Hyundai Santa Cruz Vs. Honda Ridgeline

Honda sold 52,001 units of its

Ridgeline
lifestyle truck in 2023 in the USA, while 36,675 units of the

Hyundai Santa Cruz
were purchased. Both trucks are well behind the

Ford Maverick’s
sales figures, though, with the Blue Oval selling nearly 95,000 of those in the same year. Still, the Ridgeline and Santa Cruz remain popular enough to justify the existence of a unibody small- to mid-size truck segment. These trucks share many similarities and if you’re in the market to buy one, it may be difficult at a glance to see which is better. Let’s take a closer look to see whether the Santa Cruz or the Honda Ridgeline is the better unibody pickup.

Towing and Hauling: Close Enough

Model	2024 Hyundai Santa Cruz	2024 Honda Ridgeline
Towing Capacity	3,500 lbs (base) | 5,000 lbs (turbo)	5,000 lbs
Payload Capacity	1,411 lbs	1,509 to 1,583 lbs

Ultimately, the Ridgeline does win this one on a technicality: It tows 5,000 pounds right off the factory floor. Santa Cruz buyers need to upgrade to the top trims to get there. The Ridgeline will also pack upward of 100 lbs more into the bed. Its bed is roomier, too, measuring 83 inches with the tailgate down, whereas the Santa Cruz measures 74.8 inches.

Interior: Practical And Functional

Both trucks are suitably spacious, with the Santa Cruz offering more front legroom than the Ridgeline. The legroom in the back is similar, at around 36.5 inches. The build quality is good and expected to last at least two decades in both cars.

In terms of features, the Santa Cruz starts you off with an eight-inch touchscreen, and this can be upgraded to a 10.25-inch touchscreen on the SEL model – it’s standard on the top three trims. The Limited is equipped with a premium Bose audio system, too. As for the Ridgeline, you get a nine-inch touchscreen across the range, and the Trailsport gets an extra speaker over the standard seven-speaker system on the rest of the lineup.The top model in each lineup comes with heated and ventilated front seats, although the Santa Cruz offers front seat heating much earlier in the range. To be clear, neither of these trucks is


substandard
in the interior department. Honda and Hyundai simply realize that these pickups have never been major players in the luxury-lite pickup segment, so the overall vibe is more

functional
than

fancy.

The Ridgeline and Santa Cruz have identical NHTSA crash test numbers: perfect five-star ratings in every single category except for rollover, where they both earned a four out of five. The two trucks even scored similar rollover risk numbers, at 16.9% for the Ridgeline and 16.4% for the Santa Cruz.Both models have been recalled a single time, with the 2024 Ridgeline listed in a 187,290-unit recall for faulty rearview cameras and the Santa Cruz being recalled alongside the Hyundai Tucson for 795 units in total with faulty power steering assist. The latest models tested by the IIHS, the 2022 Ridgeline and the 2024 Santa Cruz, both earned mostly Good ratings from the IIHS, but only the Hyundai earned a Top Safety Pick award.

Both models feature lane keep assist and forward-collision alert as standards. The base Santa Cruz features blind spot assist, which is an upgrade in the Ridgeline, available in the Trailsport and up. But neither truck is a slouch in the safety tech department. Bottom line: you don’t need to worry too much about safety in either of these trucks. Unibody trucks are notoriously hard to break, and both models pack a generous suite of safety features.

Cost Of Ownership

Taking a look at the MSRP numbers, the Hyundai Santa Cruz looks like the clear winner, with sticker prices starting at under $27,000. But if you want similar performance to the Honda, you’ll have to pay extra for the turbocharged engine and AWD. If you really want to make a fair comparison between these two trucks, you’ll want to look at the Ridgeline Sport and the Santa Cruz Night, which only favors the Hyundai by a little over a thousand bucks.

Repair And Maintenance

Unibody trucks can be more expensive to repair than body-on-frame, owing to the simple fact that they’re not comprised of small, easily replaced panels, so every dent needs to be manually worked out. But the trade-off is a truck that’s safer, sturdier, and considerably less squeaky and creaky on the road.Repair costs slightly favor the Ridgeline, with RepairPal estimating an annual maintenance expense of $502, while the Santa Cruz comes in at $515. So, if we’re really looking for a way to split this hair, this leaves us with fuel economy.

Fuel Consumption

Fuel Economy (combined)
Hyundai Santa Cruz Night	22 MPG
Honda Ridgeline Sport	21 MPG

So there you have it, the Santa Cruz is the better car by a single mile per gallon. Jokes aside, the Hyundai Santa Cruz barely edges out the Honda Ridgeline in terms of total cost of ownership. Between fuel costs and MSRP, you’ll probably spend about $2,000 less on your first year of ownership of a Santa Cruz than you will with a Honda.

Santa Cruz Is Cheaper Up Front, But The Ridgeline Is Built To Last

The Santa Cruz is the more affordable truck up front, but Hondas are revered for crossing 250,000 miles and then some without a single major mechanical issue. So, if you plan on driving the truck for more than five or ten years before you trade it in, the Ridgeline may be the wiser long-term investment. This also applies to resale value. After ten years, a Honda will still retain about 65% of its original value, with the Hyundai coming in at just over 61%.Of course, we’re talking about razor-thin value margins here. Ultimately, you have two pickups that perform about the same, cost about the same, and drive about the same. Personal preference is going to come into play in picking a winner here by a lot more than a 4% margin in resale value.