Time To Talk About Beds – 2022 Honda Ridgeline vs. 2022 Ford Maverick vs. 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz

This is an exciting time for pickup trucks.

Ever notice how fast food restaurants tend to open across the street from one another? Ever notice how grocery stores will put the same items on sale during the same week? Ever notice how the most exciting sports rivalries occur when both teams are at their best?

It's all because competition improves the breed. And that's why this is such an exciting time for pickup trucks, especially small and midsize pickup trucks. Only eight years ago, there were three non-full-size trucks available in Canada – they accounted for just 5% of the Canadian truck market. 

That market share has more than doubled to 12% already, and by the end of 2021 there will be nine small and midsize pickups on the market.

Two of those nine are perceived to be competitors for the Honda Ridgeline, which was overhauled for the 2021 model year. Both the Ford Maverick and Hyundai Santa Cruz utilize unibody construction like the Honda Ridgeline (unlike the separate body-on-frame construction of poorer-handling trucks.) 

But are they actually all that comparable? Not exactly. The 2022 Ford Maverick and 2022 Hyundai Santa Cruz are quite a bit smaller than the Ridgeline and, consequently, simply aren't going to offer the same broad range of capability. Take their beds as an example.

At 50 inches wide, for example, the Ridgeline can handle the width of an ATV. The Maverick and Santa Cruz can't. And while the Ridgeline comes in handy when it comes to delivering large items thanks to the length of its bed - a typical refrigerator at least 61 inches tall, and you might find a tall bookshelf on Marketplace – the Maverick and Santa Cruz simply don't offer the same capacity.