2021 Hyundai Palisade: full review for real buyers in Australia | Auto Expert John Cadogan

Hyundai Palisade - you can see it from space. But, two weeks in - I’m still struggling to figure it out. I’m deeply conflicted here, in the domain of love and hate. Details next.


***CORRECTION***
Towball download limit is 150kg on this vehicle, not the 100kg stated in this report. Details: https://youtu.be/6we__2MXDCU

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I’m having a ‘love/hate’ relationship with Palisade. It’s an excellent vehicle - if you meet a tightly defined set of criteria, as the user - but it’s also packed with apparent contradictions.

Top 10 things I love

LOVE:
If you’ve got up to eight people to convey from A to B, and you also need luggage space, Palisade is a beast.

Palisade has a proper, full-sized spare wheel and tyre, underslung, at the rear. This is perfect for regional touring.

This thing is fully loaded. Like, it would take until the middle of next week to run through all the features.

The cabin space is tremendously configurable.

The 2.2 Diesel powertrain is the one to get. Eight-speed auto plus on-demand AWD is extremely well-suited to this vehicle.

Palisade is a superbly comfortable vehicle to drive long distances

The fundamental choice you have to make on the Palisade is: Seven seats, or eight?

Palisade is actually about $54,000 cheaper than a fully-loaded Toyota Landcruiser.

They’ve put a lot of thought into the interior.

Palisade is the kind of vehicle that really has democratized luxury.

Top 10 criticisms:

DISLIKE
It’s bigger than Santa Fe but doesn’t tow as much.

Hyundai and Kia need to drop the V6 and start running with the 2.5 turbo petrol engine in vehicles like this

It doesn’t look like a next-gen Hyundai product externally.

Palisade costs about $10,000 more than a Kia Carnival - which is approximately as versatile and as capable, except for the Carnival’s lack of AWD.

White leather - such long-term disaster. Like, everything from the dye in new jeans to the residual on your palms (when it smears onto the white leather door pulls) is going to be a long-term aesthetic disaster.

For all the convenience built into the Palisade, there’s no front passenger grab handle. Like, in what universe does that go through to the keeper?

When you select ‘park’ the automatic handbrake applies - but only sometimes. And by ‘sometimes’ I mean: if you’re on a slope.

If you are parked and the park brake is deployed, you can’t drive off unless you clip your seatbelt.

Palisade - and it’s not the only Hyundai Motor Group vehicle to do this - comes pre-loaded with fake ambient background audio. And, yeah, you can turn it off, thankfully.

I know I previously talked up the price, but if you want eight seats for eight arses and space for luggage, configurability, versatility - etc., a Kia Carnival is $10k cheaper, ballpark, and also quite a good thing.

CONCLUSION
I don’t know that I’ve solved my deep inner conflict here - and, like I care, because I’m giving it back tomorrow, and picking up a BMW. Occupational hazard. But I do hope I’ve at least crystallized the cases for and against buying a Palisade - the better to help you make the right choice with a serious wad of cash. And do let me know in the comments whether I should return it with the masking tape on or off the nose. Thanks for watching.