Passenger Accommodations

Both the Santa Cruz and the Maverick have spacious, comfortable front seats. The Ford felt narrower to us, but we also appreciated how its seats held us snugly in place by truck standards. 

In the back, both pickups have less legroom than their crossover SUV counterparts. That’s to make room for a bed sticking out of the back. Even these pickups’ small beds are longer than the cargo hold behind an SUV’s backseat. Shortening the cab area keeps the Maverick and Santa Cruz from getting too bulky. Adults can fit in either pickup’s backseat, but they won’t stretch out. 

We’ll give the Santa Cruz a narrow win on this category for two small points. First, it has more cabin amenities than the Maverick. You can’t get the Ford with ventilated front seats, genuine leather upholstery, or a power-adjustable passenger seat. And second, the slightly wider Hyundai fits a center-rear passenger more easily. But overall, the experience is similar between the two little pickups. 

Winner: Hyundai Santa Cruz

2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz XRT ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Cargo and Utility

Wider and spunkier looking, the Santa Cruz looks like a bigger, more substantial vehicle than the diminutive Maverick. But it’s actually the Ford that’s a little longer. As a result, the Maverick has a 54.1-inch-long bed, while the Santa Cruz’s measures 52.1 inches long. The Ford’s bed is also an inch deeper, though Hyundai fits a small cargo compartment under the bed floor. And the Maverick can handle a payload of up to 1,500 pounds versus 1,411 for the Santa Cruz. 

The Santa Cruz can tow up to 5,000 pounds on its top trim levels, which include its optional larger engine. (We’ll discuss these pickups’ engines more soon.) That beats the Maverick’s top capacity of 4,000 pounds. However, most Santa Cruz models top out at 3,500 pounds, while the Maverick’s 4,000-pound limit is widely available. 

Overall, both of these trucks are fairly light-duty, and both have small beds. But they can each handle a 4-by-8 sheet of plywood in their beds (resting on the tailgate) or pull a modestly sized trailer. We give the Maverick a small edge for its slight advantages in bed size, payload capacity, and widely available towing capacity. 

Winner: Ford Maverick

2025 Ford Maverick Hybrid XLT ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Ride and Handling

The Santa Cruz and Maverick defy any expectation of how a truck can drive. With smooth rides and eager handling, they’re both comfortable and fun to drive – like a good compact crossover. Even a Honda Ridgeline, the other car-based pickup available today, feels lazy and slow by comparison. 

Between the two, the Maverick is slightly more agile while the Santa Cruz rides a little more smoothly. The Maverick’s new Lobo trim level focuses on on-road performance, with an even stiffer suspension and sportier handling. We think the typical pickup buyer will trade a bit of handling edge for a gentler ride, so the Santa Cruz wins this category. But compared with any other pickup, both the Ford and Hyundai are quite similar. 

Winner: Hyundai Santa Cruz

2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Acceleration

Under the hood, you’ll find the biggest objective difference between the Santa Cruz and Maverick. Both pickups have a choice of four-cylinder engines, but the Ford’s tend to perform better. 

Most Maverick trim levels come standard with a gas-electric hybrid powertrain. It’s a 2.5-liter four-cylinder gas engine paired with an electric motor, making a combined 191 horsepower. The Santa Cruz also has 191 horsepower in its base engine, but the Ford’s electric boost gives it extra torque off the line. New this year, the Maverick Hybrid offers all-wheel drive instead of just front-wheel drive. 

Next, both pickups have optional turbo engines. The Maverick has a 2.0-liter making 250 horsepower, while the Santa Cruz has a 2.5-liter with 281 horsepower. But in instrumented testing, they’re similarly quick. Plus, if you want a fast Santa Cruz, you need a top-trim model costing at least $40,000. On the Maverick, even the base model is available with the turbo. 

Winner: Ford Maverick 

2025 Ford Maverick Hybrid XLT ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Fuel Economy

The Maverick also beats the Santa Cruz’s gas mileage. The turbo model, sold only with all-wheel drive, gets EPA estimates of 22 mpg in the city, 30 mpg on the highway, and 25 mpg combined; the Lobo and Tremor models get a couple mpg less. The Santa Cruz turbo gets just 19 mpg city, 27 mpg highway, and 22 mpg combined, while the XRT like our test vehicle loses another mile per gallon. We matched those estimates in our own nonscientific driving: 25 mpg in a turbo Maverick Lariat and 21 mpg in a turbo Santa Cruz XRT.

Then there’s the Maverick Hybrid. It gets an incredible 42 mpg in the city, 35 mpg on the highway, and 38 mpg combined with front-wheel drive and 40 mpg city, 34 mpg highway, and 37 mpg combined with the newly available all-wheel drive. Our AWD test vehicle got an incredible 44 mpg during our weeklong test, and we previously averaged 39 mpg testing a front-drive hybrid during winter (when hybrids’ mileage drops). The base Santa Cruz, struggles to match even the turbocharged Maverick’s mileage. 

Winner: Ford Maverick 

2025 Ford Maverick Hybrid XLT ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Pricing and Features

Back in 2022, the Maverick started at just $19,995, while the base Santa Cruz cost $23,990. Now, both are more expensive but the gap has narrowed – $28,145 for the Ford and $28,750 for the Hyundai. 

What’s more, the Santa Cruz comes with more standard features than the Maverick. These include alloy wheels, blind-spot monitoring, lane-keeping steering assistance, push-button starting, and automatic high beams. The SEL is luxuriously equipped with leatherette upholstery, heated front seats, and a power driver’s seat for just $30,450. And unlike the Maverick, the Santa Cruz is available with high-end options like ventilated genuine leather upholstery, a blind-spot camera, rain-sensing windshield wipers, and a power-adjustable passenger seat. 

The Maverick does have a big price advantage if you’re interested in turbo power. As we mentioned, only the top Santa Cruz trims have the big engine: the off-road-focused XRT ($40,250) and the most luxuriously equipped Limited ($42,750). Every Maverick trim level offers the turbo as an upgrade. But otherwise, the Hyundai has more value for the money. 

Winner: Hyundai Santa Cruz 

2025 Hyundai Santa Cruz XRT ・ Photo by Brady Holt

Final Thoughts

We’re big fans of both these pickups. If you don’t need a huge bed or heavy-duty hauling capability, they offer incredible value for the money along with the agreeable driving experience of a good crossover. 

If you’re still remembering a few years ago, when the Maverick cost a lot less than the Santa Cruz, give the Hyundai a fresh look. It has a spunky personality, higher-end details, a smoother ride, clever features like the in-bed trunk, and more luxury amenities, along with a higher towing capacity if you get the top engine. And depending on the engines or options you choose, the Santa Cruz has become the better bargain. 

But the Maverick is still our winner. Its superior gas mileage cements its value advantage even if the price tag is no longer the lowest. It’s quick and agile, and it’s comfortable and functional for its size. We miss its physical climate controls, and not everyone will pick its intentionally utilitarian flavor – especially now that it starts at nearly $30,000 instead of $20,000. But it’s an endearing vehicle with a measure of utility and incredible fuel efficiency. 

Winner: Ford Maverick

2025 Ford Maverick Hybrid XLT ・ Photo by Brady Holt