Compare the2024 Hyundai Santa CruzVS 2024 GMC Canyon

For enhanced safety, the front and rear seat shoulder belts of the Hyundai Santa Cruz have pretensioners to tighten the seatbelts and eliminate dangerous slack in the event of a collision and force limiters to limit the pressure the belts will exert on the passengers. The GMC Canyon doesn’t offer pretensioners for its rear seat belts.

Over 200 people are killed each year when backed over by motor vehicles. The Santa Cruz SEL/SEL Premium/Limited has standard Parking Collision Avoidance Assist that uses rear sensors to monitor for objects to the rear and automatically applies the brakes to prevent a collision. The Canyon doesn’t offer automatic braking for stationary objects directly to the rear.

The Santa Cruz has a standard blind spot warning system that uses sensors to alert the driver to objects in the vehicle’s blind spots where the side view mirrors don’t reveal them. A system to reveal vehicles in the Canyon’s blind spot costs extra.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Santa Cruz has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist automatically engages the brakes to help avoid a collision. GMC charges extra for Rear Cross Traffic Alert on the Canyon.

The Santa Cruz’s driver alert monitor detects an inattentive driver then sounds a warning and suggests a break. According to the NHTSA, drivers who fall asleep cause about 100,000 crashes and 1500 deaths a year. The Canyon doesn’t offer a driver alert monitor.

For better protection of the passenger compartment, the Santa Cruz uses safety cell construction with a three-dimensional high-strength frame that surrounds the passenger compartment. It provides extra impact protection and a sturdy mounting location for door hardware and side impact beams. The Canyon uses a body-on-frame design, which has no frame members above the floor of the vehicle.

Both the Santa Cruz and the Canyon have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, rearview cameras, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

The Hyundai Santa Cruz achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The Canyon has not yet been evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.

The Santa Cruz comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Canyon’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Hyundai’s powertrain warranty covers the Santa Cruz 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than GMC covers the Canyon. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Canyon ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

The Santa Cruz’s corrosion warranty is 1 year and unlimited miles longer than the Canyon’s (7/unlimited vs. 6/100,000).

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Santa Cruz for 3 years and 36,000 miles. Hyundai will pay for oil changes, tire rotations, air filter replacements, cabin filter replacement, brake fluid replacement, inspections, and any other required maintenance. GMC only pays for the first scheduled maintenance visit on the Canyon.

A reliable vehicle saves its owner time, money and trouble. Nobody wants to be stranded or have to be without a vehicle while it’s being repaired. Consumer Reports rates the Santa Cruz’s reliability 24 points higher than the Canyon.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than GMC vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai third in reliability, above the industry average. With 44 more problems per 100 vehicles, GMC is ranked 17th.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2024 Auto Issue reports that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than GMC vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Hyundai 13 places higher in reliability than GMC.

As tested in Motor Trend the Hyundai Santa Cruz turbo 4 cyl. is faster than the GMC Canyon:

On the EPA test cycle the Santa Cruz gets better mileage than the Canyon:

The Santa Cruz has a standard locking fuel door which locks and unlocks with the power locks. The fuel filler door is not lockable on the Canyon. A locking fuel door helps prevent fuel theft and vandalism, such as sugar in the tank.

The Santa Cruz offers an available sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The Canyon doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

The Santa Cruz stops much shorter than the Canyon:

The Santa Cruz’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 60 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Canyon AT4X’s standard 70 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Santa Cruz has standard 18-inch wheels. Smaller 17-inch wheels are standard on the Canyon AT4X.

For superior ride and handling, the Hyundai Santa Cruz has fully independent front and rear suspensions. An independent suspension allows the wheels to follow the road at the best angle for gripping the pavement, without compromising ride comfort. The GMC Canyon has a solid rear axle, with a non-independent rear suspension.

The front and rear suspension of the Santa Cruz uses coil springs for better ride, handling and control than the Canyon, which uses leaf springs in the rear. Coil springs compress more progressively and offer more suspension travel for a smoother ride with less bottoming out.

The Santa Cruz has a standard automatic rear load leveling suspension to keep ride height level with a heavy load or when towing. The Canyon doesn’t offer a load leveling suspension.

The Santa Cruz SEL 4x4 handles at .83 G’s, while the Canyon AT4X pulls only .70 G’s of cornering force in a Motor Trend skidpad test.

The Hyundai Santa Cruz may be more efficient, handle and accelerate better because it weighs about 700 to 1000 pounds less than the GMC Canyon.

The Santa Cruz is 1 foot, 5.5 inches shorter than the Canyon, making the Santa Cruz easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Santa Cruz is 13.1 inches shorter in height than the Canyon, making the Santa Cruz much easier to wash and garage and drive (lower center of gravity).

Unibody construction lowers the Santa Cruz’s center of gravity significantly without reducing ground clearance. This contributes to better on the road handling and better off-road performance and stability. In addition, unibody construction makes the chassis stiffer, improving handling and reducing squeaks and rattles. The Canyon doesn’t use unibody construction, but a body-on-frame design.

The Santa Cruz has .2 inches more front shoulder room, 1.3 inches more rear headroom, 1.8 inches more rear legroom and .4 inches more rear hip room than the Canyon.

The Hyundai Santa Cruz has a standard tailgate assist feature, which prevents the heavy tailgate from falling with a crash and causing injury. It allows adults and children to easily open and close the tailgate with one hand to better facilitate loading and unloading. Tailgate assist costs extra on the GMC Canyon.

The Santa Cruz has a higher standard payload capacity than the Canyon:

The Santa Cruz has a higher maximum payload capacity than the Canyon (1753 vs. 1640 lbs.).

The Santa Cruz SEL/Night/XRT/Limited’s front power windows both open or close with one touch of the switches. The Canyon’s front passenger window doesn’t close automatically.

The Santa Cruz Limited’s standard wipers adjust their speed and turn on and off automatically according to the amount of rainfall on the windshield. The Canyon’s manually variable intermittent wipers have to be constantly adjusted.

IntelliChoice estimates that five-year ownership costs (depreciation, financing, insurance, fuel, fees, repairs and maintenance) for the Hyundai Santa Cruz will be $6814 to $8867 less than for the GMC Canyon.

Consumer Reports® recommends the Hyundai Santa Cruz, based on reliability, safety and performance.

J.D. Power and Associates rated the Santa Cruz first among midsize pickups in owner reported satisfaction. This includes how well the vehicle performs and satisfies its owner’s expectations. The Canyon isn’t in the top three.

The Hyundai Santa Cruz outsold the GMC Canyon by 63% during 2023.