Despite an increase on its window sticker, the right-sized truck remains a sub-$30,000 proposition – even including destination and delivery.
At first glance, it seems the new total of $29,895 equates to a $1,600 price hike given the $28,295 sum listed on Hyundai’s build-and-price tool for a 2024 model of equivalent trim (SE, in this instance). However, it is slightly more nuanced than that. The brand has been slowly pumping up its delivery charges over the past couple of trips around the sun – from $1,010 for a ’23 Cruz to $1,335 upon its ’24 introduction to $1,395 after a mid-year adjustment that annum.
Combined with a slight price adjustment at the same time in the 2024 model year, the new starting price of $29,895 is actually about $1,900 dearer, three hundred bucks more than what most headlines will shout. Not a ton of cheddar when spread out over a 60 month note, but an extra amount all the same.
Gone for 2025 is the Night trim, which hashtag blessed the Santa Cruz by dipping it and all its trim in a pot of inky paint. The figures above are for a front-wheel drive SE, while a SEL front-driver will cost $31,595 – about $1,200 more than when it initially appeared for 2023. The butch(ish) XRT now trades for $41,395 which is a pittance extra (just a couple of hundred bucks) compared to last year.
Helping bridge the gulf between the $30k SEL and $40k XRT is the new-for-’25 SEL Activity, priced at $34,595. It will be available with front-wheel drive for that price, though all-wheel drive is on hand for fifteen hundred bucks as it is on almost all other trims. This new model gets the integrated tonneau cover, rear sliding glass with a defroster, 115V outlet and lighting in the bed, the good instrument cluster, and a wireless charger.
[Images: Hyundai]
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