I never said there was anything wrong with the Santa Cruz. People have different needs and priorities in their vehicles. I just liked the Maverick because in their downhill towing and off road tests it performed better, which are priorities for me. The uphill towing was close enough to identical...
Wanted the Maverick simply because the Maverick is better at doing truck things. Better off road, better at towing (even when rated for less weight,) better payload.
I gave up on chasing a Maverick and bought a well equipped F150 for the same price. When everywhere is throwing an additional $10k or more on the Mavericks, they're almost giving away the F150's.