However the hype machine is real, people honestly believe since this "truck" is made by Ford its automatic better then the SC. The Mav is an Escape (same as a Bronco Sport, not the BOF real Bronco) with a bed similar to how the SC is Tuscon with a bed. My parents have an Escape and its a very nice CUV, but its no F150. All the specs indicate the Mav and SC are very close to each once you get away from the hybrid.
It is unfortunate that Ford won the hype machine. I understand the idea of a soft launch, but hype is more important than a few disgruntled interested people, I would say. It would be better have demand and no cars than cars and no demand.
Ford won the pricing game, because even though Hyundai has more standard features, many of them move you up the trims pretty quickly, while Ford, even if you ignore the SE, allows you to mix and match a few things within a trim.
I think the Santa Cruz's exterior is marvelous, and the tonneau and brunk are fantastic. I love the Steering wheel and dash design. I personally like Fords interior more once you move away from the dash and the gauges. Less piano black, less black plastic. In the SC it looks premium, but like my mothers CX-5 she had, it was almost a bit much.
I think Ford has the slightly better bed itself though, because of the board inset on top of the wheel well. The first wave of best design complaints was that apparently its too much work to build a built up center section to support sheetrock, so just having a 2x4 cut to shape and stored in there fixes that a bit.
Santa Cruz capability on paper is a fair bit better. Better Towing, better tailgate weight rating, roof racks built on (a major selling point for me, or at least was), a bit more horsepower.
If the 2.5T could be had for the SEL with the activity package price of 32-33k I think with enough good marketing it would bring the Ford Ecoboost to its knees. Unfortunately there is a 4-5k price bump up to the SEL Premium over the Ecoboost XLT, which with any dealer markup or accessories gets you pretty close to 40k.
If I am weighing the price difference, I think most interesting parties will, so I don't think Hyundai quite priced themselves out. I do think they are a hair too high on the SEL Premium because of the Ridgeline 'base' trim starts at the same price. If I could rip out the piano black, there was at least one good colorful color, and the bed had more than the 660lb rating (not bad but 800-1k would have made it more of a non- issue, I don't think I would be considering anything else.
I am supposed to be looking at one tomorrow or Wednesday that has been 2.5k above sticker and now 4k over sticker. Its setup like I like so I will be able to really see if I see myself in one. And then I get to tell them to pound sand, lol.