Both the Maverick and Santa Cruz are on my shopping list. My new employer gives me a healthy car allowance, and pays gas and oil changes. So no need for the hybrid. For both, I'd go turbo, AWD, cloth seats. So Mav XLT with luxury pkg and FX4 and 4k towing pkg, and Santa Cruz Premium. The Mav ends up about $5-6k cheaper ($30 to $31k vs $36k) based on how I would build them. The Mav would also have just enough room in the bed for my motorcycle with the rear tire on the tailgate, but the Santa Cruz would likely not based on bed and tailgate dimensions. I much prefer the styling and likely performance advantages of the Hyundai, but the cost difference and bed dimensions likely will make me choose the Maverick.
I'll try to check them both out at the autoshow this weekend though.
Hyundai didn’t bring any cars to the show this year.