Overview

AUSTRALIA’S strict NVES triggered the replacement of Hyundai’s Palisade from a diesel and petrol duo to this latest variant, the more liveable…and lovable petrol-hybrid.

Palisade in Calligraphy spec’ (tested) raises the stakes in a few areas including luxury and the feature list, but also the price.

It pushes the seven–plus seater perilously close to the $90,000 mark ($89,828 + ORC) which is a distance from the previous Palisade Calligraphy’s $75,900 entry price tag. In lifting the threshold, Hyundai may have overlooked the multi-seat market occupied by budget-conscious families.

Now the Palisade also competes with the latest Denza B8 PHEV ($91,000 for the seven seater; $97,990 for the six-seater); Denza D9 ($85,980); Xpeng X9 ($89,990); Kia EV9 Air ($97,000); Mazda CX-80 Azami PHEV ($85,300); BYD Sealion 8 ($70,990); Toyota Kluger Grande hybrid ($85,065); and Volvo XC90 B5 Plus ($97,990). Prices do not include on-road costs.

For Hyundai, launching the updated Palisade into this group looks like a tall order. And if we held up the 2025 Palisade as the contender, it would be whittled away by the newcomers on a feature-by-feature and even an on-road comparison.

But for 2026, Hyundai has rolled out a very competent all-wheel drive wagon that has few downsides for buyers and one that slips perfectly into Hyundai Australia’s need to slash its fleet emissions to prevent being penalised by the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES).

At the same time, the Palisade is more attractive to buyers because it is a lot more fuel efficient, now down to a claimed 6.8 L/100km.

But it’s still an expensive proposition, especially when Hyundai has a perfectly acceptable – and spacious – Santa Fe Calligraphy hybrid at $77,150 (plus costs) and sister company Kia has the Carnival hybrid in top-spec for $76,840 (plus costs).

The Palisade has been around for a couple of years, appearing as the more fulsome model of the Hyundai brigade and presenting itself as one step above the Santa Fe.

It’s sold as an SUV but is more like a people mover. That seems to be a common marketing ploy today – new models that have an identity crisis are flogged as SUVs because that’s on the shopping list of the majority of buyers. The fact that a new vehicle has as much SUV-ability as a racing bicycle appears irrelevant.

The styling is brick-like, but done tastefully. Let’s just say that drawing rectangles is clearly within the ability of Hyundai designers.

It is however attractive and also imposing. The flat grille that forms the ‘face’ is effective in capturing attention and making other road users aware of its presence.

There’s five silver horizontal bars that sit on the outer edges of the front fenders and at first appear as decorative painted trim. They are actually lights, turning orange as indicators and white as park lights.

There’s lots of privacy glass, some flashes of chrome to accent the few curved body lines and embody the C-pillar, and pretty alloy wheels that fit their 21 inches perfectly within the wheel arches.

From behind it’s a gentle bend of the tailgate edged by the same horizontal theme tail-lights as used up front, only in red.

The Palisade is 5060mm long and sits on a 2970mm wheelbase, up 230mm and 155mm respectively on the Santa Fe to show the size of this model.

That gives it a cavernous interior that aside from carrying eight (or seven) adults with ease, has a cargo capacity from 300 litres (all seats up) to 712 litres (third row folded flat), and 2081 litres (second and third row folded flat).

Great news for people who enjoy motoring holidays is that the Palisade comes with a full-size spare, and it’s mounted on a cradle under the rear of the chassis. Its location means that with a boot stacked with holiday gear, the spare can be accessed and the punctured wheel stored without unloading anything.

Inside, the cabin is airy, spacious and finished with the design and materials akin to an upmarket house. The dashboard itself is open and wide, yet despite all it contains, is uncluttered and easy to locate switchgear or instruments, and just as easy to operate them.

Above everything, the storage space is spectacular and there’s even secure areas for small items. The door bins take the biggest bottles; the centre butterfly-lidded storage cupboard is great; there are little areas in the two rear rows and room beneath the front of the centre console for more gear, and if I was whinging, I’d say perhaps the glove box could be bigger – but there’s a second forward bin anyway.

Additionally the Calligraphy scores two 12.3-inch screens – one for the driver, the other for the infotainment system, a  head-up display, sat-nav, wireless charging, two tilt/slide sunroofs, digital rear-view mirror, Nappa leather upholstery, suede headliner, heated and vented seats in both the first and second row with the third row’s outer seats also with heaters. Not forgetting the massager for both front seats.

The Palisade comes with Hyundai’s DigitalTach 2.0 system that allows your mobile phone to control functions. It has fingerprint recognition, gets over-the-air updates and has vehicle-to-load allowing it to power 240-volt accessories.

Carrying over from the EV models, it uses Hyundai's right-hand lever for gear selection, incorporating the starter button to free up centre console and floor space.

Hyundai has been given a five-star safety rating by ANCAP. This is based on its crash-test program and on its suite of safety gear including AEB, eight airbags, driver monitoring, blind-spot alert and camera, visual rear-door opening, collision avoidance, tyre-pressure monitor, speed limit assist, lane-keeping and lane-following, and navigation-based active cruise control.

It also has a clever crosswind stability control that will use the brakes and steering to make adjustments to counteract crosswinds, and safe-exit assist that locks the rear doors when a vehicle approaches quickly from the rear. It presents children opening the rear doors after an accident.

Hyundai has said it has muted the noise of its ADAS functions to minimise distraction to the driver. But the test vehicle had a screaming speed-limit voice warning that despite going through the system to attempt to kill it, reappeared at full volume every morning.

The speed limit beeper that chimes when the car is exceeding the posted speed limit (by 1km/h, by the way) remains, but thankfully it’s a lot quieter than in the past and – even better – can be turned off at the start of each journey.

ANCAP’s Palisade rating included an 89 per cent rating for adult occupant protection; 86 per cent for child occupant protection; 71 per cent for vulnerable road user protection; and 73 per cent for safety assist features.

Hyundai has a seven-year unlimited distance warranty on the Palisade with a separate eight-year, 160,000km warranty on the traction battery.

The seven years is conditional on the vehicle being serviced for that period at the Hyundai dealer. Otherwise it reverts to a five-year warranty.

It has an optional pre-paid service program that costs $1430 for the first three years; $1958 for the first four years; or $2366 for the first five years. Otherwise, the five-year capped-price program costs $397; $657; $475; $674; and $397 respectively.

The service schedule is 12 months or 10,000km.

Driving impressions

It’s clearly a big vehicle and at 2.3 tonnes is getting up to large EV portliness, however the Palisade is surprisingly easy to drive and boasts very good handling with low body roll.

Much of this agility is attributed to the Australian suspension tuning with local knowledge applied to getting the damping spot on. There’s also Hyundai’s ‘e-comfort drive’ system that prevents pitching when on undulating roads or when driving quickly with excessive braking and acceleration.

That makes the occupants feel secure and also inspires driver confidence in the wagon.

That’s supported by the quietness of the wagon, thanks to lots of sound insulation materials and acoustic glass.

Suspension comfort and ride control is complemented by the good engine/motor response, so while it’s a big machine, it’s also pretty quick.

The Palisade has a combined 245kW and 460Nm, with the 2.5-litre four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine doing the mid and high-end work and the two electric motors (13kW and 54kW) for mainly low and mid-speed operations, although employed when the driver demands more power.

In fact, the 13kW electric motor is more for starting the engine and charging the 1.65 kWh traction battery. The 54kW motor is mounted within the six-speed automatic’s transmission housing and not a direct drive to the rear axle – which is done by a conventional prop shaft.

The car will be a full hybrid (electric and petrol power working together or separately for motion) or a series-hybrid where the engine acts as a generator for the battery.

The Palisade is not a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). The traction battery is charged automatically by the smaller electric motor and by the regeneration system.

The downside is that the electric-only range is academic, being only for crawling in traffic or reversing. The upside is that it won’t be captured by Australia’s upcoming EV road-user charge fee.

Don’t pretend the Palisade is an SUV that can go off-road. It’ll go on hard-packed gravel and limestone roads but the 187mm ground clearance and the distance between the wheels (almost 3m) will invite traction loss or obstacles and uneven ground catching under the chassis.

It does, however, hint at offroadability with its three terrain modes – snow, mud and sand – inviting discomfort. Better to stick to the on-road models – eco, sport and the individual ‘MyDrive’ buttons – to retain sanity and return home safely and on time.

The fuel consumption averaged 8.3 litres per 100km – a distance from Hyundai’s claimed 6.8 L/100km – and hit 10 L/100km a few times. As said before, it’s a big vehicle and even the hybrid system – while very much welcome – can’t defy physics.

However, even at 8.3 L/100km the Palisade has a range of 870km. Touring will bring that fuel consumption down and the range will obviously extend.