Car Review: New Palisade a great family hauler
Jun. 25—Tired of seeing the popular Kia Telluride on every block? Wait no more. Step up to parent company's Hyundai Palisade for a more elegant ride with loads of tech gear that makes driving fun again.
Palisade is the largest SUV offered by the South Korean automaker, slotted above the Santa Fe and offering more than cousin Telluride. With generous space for seven or eight, depending on second row seat configuration, the Palisade has room for the entire family or, with the flip of toggle switches, lowers second and third row seats for 86 cubic feet of storage not counting under floor space.
All Palisades are powered by a 3.8-liter V6 engine mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifters. With 291 horsepower, we found the Palisade slightly under-powered for its 4,400 pounds. In our independent testing, the Palisade reached 60 miles per hour from a dead stop in 7.1 seconds with Sport mode engaged. We'd like to see a turbocharged option for extra grunt off the line.
Four trim levels are available: well equipped base SE, SEL, Limited and Calligraphy. In addition, an XRT model features blacked out trim and a more rugged design. Pricing ranges from the upper $30,000s to upper $50,000s.
Our emerald-green Calligraphy tester gained a more rugged look — part of a facelift this year that adds massaging driver's seat, heated seats all-around, cabin upholstery choices and a 12-inch-high resolution infotainment screen with an easy-to-use navigation system.
Front seats are comfortable with enough power buttons to find the right fit. Bolstering is average and the center console has cavernous room. Rear seat occupants enjoy captain's chairs with adjustable arm rests and generous legroom. Third row passengers have easy entry/exit thanks to powered second-row seats.
Despite its size, our Palisade easily maneuvered mall lots and alleyways and, once up to speed, managed highway passing with ease. On longer trips, you can enjoy the Ergo motion driver's seat that combines a massaging seat with a posture aid. While some competitors have a simple on/off feature, be prepared to drill down in settings to activate massage features.
Hyundai borrowed a page from Honda by adding blind spot cameras activated with either turn signal.
The live view is displayed on either side of instrument cluster gauges.
The Palisade adopts kid friendly features that warn when infants are in rear seats when parked, doubles down on this feature with your smartphone, alerts the driver who is not buckled in and has an intercom to talk — or yell at the kids to pipe down.
In addition to a full set of driver-assist features, the Palisade offers a Highway Driving Assist system that uses features of adaptive cruise and adds a steering control.
Contact independent automotive columnist Len Ingrassia at lenscarcorner@comcast.net.
Contact independent automotive columnist Len Ingrassia at lenscarcorner@comcast.net.
