January 05, 2021

2021 Hyundai Palisade: full review for real buyers in Australia

39 minutes

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.

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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.

Palisade comes fully loaded.

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 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

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.

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.

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.

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, but I do hope I’ve at least crystallised the cases for and against buying a Palisade - the better to help you make the right choice with a serious wad of cash.

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By John Cadogan

66 ratings