The $24,000 Hyundai Santa Cruz is a truck that feels like an SUV. It's also the perfect adventure vehicle.

• Part pickup and part SUV, the 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz is unlike anything else on the market.

• It starts at $24,000 and sports a small but surprisingly versatile truck bed.

• Combining pickup-truck utility and SUV proportions, it's the perfect tool for weekend adventures.

Editor’s note: This review was originally published in December 2021.

In just one afternoon with Hyundai's new pickup truck, the 2022 Santa Cruz, three separate people came up to me and asked the same question: "What the heck is that thing?"

I suspect that number would have been higher if we weren't living in a time when many people's social skills have shriveled away into nothing, much like their early-pandemic sourdough starters or their will to clothe themselves below the Zoom line.

Sure, the Santa Cruz only hit the scene this summer, so most people haven't seen one up close before. But there's another reason Hyundai's petite pickup attracts questions and puzzled stares wherever it goes: It's weird as hell.

Occupying the bizarre territory between pickup and SUV, the Santa Cruz is unlike anything else you can buy today. Hyundai essentially took an SUV, scooped out a big chunk of the roof, and stuck on a modest truck bed where the trunk should be.

It sounds grotesque, but the result is a vehicle that perfectly marries the utility of a pickup with the familiar form and feel of an SUV. In a league all on its own, the Santa Cruz is a gloriously funky answer to the bulky trucks and faceless crossovers that dominate US roads.

Weird isn't always bad 

Hyundai's first pickup for the US market, the Santa Cruz is brand-new to the Korean automaker's lineup this year. Much like the Ford Maverick that's practically its only direct competition, the Santa Cruz carries an enticingly low starting price: $23,990 before fees.

That's for the base SE trim, which comes with front-wheel drive and a four-cylinder engine making 191 horsepower. There are four trims in total, with the upper two — SEL Premium and Limited — providing both all-wheel drive and a more powerful turbocharged engine as standard equipment. The fully-loaded Limited model Hyundai loaned me for a few days last month came out to just over $41,000, including a destination fee.

Other SUV-based pickups do exist, but none are quite like the Santa Cruz. Sporting boxy proportions, a longer bed, and a larger footprint overall, Honda's Ridgeline aims to be more of a conventional midsize truck than Hyundai's new entrant. Similarly, Ford's Maverick, which recently went on sale, is roughly the same size as the Santa Cruz but looks more like a shrunken-down F-150 than its own thing.

A surprisingly useful bed in a city-friendly package

I came in with serious doubts about how much stuff the Santa Cruz's little bed would be able to handle. After all, at four feet long, it's a solid 12 inches shorter than the cargo areas you'd find in popular midsize trucks like the Toyota Tacoma. But the Santa Cruz blew me away with its versatility.