Tacoma vs the new Santa Cruz

Never driven one but the top engine is a turbo 4 making 281 hp and 311 lbft. Beats us on both counts and I'm sure kills us on bottom end tq too.

 

If you drive a long commute 5 days a week and only use the bed to haul mountain bikes or mulch on the weekend, the Santa Cruz and Maverick are great options. If you want to get muddy, haul weight, tow, etc (Truck stuff) then its not so great.

 

Yeah, I saw the numbers on the SEL Premium.

Compared to my Tacoma's specs: 278hp / 265lbft

But a physical towing comparison would have to convince me that a 4-banger beats a V6.

 

It will come down to gearing and transmission programing on how it feels pulling the same weight. 100% the Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado and Frontier will handle the weight better from a chassis dynamics standpoint.

For a truck I plan to keep for 200k or more, I'll take a non turbo V6 over a turbo 4 any day.

 

Time to drag race the Santa Cruz Vs the Tacoma.

 

The new Ranger will tow better than our trucks and the ecoboosts tow better than the 5.0 in the F150s. By tow better I mean less RPMs and not spinning the engine to the moon to get up a hill. While both can do it the better low end power of a turbo motor is less stress on a long day of towing. No reason to think this will be any different.

To be clear though I only mean power wise. I do think our heaver body on frame trucks will handle the load better.

 

Curb Weights:

Santa Cruz 4100lbs
Tacoma 4075 - 4550lbs

 

I do not believe these two vehicles are marketed towards the same buyer . If it fits your needs & wants, who the fuck is anyone to say differently?

We have too much food to be worried about this

 

I like the Santa Cruz to be honest. I’d never have one due to 2 bad past experiences with Hyundai’s, but I like the idea of Ute type vehicles becoming more popular in the US. I like the Maverick too. Id never trade my Tacoma in for a Ute, but I’d supplement it with one. They are built for 2 different purposes. I could see using the Santa Cruz for city use or a run down to the busy and tight beach parking lots but still being able to carry my cooler, a couple bikes and other beach gear.

Just my take

 

As far as hauling weight, the Maverick actually has a higher payload than our trucks.

 

I saw and yapped with a dude in a Rivian yesterday. Pretty damn futuristic and it tows 11,000 pounds... whoa... 4WD with bitchin tires on it too.
Cool thing was these side cubbies that popped out for storage and you could sit on those. Retractable cover. .. said he got about 300 miles on a
charge with the standard battery and it goes from 0 to 60 in like -3 seconds LOL... the times, the times they are a changin.

 

For 90K it better do some other "things" for me while I'm driving.....

 

Given the choice, I would pick a Santa Cruz over a Maverick. I really hate the bloated look of the Maverick.

 

No doubt... I'd pay off the $11,000 balance on my 2021, pick up a 2022 for my son, update my wife's 2017 Subaru, and have enough left over
to buy my daughter a Crosstrek ...

 

Little bit of lift, it isn’t bad, evens out the proportions a bit, imo. No extra cab 6’ bed kills it for sure me, that and rear seat storage is dismal. Be better looking if they put the Bronco Sport front on it.

 

the Maverick is pretty cool. It has the small truck market cornered. Cheap too!

I will never buy a ford though. Plus I don't like to be super judgmental of a vehicle (or anything for that matter) without actually having driven it.

I did rent a dodge caravan. I can judge that, it was terrible. Holy smokes. Just bad all around

 

Small truck owners looking down on smaller truck owners, I guess.

 

looks more sausalito than santa cruz

 

Already been done

Video is time stamped at the bottom..starts off with tacoma vs santa cruz.

https://youtu.be/R8ty51NiWyM

 

So a car beats the Tacoma. Wow what a surprise

Seriously though, not much of a surprise. The big surprise there was the TRX. Holy crap, 13.5 seconds.

One thing you need to take into account, is that the drag races were done in Colorado and that means 6000ft or more. A naturally aspirated engine loses a lot of time going from sea level to 6k+ ft. A turbo engine does not lose much. So although if this race were done at sea level, the turbo 4 scruz will win again, the difference won't be as much. They would likely be 1 second or so apart, not over 2 seconds. Then you take into account the Andre' detune mod. Andre' was never bred to drive vehicles. He screws things up more than not. Picks bad off road lines, doesn't know how to activate MTS and generally is a disadvantage in any situation against the other guys. And they always seem to put him in the Toyota. lol

Compressor engines produce much more torque and there is a 40-50 ftlb difference between the two. So there are no surprises here. I am sure the next gen Taco and 4runners will all have 4cyl turbos for this reason, and then everyone will be whining about the good old days with no little turbo engines.