ICYMI: Hyundai to Make Its Own Version of the Honda Ridgeline

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

Tow ratings are bizarre sometimes.  Like, Chevy made pickups with a tow rating of 0 pounds and a cargo rating of 100lb (I did not forget a naught), even though it shared the same brakes and transmission/rearend as more load-rated vehicles on the same chassis.

 

It also had twice the power of a regular pickup (Top Gear link because Top Gear)

As fast as a Lamborghini Diablo!  

I like this Hyundai.  It would fit my future needs perfectly - 4 seats, can throw plenty of stuff in the back, can drive down muddy roads, can tow a light race car.  While I often find myself carrying extra stuff, only once in my life have I ever found myself needing to haul 4X8 sheets of plywood and/or drywall, so a standard pickup is less useful to me than something like this.

Just an irreverent thought. Since a 4' bed seems to be acceptable now, are we in a back to the future scenario, wherein a truck is increasingly little more than a macho sedan with a retractable trunk lid?

People act like roof racks can't handle plywood. 

Man, a Santa Cruz would look silly pulling my 18ft car trailer, but the 5k lbs capacity could certainly do it

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

People act like roof racks can't handle plywood. 

At highway speed, or with thin plywood, it's iffy unless you have a very long roof rack.  Most won't support enough of the plywood, so unless it's thick, you're going to flex it and risk breaking it. 

In reply to rslifkin :

How far are you really hauling plywood? Lowes and Home Depot aren't hundreds of miles away. The scenario where you need to haul plywood on an interstate is about zero, unless you're a contractor, which isn't this market. 

The only other situation I can think of is if there's a hurricane coming and you're going to board up a vacation home and all of the plywood local to that region has been gobbled up by other people boarding up. And in that scenario it's a lack of planning as you should have purchased the plywood and stored it in the offseason. And there's way around it, partneri up with others in the area or trading a generator for plywood. 

In reply to captdownshift (Forum Supporter) :

It depends on where you live.  Home Depot isn't usually 100 miles away, but in plenty of places it's in the next town over and the best way to get there involves a short highway run. 

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

People act like roof racks can't handle plywood. 

I once carried a sleeper sofa that weighed like 250lbs on the Thule roof rack on my Maxima.

Getting it up there and off was the less fun part, lol 

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

captdownshift (Forum Supporter) said:

People act like roof racks can't handle plywood. 

I once carried a sleeper sofa that weighed like 250lbs on the Thule roof rack on my Maxima.

Getting it up there and off was the less fun part, lol 

I've done something similar on my Saturn.  The way that roof rack attached I wouldn't be surprised if you could set another car on it.

The rack I bought for my Soul (not OEM, not available in US) I am currently re-engineering the attachment points on because I could literally tear it off with my bare hands if I wanted to.  I would not trust it whatsoever to hold plywood, even though the support length is fine at ~69" long.

They keep giving us what they think we want, but they never give us what we really need!

It's in Toronto now

In reply to Mr. Peabody :

That gray & those wheels are like a couple of whacks with the ugly stick! Add in some "market adjustment" and that one might spend a lot of time on the dealer's lot unsold...

Yes it's hideous. But people will buy it

For some reason garage floor paint has become a thing on cars, and Hyundai/Kia definitely has some of the worst wheels in the business.

The wheels look like they borrowed a set off a Crosstrek, then spilled some extra ugly on them. 

The color reminds me of "Bristol Gray", an old BMW and newer Audi take.  I was at an Audi showroom that had a A8 on display in that shade of 

gray, for what seemed a long time.

I saw a Ford Explorer Sport Trac yesterday.  It reminded me of this Hyundai.  I had forgotten about those things.  They were popular for a bit IIRC.

rslifkin said:

Colin Wood said:

Two engine options:

• 2.5-liter four-cylinder good for " 190+ horsepower and 180+ lb.-ft. of torque"
• 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder good for "275+ horsepower and 310+ lb.-ft. of torque"

The naturally aspirated engine is backed by an eight-speed auto and rated for 3500 lbs. of towing, with the turbo model mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch and can tow 5000 lbs.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Santa Cruz is smaller than most trucks on the road, coming in at 195.7 in. long and 75 in. wide.

Now that's an interesting one...  First time I've ever heard of a DCT being mentioned for towing.  I guess it's either got a very low 1st gear or good management of clutch engagement so they're not worried about people burning it up trying to start gently on a hill. 

I missed this earlier.  The veloster N has a wet clutch DCT.  I'm betting this is related.  If its anything like a motorcycle wet clutch setup (granted, multi-plate is different), it should be pretty slippage tolerant.

In reply to ProDarwin :

Almost all twin clutch transmissions are wet clutch.

Let's not forget that automatic transmissions (and Laycock de Normanville overdrives) have had wet clutches for about eighty years.  And for the past 40 or so years, there have been wet clutches in the torque converters.   I think it'll be fine.

Freaky: 1940, the year of the first Hydra-Matic, was 81 years ago.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

In reply to ProDarwin :

Almost all twin clutch transmissions are wet clutch.

I did not know this.  Hyundai's other DCT (behind the 1.6T) is dry clutch.

Seems way more like a Subaru Baja then even a Ridgeline

In reply to m4ff3w :

Explorer sport trac. 

Mr. Peabody said:

It's in Toronto now

It doesn't look too bad, though I would rather get a Ridgeline.

While I hate that color and am generally salty about the proliferation of "shades of paving material" as a color pallete (ND Miatas, amiright), I really like how this is looks and the specs we've seen. It would fit nicely in my Scuderia.

AaronT said:

While I hate that color and am generally salty about the proliferation of "shades of paving material" as a color pallete (ND Miatas, amiright), I really like how this is looks and the specs we've seen. It would fit nicely in my Scuderia.

While you'd have to pay me to take it in a 'concrete' variation, I like this better as a light-duty utility vehicle than any of the sky scraping "Nuh uh, MINE is taller" offerings out there. The wheels would be replaced, at the lot if possible, for sure. I think grotesque is probably the best for those attrocities. I could wish the bed was longer but without stretching that length would have to come out of the back seat and we no that can't be allowed to happen. I'd really like a shorter hood height but it's the 2020s so it's probably enough that it doesn't have a front end designed by the Big 3, presumably designed to punt pedestrians are far as possible while inducing maximum concussionage when they hit the ground.

Overall, I like it. I don't love it but I agree with the previous mentions that it's aimed at the more self-aware suburban market who knows that they just need something like this for the occasional, light dirty work. The 5000lb tow rating on the turbo model did give me visions of pulling my Mustang to the track but that requires a car trailer that I don't have room for. If I absolutely had to replace my GTI, this would be a contender. I don't see myself ditching a fun, sporty, and paid-off GTI for a less-bloated modern bleh though, not when the Mustang will pull a trailer with anything I need.

I like that color.  And the ND Miata colors.