In addition, Hyundai stuffs its top-level trim with useful standard features like ventilated and heated front seats and a heated steering wheel. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are also aboard, as is a sharp 360-degree camera view that makes this compact truck even easier to fit into parking spots.

The Hyundai Santa Cruz proved handy for the sort of basic truck tasks we imagine most owners will ask of this small pickup. For example, transporting a fully built propane grill was a snap thanks to a low load-in height compared to those of larger trucks; it was easy to hoist the cargo up and get it into position.

The Santa Cruz’s bed has plenty of anchor points, too, which we used to snugly secure down the grill with ratchet straps. The initial loading occurred in a dimly lit parking garage, so the Hyundai’s bed lights were extremely helpful, shining enough light to get the job done with minimal fumbling. On the road, the Santa Cruz felt totally stable with the grill out back, and unloading was a cinch, too.

Later, MT editor and cycling enthusiast Alex Leanse had a critical bike failure due to a broken drivetrain bolt and called for a rescue. We arrived on the scene with the Santa Cruz to help our 6-foot-10 colleague. The bed had enough space to lay his bike in the bed. No small feat given his height means his bike is quite big.

He felt the truck did a good job of safely hauling his wheels: “Loaded with the rear wheel toward the cab and the tailgate fully closed, only the handlebars and half of the front wheel stuck out above the tonneau cover,” Leanse said. “That made my bike seem protected and secure, relatively safe from being crushed in a rear-end crash or jumping out over an unexpected bump.” He also noted that “a bit of soft padding on the bedsides and a solid bungee cord or ratchet strap is all I’d add to make sure my bike stayed scratch-free and in place.”

Taking the Santa Cruz grocery shopping was another opportunity to explore its capabilities. The small rear doors give way to a cramped back seat—legroom is reduced from the Tucson SUV the Santa Cruz shares its platform with—and piling your purchases there is a bit awkward, so the bed ends up being the go-to place for groceries and the like.

The in-bed trunk remained remarkably cool even under plenty of direct sunlight, which was nice for our perishable items, and despite it being a bit shallow, we managed to stash four full plastic bags in this space. A package of paper towel rolls fit in the bed with the tonneau closed. Hyundai’s pickup isn’t necessarily your normal grocery-getter, but it can probably get the job done for a small enough family.

Five minutes behind the wheel of this small truck puts that fear to rest, so long as you pop for one of the top two trims. The Santa Cruz comes as a front-wheel-drive truck with a naturally aspirated 2.5-liter four-cylinder, but you can upgrade both aspects, adding all-wheel drive and a turbocharger. Hyundai only provided a turbocharged all-wheel-drive model for this review, so we can’t tell you for certain the base model doesn’t suffer the Tucson’s ride and power deficiencies.

We can absolutely tell you the top models don’t. All tricked out, the Santa Cruz rides and drives wonderfully. Some pickup trucks struggle to ride nicely without any load in the bed, but not the Santa Cruz. On the bumpy roads of the Santa Cruz Mountains and the worn-out concrete of Bay Area freeways, the little truck rides beautifully. From behind the wheel, the Santa Cruz compact pickup drives like a better SUV than the Tucson. The only reminder you’re driving a truck is the mail slot of a rear window, a common problem even among larger midsize pickups.

We can take an educated guess about the base engine’s performance, though. Aside from model-specific programming, the standard powertrain is identical to the one in the Tucson we tested, only in the SUV it has to move a vehicle that’s at least 200 pounds heavier when similarly equipped. That thing needed 9.3 seconds to hit 60 mph from a stop, and efficiency-minded transmission programming made it feel even slower. We can only hope the base Santa Cruz is tuned for performance, or it’s going to be a real dog with any gear in the back.

Putting gear in the bed is the entire point. Hyundai is adamant: This is not a truck for truck people. If you don’t think it’s a real truck, it’s not for you. It’s for people who don’t want to park or fill up a full-size or even midsize pickup but who are tired of cramming their bike in the back of an SUV or lifting it onto the roof of their car.

This I get. When I lived in Santa Cruz, I drove a coupe and only surfed at the beach that was within walking distance from my house. If I wanted to mountain bike, I had to ride to the state park. Getting the board or the bike into or onto the car was too much of a hassle. If I could’ve thrown either in a cargo bed, it would have been a game changer.

That’s what Hyundai is going for, and if that and a run to the garden center are all you’d ever use a pickup for, the Santa Cruz succeeds. The 4-foot bed is just long enough to fit your bike or shortboard or hang either over the tailgate. The Honda Ridgeline-style trunk under the bed floor is just big enough to stow a wetsuit or muddy shoes.

Then there’s that factory-built, lockable, roll-up metal bed cover. If the Nextdoor app is accurate, a lot of people in my area have tools stolen from their truck beds on a regular basis. I don’t like leaving anything valuable in the back seat of a pickup, much less the bed. A secure space of that size offers huge peace of mind in the city.

Same thing when camping. One can fill the back seat of a full-size pickup to the roof with camping gear pretty easily, and this truck’s back seat is a lot smaller than that. The storage under the back seat, under the bed, and in the locked bed provides an all-new level of vehicular Tetris to master.

Filling the rear seat with gear shouldn’t be too hard. By the numbers, the Santa Cruz has almost the exact same rear legroom as a midsize Honda Ridgeline, but we aren’t sure how Hyundai came up with that measurement. The back seat of a Ridgeline is huge compared to other midsize trucks’, and the one in the Santa Cruz is definitely cozier.

Adults with short legs will have plenty of space, but the long-legged are going to be squeezed, especially if the people up front are tall, too. The windowsill that sharply rises by your outboard shoulder also contributes to a feeling of snugness. At least it’s a quiet ride until a bit of wind noise around the door mirrors crops up at interstate speeds.

If the trailhead or camping site you’re headed to is farther off the beaten path than a dirt road, you’re going to need new tires. The included Michelin Primacy all-seasons are fine for everyday driving, but they’re mostly useless off-road. Even getting going on a steep dirt road sees wheelspin from all four corners as the rubber struggles for grip.

Hyundai’s H-Trac all-wheel-drive system is quick to transfer power to the rear wheels, but it can only do so much when those wheels have as little traction to work with as the fronts. The truck’s ground clearance and approach, breakover, and departure angles are all decent, so with better tires, the Santa Cruz could likely make it a lot farther into the woods.

On the pavement, where this small truck will spend most of its time, the uplevel Santa Cruz grips well and handles better. By both truck and SUV standards, it drives surprisingly sporty with direct steering and excellent body control. The only thing undercutting Hyundai’s boasting about the nimbleness and maneuverability of this truck is how wide it feels in the lane.

Only an inch and a half wider than a Tucson, the Santa Cruz is nearly five inches narrower than an F-150, but it doesn’t feel like it. Up narrow mountain roads and trails, it feels like you really need to be vigilant to stay between the lane markers.

Helping you, should you put down enough cash, is a full suite of active and passive safety systems, up to and including lane keep steering assistance and adaptive cruise control. Turn them all on, and a long road trip out to a national park is a breeze. Some may want to turn off the blind spot cameras, though. The live video that appears in the instrument cluster every time you use your turn signal can be distracting, and in this truck, a combination of bad camera angles and tiny images make it mostly unhelpful.