Saw my first Santa Cruz in the wild this morning

It will be a hot seller until all the "Gotta Have It Firsts" get theirs and then it will languish on the lots.

It was the best selling vehicle in the country when it came out, but then the Maverick was released and it's spanking the Santa Cruz.

The Maverick is thousands less $$$$ and better looking to boot.

 

I went and test drove one today.

I have to say, it was a nice ride and had more bells and whistles than I could shake a stick at. I thought I would hate that the instrument cluster is just one giant screen, but I kind of liked it. Controls were intuitive and easy to get to, which is usually my biggest complaint with these over-electro-gadgeted types of vehicles. Suspension was smooth, all wheel drive was seamless. It had a moderate amount of grunt under the hood: Not a lot, but it wasn't a sloth either.

I didn't realize the things were so damn big. I was expecting a another Baja, but with the taco parked side by side, they were surprisingly close in size. The taco had maybe a foot on the Cruz, probably a hair less. Their beltlines sat at about the same height, the taco's roof was maybe an inch or two taller. The Cruz is actually much roomier inside both front and back.

Ultimately this was supposed to replace the fiance's car, and she decided it was way too much. We went home with a Mazda 3 turbo instead. Can't says I disagree with that choice.