Am I still BLOWN away with the 2026 Palisade Hybrid after one week?
We have the new Hyundai Palisade Hybrid this week for review and it just happens to be Thanksgiving week as well. So, we need to go to the store, but first we need to load up the kids. So, we’re going to show you what it’s been like to get the kids in and out. Is it a good family vehicle? Today, we’re going to find out. Girls, come on. Reggie, how is easy to open? Okay. Successful for a third grader. Pretty simple to get through. Right to the back seat. It is a three-seater in the back. The Palisade can fit seven and eight seats just depending on the configuration. But we need to put Abe in the the baby seat. So for rear seat configuration here, you know, it does you you are going to have to put the passenger seat a little bit forward. But look how big the doors open. It’s really easy to get the kids in. Even in rear facing configurations, a sun shade for sun shade for the baby, too. Big cup holders that we have been using this week for the your Yeti Stanley things. Uh and I don’t know if you can see, but Gigi has picked the color of the week, which is pink. Of course, we’re off in the Palisade hybrid here. And Cass, what are your thoughts on the interior? Oh, I love how sleek and uniformed it looks. It’s very symmetrical, like the lines. I like the rounded edges. The colors are really nice. Okay. Yeah, we we have talked this week how much we like the exterior earthy brass color, the matte outside. Yeah, it’s so nice. Yeah, typically you don’t see colors like that on mainstream cars, but this is becoming less mainstream, at least how this is equipped. This has a sticker over $60,000, just over. Wow. But we’ll we’ll we’ll circle back to see if like is this a worthy luxury car competitor. Okay. All right. Right. Um but like talk about the materials here. Like you have like this wood like lookalike here. You have like this cloth lookalike here. different textures, you know, like when they say like what makes a room are the different textures you put in the room. That’s true. Like what makes this car is like it’s layered textures. It’s so thought out. Yeah. And even like around all these buttons, which we love buttons and uh volume knobs and stuff. It’s all right here. Yeah. It’s wood grain, right? It’s almost like a a wood grain like gray dark gray here. Yeah. So interesting. Now, I will say as it’s getting toasty in here, the the climate control is awesome. But um in the morning we need heat this time of year and then by like 10 11 we need AC. AC. Yeah. So these vents are fine. And that vent for you over there is fine. But I have a vent over here that’s completely locked away behind the steering wheel. I can never get the air here to hit my face. So you’re you’re going to have one side of your face kind of be hot and one side be like blasted. Oh man. And that’s that’s unfortunate. They they went all out for this design and this vent was a casualty. I wish the vent was like way up here, but then it wouldn’t have the same aesthetic rounded effect like a piece of furniture. Yes. Love that. Yeah, like a love seat. It’s like a love seat, but your love seat doesn’t the the vent’s not working. Okay. You do have your drive select here. You turn your car on with this and then you put into drive. You just twist it. This frees up a lot of space in here, which there’s a lot of under like a lot of uh floor storage down there as well as a 12vt. The only issue I have with this is that it kind of it’s it’s kind of I wouldn’t say claustrophobic like a Toyota Sienna for example with that bridge that they have that goes all the way up here. This is um this is like what would you call like a uh armrest arm it’s definitely like a a furniture armrest, but like it you can’t move it. I wish it was something that would collapse or move back. Now, it does feel solid. It’s nice, but it’s just, you know, sometimes we or like your purse, for example, you like sliding it in here and you have that space, but they decided to put all this extra bulk here for less usability for families. Yeah. But the bulky parts that they put in this console are pretty cool. Yeah. Well, do you want to talk about this thing? Yeah, that UV light. How cool is that? Yeah. right underneath the armrest. There’s like six UV lights in there that um like you were talking about how it reminds you of what you used to do. I used to work at like a a pretty fancy daycare like a monastery school and we would only clean via like blue like UV light like and it’s like that’s so cool. That’s really cool. Like it seems healthy too. Like I don’t know. I’m like that’s incredible. It’s cool that Yeah. You were like hey we put bottles or pacifiers in there. You could put a paci in there. Yep. the kids. There’s tons of space back there for them and it’s been awesome. They they’re actually watching the raindrop race um with the the rear sunroof. Oh, it has two sunroof. Has two sunroof. So, we have one where our cameras connected and they have one where they can see the sky and stuff. So, we love that. They also have vents on the ceiling back there, which is perfect for cooling them down. Yeah. And it’s good with car seats because when you have vents on the bottom, the poor kids like Yeah. They get hot. They can’t cool down properly. Yeah. It’s nice. Um, they also have cup holders, like three cup holders in the third row. They have like two or three USBC’s back there as well. Like, they got it made. Um, and then the second row in this trim has like the electronic uh second row seats which have heated and ventilated seats. I personally don’t like the electronic seats because if the kids are messing around, they press one of those buttons. Yeah. Abee’s going to start moving in that electronic seat. So, girls, don’t press any buttons on the seats, okay? Yeah, we’ll do another video that’s I’ll fill this vehicle up and talk about the fuel economy, but that’s not the scope of this video. But talk about how this vehicle rides, what you’ve noticed this week, and smooth. Yeah. Okay. Smooth. Sorry, I interrupted you. Smooth. Quiet. I don’t know. Like, it’s just easy. It’s We’re not very high up, which was different than the last kind car. It sits kind of like a van. A van or minivan. Yeah. It’s not very high. No. Right now, I can’t even see past the hood, but that’s fine. I’m a passenger. like from the Abees farting back there with his mouth. So, we apologize. But the So, there’s a competitor right there, the CX90. CX90 is more fun to drive. It handles better. The steering’s stiffer. Um, you get a lot more rear wheel drive shove because it’s a rear wheel drive bias all-wheel drive vehicle. But, this drives smoother. The transmission’s way smoother. The fuel economy is a lot better on here. The power is comparable, I would say. Um, it’s, you know, on the clock it’s saying over 30 miles per gallon, but again, I’m going to have to fill that up to figure that out. So, I do have a head-up display here. It’s pretty, I would say, it’s fairly small. It’s pretty low to the hood. I don’t I haven’t been using it much, but blind spot monitor does pull up on the head-up display. And one of my favorite things, um, as I get over Sorry, the uh the big semi-truck behind me was flashing his lights. Why is he flashing his lights? I don’t know why he was flashing his lights. I don’t even want to be around him anymore. Okay. Anyways, we’ll just go this way. But my blind spot view monitor pulls up here as like a little camera. Um, so it it eliminates the need for you cranking your neck because you can just look down at the little screen here. Nice. Okay. Now, this handles better than you think it would, but like I said, the CX90 handles better. U, but I would say I This is Okay. There’s another hybrid we tested earlier this year, the Toyota Grand Highlander. Um, and that was in the hybrid Max, which it has a little bit more power and torque compared to this, but the fuel economy wasn’t as good. Mhm. All right. So, this gets about 5, six miles per gallon better with a hair less power. Okay. But in terms of smoothness, it’s really close to the hybrid Max’s powertrain. Um, and the engine’s just a hair louder. Now, most of the time you never hear the engine, but if you do need the power, yeah, it’s not loud. And I appreciate the sound you get because sound also helps the kids know what the car is doing with the engine. So, like I think it when you hear a little bit of engine noise, it reduces car sickness. That’s something interesting. That’s just I don’t know if there’s fact behind that, but I’ve driven a lot of kids and I’ve driven cars that are electric, which are essentially quiet and and when I accelerate in those cars, not only do you have more torque, but I’m just saying like if I try to smooth it out, sometimes it’s it’s it’s a bit tricky in a full EV Yeah. on acceleration and deceleration because it’s just so quiet. It’s almost like when you’re sitting in an airplane on the tarmac and you don’t know if the airplane’s moving forward or not cuz it’s so smooth. Feeling. Yeah. That’s kind of what EVs can be. And that can induce like, you know, motion sickness. You’re not going to have that issue here. Even though it can run in fully electric at low speeds, right now I’m cruising in fully electric, it all does that intelligently behind the scenes. And you know, sometimes it’s just nice to hear that noise. It is. It is. Yeah. It’s comforting to hear a little bit of engine noise. And I do have paddle shifters which immediately fires the engine on. Oh, that’s cool. It’s just a super smooth and effortless powertrain. It never feels like it’s working hard. We It’s just I would give it top marks in the segment in terms of overall power and efficiency. This can also tow 4,000 lbs. A little bit less than the V6 model, but most people are not going to be towing a whole lot in their Palisate. The braking has been a bit strange. Um, you know, coming down from high speed’s good, but the last couple like I don’t know, uh, five m an hour and below can be a bit tricky to get it to properly like stop smoothly smoothly because it does have a little bit of like um like a teeter totter forward if you’re not careful with the brake pedal. So, the brake pedal is a bit it requires a bit of like finesse. Yeah. But it’s not it’s not compared to like some EVs I’ve driven or other gas cars. But it’s just that’s one of the things I Hyundai will probably improve over time because this is the first model year of this hybrid. No way. Yeah. So it’s brand new hybrid system. So refining it, refining the brake experience. It’s It’s pretty good for first model year, but I think it’ll only get better over time with the braking uh predictability. Oh, we can hear the girls pretty clearly and they can hear us pretty. That’s right. Um it’s very quiet. Yeah, I don’t think it’s as quite as quiet as another vehicle we have this week as well, but that’s a much more expensive car. And that’s a Infiniti QX80. When you called me in that, you’re like, “Wait, you’re in a car?” I’m like, “Yeah.” You’re like, I was driving like 60 and you’re like, I It’s super quiet. I can hear you. Yeah. Very well. This is super quiet, too. Just not elite levels of luxury quiet. Okay. Okay. Um, in my initial test in Austin, I was I was really blown away by the the quiet for the price point, and I still think it’s amazing, but it’s all, you know, when you get into something that’s actually quieter like that QX80, then it’s like, oh, okay, you can notice some things that are a little bit louder in here than like elite luxury quietness. All right. But it’s still like this is way quieter than the Grand Highlander. The ride quality is way better than the Grand Highlander. Yeah. Um, it’s pretty smooth in here overall. It’s not a sporty ride. It’s more of a old school luxury floaty ride. Even with these big tire or like big wheels, right? And you don’t always need that like sporty ride, right? As a mom, I don’t really need it, but No, we need sporty enough. Personally, yeah, we need we need it to be able to take a turn without feeling like it’s going to fall over, right? Flip. Yeah. Yeah. And this doesn’t kid sick or make a kid sick. Yes. And there the windows in the back for al also um reducing kids motion sickness. The windows are big back there. Yeah. Which I think helps to to give them a sense of awareness. All right. Like Toyota Sienna, the newest one, the hybrid, the windows are so small back there that the kids are more likely to get car sick. All right. So they made so small. They’re tiny. But like compared to our Sienna, the windows are like these these windows are like about the same size as our Sienna. Kids never get car sick in that car. I I put over 230 m on this this week and the kids haven’t once got car sick and that like we had a birthday party and I was hauling cuz I was worried about the chickens. Our chickens were left out, you know, and like the sun was going down. There were coyotes and bears and stuff in our area. So like I was hauling to get home. No, you didn’t even get car sick, did you? No, I didn’t. That’s amazing cuz I was flying. I usually do get cars sick pretty easily. Pretty easily. But no one got sick in the Palisade, which I think is a a testament of just how good this vehicle is. Not only for performance, but also like overall ride quality and composure is impressive. I haven’t talked about the sound. The sound system is great in here. Doesn’t have the most bass, but the mids and highs are great, and it gets really loud. Um, the 360 camera in here, which the camera buttons right there, it’s great. Close. We love that. Um, there’s also auto brake hold here, which is memory, so I don’t have to press it every time I start the car back up. But yeah, the controls here, like the rotary dial is great for just switching, you know, temperature on the fly. It’s super easy. Like this is this is what every climate control system should have is a fat rotary dial right here. Look, it’s right off the armrest. Boom. Volume knobs right here as well. It’s perfect. Let’s go to the steering wheel controls. Also perfect. Uh, what my little cheat code is like I’ve been using my middle finger to adjust volume and then this to my Sirius XM presets are right next to it. So, I can drive with both hands on the wheel and adjust volume and my presets literally at the same time as I play piano keys here with these two controls for presets and uh volume, which is a scroll wheel, which is amazing to have a scroll wheel, which is almost as good as a volume knob for for quick adjustments. So, I’m flying through the channels, talking to the kids, hitting the volume. It’s been amazing for for ergonomics and human touch interface. It’s been like like I yes, real buttons could be better here, but since they don’t move, they’re fixed. It’s perfect. Like, I have no I haven’t had any issues this week. Also, the ventilated seats have been very, very cool when I need them. All right. Yeah, it’s been nice. It’s been great. I mean, they won me over with the flat wrap. the flat the flat paint color, but it’s going to cost you. Do you want to open the uh glove box real quick cuz the the window stickers there? Okay. All right. This is going to be the moment of truth, Cass, in the in the options. All right. It’ll be like add-on. Add-ons. Okay. Earthy brass. $1,000. That’s it. Would you spend $1,000 for earthy brass if it was already included? Yes. Meaning it’s come from the factory like that? It comes from the factory. Yes. I like the car overall. You love the car and you’re like, I want that color, the earthy brass. But if I we bought this car, but like it didn’t come with that, I wouldn’t go and get it flat like for that price. Does that make sense? Yeah. I don’t know. It probably doesn’t make really make logical sense. I think the quality because the quality from the factory is always going to be great. Yeah. Okay. So, the earthy brass from the factory 1,000 bucks. Cass says throw it in. Throw it in. We have um a hybrid energy monitor here, but I can also pull it up here behind the screen or behind the steering wheel, too. I love that. It’s freaking awesome. It is good. Um and for families who want better fuel economy, I’ll talk more about this in my fuel economy test video with this. It is going to be better um with the front-wheel drive. All right. You should be able to get 3 4 miles per gallon better. So, we’re This kind of concludes our driving impressions and what it’s been like to live with in terms of driving it. The the rest of the video, we have three places to stop. Uh we’re we’re going to Sam’s Club. We need to gear up for Thanksgiving meals. We’re hosting for Thanksgiving. Some family. So, we need to get food supplies for for that and for the week because the kids are going to be raiding the cupboards all week since they’re on uh fall. Fall break. Woohoo. And um we also need to get some some um chicken supplies at a like a farm store. Um and we also need to stop at Trader Joe’s. So we’ll do some video updates the rest of the video. Uh kind of like showing you pictures and stuffing this car full of stuff. It’s already full of humans. So that limits how much stuff we can put in here. So we’re really going to uh put it to the test to figure out Tetris. Yeah. Like how good is it? you know, how good is that cargo capacity? How good is putting things between the seats? Because we’ve done that a million times in our minivan, right? And our minivan has a lot more cargo than this. So, all right, let’s uh let’s fill it up. All right. So, this is a problem. There’s no smart key access on the back door handle. So, you have to unlock here first and then do this. Is this an extra step when you already have a bunch of steps? It’s not great to add an extra step when you have a bunch of kids or things in your hands at the same time. We do have underfloor storage, but you want to put things in here that aren’t going to expire just in case you forget it underneath here. Also, there’s no spare tire in this, so you have a tire mobility kit taking up some room here. One stop down, two more to go. Stop number three. Um, turkey and pies and whatnot. We’re getting pretty full. Got the Palisade parked right outside here. It’s time to cross shop it and then also rank it. Where does it fall? We’re We’re actually getting really close to the end of the year 2025. It’s great that I got a chance to review this before the end of the year because it is going to do quite well um against all the cars I’ve driven so far. So, this is almost like a cherry on the top of the best cars I’ve reviewed this year. So, it starts at about 39K and I think for the V6 that is an incredible buy. Even for the base trim, 287 horsepower, but you can get 50 more horsepower and a lot more torque with the hybrid and way better fuel economy. To me, it’s a no-brainer to spend the a little bit extra and get the hybrid here. Now, don’t forget that the the Santa Fe hybrid’s also amazing. I haven’t driven it in a while, the new one, since the media drive. Actually, I haven’t had a chance to get it in my garage to test with the family. That’s something to consider if maybe the Palisade isn’t quite or you don’t need quite that much space. The Santa Fe hybrid is fantastic as well. It’s not as powerful, but it’s a little bit more fuel efficient and it looks just as good in my opinion. In some ways, better than that Palisade, but anyways, big fan of the Santa Fe as well. So, let’s build off of the Palisad hybrid. Let’s let’s see here. Se like honestly what do you need in your vehicle? If you are looking for stealth wealth then get the calligraphy. Like the calligraphy is amazing. How much like incredible materials the the leather seats the massaging seat. I didn’t even mention that the driver gets a massaging seat. I would be happy with an seal or seal premium. Seal premium gives you the 360 camera as well. I’d be happy. Do I need to have leather these? Keep in mind seal on the interior. Let me show you the interior on the seal. You can still get gray synthetic leather. Look how nice that is. Look, that’s that’s amazing, guys. This is the base trim here. Look at these. Even the pattern on the seats are awesome. Love that. Absolutely love that. Okay. Um, so I would be happy with an SEL or seal. How you still get a heated seats here. You don’t get the ventilated seats. I get that. Um, and you still get a wireless charger. You get all these USBs. Look at this wood grain around the cup holders. Looks awesome. You still get the 12-in screens. Okay, so any trim level I think is an amazing buy for the Palisade. That’s how well of a job Hyundai has done from top to bottom with the trim levels. Look in my area. Palisade hybrid blue seal premium. So like this is an eight passenger. So let’s let’s look at that. I think I opened it here. I want to see these pictures. I want to see what it looks like as an eight passenger. Well, this is a seven passenger. All right, we see the captain’s chairs in the back, but I believe you can get this in an eight-seater as well. And I would be happy with this price right here. Insane buy. All right. Um, now let’s see here. Let’s look at like you can pick different trim levels. For example, if you need the eight-seater, you can select that. Um, very few limiteds. There’s a ton of calligraphies. Why are there so many calligraphy hybrids? Well, Hyundai’s probably guessing. and they’re like, “Hey, you know, there’s a pent-up demand for three row hybrids, and since there’s pent-up demand, let’s let’s see how many we can get with the most expensive trim first.” And that’s why you see the most are front-wheel drive in my area. Front-wheel drive calligraphies. Are there discounts to be had? Here’s a $1,000 price drop on a front-wheel drive calligraphy. Not bad. I kind of like this like earthy color. Not earthy brass, but you know what I mean. Like this uh dirt. It kind of just looks like dirt or mud. It kind of looks like the mud bath from Toyota’s TRD Pro lineup. Let’s get into the Grand Highlander. There’s only 59 in my area. Again, let’s go back the Palisade Hybrid. There are 76. This thing just launched and there’s already better availability for the Palisade Hybrid than the Grand Highlander Hybrid that has been out for like 2 to 3 years now. It’s just frustrating if you’ve wanted the Here’s the thing. What are the The Grand Highlander is a maybe a hair more roomy, maybe. Okay, I didn’t even talk about how the third row seats in the Palisade can move forward and back. I didn’t need to play with it. All right, they were moved forward because I had uh cargo. I needed more cargo, so they were moved forward, but I could have moved it back a little bit if I need if I had bigger kids in the third row, for example. That’s available in the limited in the calligraphy kind of that movable third row. The hybrid limited, the hybrid max, like you can’t even find a non-max. Okay, here’s one for 50k. This hybrid though from Toyota, it’s very reliable. You kind of know what you’re getting, but it’s very loud and underpowered compared to the Palisade. All right, the Palisade just drives so much better. The ride quality is a lot better in the Palisade 2 over the Grand Highlander. So, the Grand Highlander, what does it have? It has a little bit more interior space. That’s about it. That’s the only thing it does better. The hybrid max, however, gives you more power, a little bit more acceleration, but the Palisade is no slouch. Okay, Toyota has two hybrids. They have a powerful hybrid and an and a fuel efficient hybrid. Hyundai is essentially combined Toyota’s best of each world. They’re they’re combining power and efficiency in the Palisade hybrid. And Toyota needs two different hybrid systems to be able to compete, or should I say two different hybrid systems to do what one hybrid system does for Hyundai. All right, it’s good to have options, though. I’m a minivan guy. I I kind of trashed on the Sienna in this video because I just want the Sienna to be so much better. The Sienna’s rear windows are too small. It is claustrophobic for the drivers, but it gets like 40 m per gallon. The hybrid on here is super efficient, but it’s loud and it is underpowered. but sliding doors and way more cargo space than something like a Palisad’s great. But let’s not forget also from the Korean camp. All right, the Palisades made in Korea. I believe the Carnival is as well. Let me double check. Yes, in South Korea. So, I love the Carnival as well. The Palisad drives way better. Like throwing the Carnival in the turn, it does not go. It doesn’t feel good. The the suspension on the Carnival is not good. But it’s very roomy. It has sliding doors, great fuel efficiency, great cargo. All right, that’s something that you should also be considering in my opinion. And this is cheaper on average. And look, there’s over 200 of these in my area, which is more than the Sienna, which is more than the Grand Highlander Hybrid, which is more than the Palisade Hybrid. So, this is a good van. It’s just the worst of all the vehicles I’ve mentioned in this comparison at the end. It’s the worst to drive out of all of them, but it does provide a lot of value. Where does Where does the Palisad Hybrid land? There’s a lot of pros. In fact, I sat here and I could have kept writing about the pros, but I got to the cons and I sat there for a while and I’m like, what are the cons? Because for the price, regardless of the trim level, they’re all priced really, really well, really strongly in its segment. And it provides great power and efficiency, room, tech, style, all that. Ride quality, it’s all there. Quiet, comfort, it’s all there. It does it all. The cons. Well, the brake feel it want I want it to be just a little bit more predictable. It’s predictable until the last few feet of stopping and then it’s just kind of awkward. I’ve never had any issues where it feel I feel like I I don’t have control over the car. But that’s one major thing that they could improve upon is the brake feel. Another con is there’s not enough cup holders or space. You know, I was roasting the Sienna because you’re you’re like cup cuped in in this weird cockpit area. It’s claustrophobic. All right. But at least the S, and I mentioned the Sienna because I’m mentioning hybrids and hybrid competitors, three row hybrids. All right. But the Sienna does have good cup holder space in comparison. There’s only two cup holders in the front and then a ton of space is wasted on the wireless charger. Now, I understand that the wireless charger is convenient to you and your access to it. A lot of the Germans can’t figure out how to make a wireless charger that’s within sight and within reach. uh while you’re driving. Hyundai’s done that. Okay, I’ve I I get that you want to have your phone close by, but sometimes you just need more space for your stuff. All right. And so, you know, not enough cup holders. Yes, you have cup holders in the doors. Um kind of the bottom like cargo space in the side of the door, but I was just, you know, wanting a little bit more flexibility out of the the p the front passenger cabin. All right. moving that arm console out of the way, give me more space, or I can move it back if I need more cup holders or, you know, there’s just not a lot of configuration. They did a good job blending greater ergonomics and blending great style, but I just want a little bit more utility from the front passengers cabin. Okay, that’s the only con, honestly. So, it is S tier. This is one of the best vehicles I’ve driven this year. Um, and it is joining this great list of cars that are just amazing buys. All right. Um, let’s see here. Let’s put it above like the I mean, there’s no really I don’t have like a rating like a number ranking. All right. This is all highly subjective. This is all based off of the things I find good or not so good or satisfactory or not satisfactory with a living with a car for a week. All right. All these cars I’ve had for minimum a week and there are some that have been bad and then the Palisade is one of the best vehicles I’ve driven this year. What other vehicles in this top tier? Now, why you’re like, Kirk, you mentioned other minivans. Why you mention the Odyssey? The Odyssey gets terrible fuel econ. All right, but I’m not. All right. So, vans. I will always pick a van more times than not since I have so many kids. But when the kids get older, Cassie and I will probably move on from van life into something more SUV like. Time will tell though. Like we love the Armada, the QX80 for for SUVs. And let’s see, is there anything else? Any three rows really up here? Suburban, totally different ballgame. I know it’s a three row SUV where this is a three row crossover. Suburban for towing. Um, and yeah, the V8’s great in it and it’s very, very smooth. But that thing costs like 90K. This was 30 grand less and it gets 32 miles per gallon. Again, stay tuned for my fuel economy test with this vehicle. What about the Volvo XC90? That’s something I also really enjoy. Now, the Volvo XC90 isn’t as roomy. The Volvo XC90 isn’t as ergonomically friendly. Um, the XC90 has more power. It has better looks, better design, but look how like this is an extra 15 grand more than the top spec. And features wise, they’re about the same. Okay, massaging seats. Um, you get Well, you can get the wool seats. I would I would trade wool seats uh for massaging seat. The Palisades massaging seats okay. It’s pretty average. Um and getting the calligraphy just for the massaging seat I don’t think is worth it unless you get a great deal. But you can see 4 grand discount off of the the Volvo. But the Volvo just looks so good. If the Palis looked just like this, oh my gosh, it would be even better. But that’s the thing. Not all vehicles can look amazing. The XC90 is aged really well. has great I would say per the performance, the handling, um the luxury I prefer the design of the interior on this Volvo more, at least from like a pleasuring like an eye experience. Like the the eye test is amazing inside and out on these Volvos. But most of the stuff is in the touchcreen on this. All right. Like it is much tighter on the inside. I love the cloth on the dash and the crystal shifter. And the Volvo also has this issue of not enough space um for things in the front. But I still really en enjoyed the Volvo. Would I pick a Volvo uh you know over the the Palisade? And the answer is I like the plug-in hybrid flexibility, but I would be picking the Palisade over this and and keeping 15 20k in my pocket. But man, the Volvo is just so beautiful. Um, and if you’re looking at a luxury SUV, Volvo is definitely worth considering. Volvo loved it. Also, the Genesis GV80 was fantastic as well. It takes what like the Palisad does really well, but gives you more muscle, more power and um, a little bit more opulent design. The G the GV80 looks amazing, too. Okay, not as good as XC90, but it’s it’s great. Anyways, what about a GV80? Should you pick, and this is a great question, like what is a GV80 going for? And would I pick um the this vehicle over a GV80? I love the GV8. It’s great. So, let’s look it up. Um you can get a GV80 in three rows. There’s a good availability. Look, uh, you can get the the D-tuned or should I say the smaller engine Genesis GV80 for about the same money, a little bit more than the Palisade calligraphy. Oh man, it’s it’s really good. Even the the four-cylinder turbo is really, really solid here. Is the GV80 worth 84 85K? Probably. It’s really really good. Well, actually, look, this one’s off four grand. Don’t mind. I’ll snap that up if I had 80 80gs to burn. I don’t think I’d pick the GV80 2 1/2 L turbo over the Palisade hybrid. And you can see they’re getting close in price except the Palisade will be better equipped. All right, but these these twin turbo prestige models, look how cool they are. Or the twin turbo V6, they’re they’re quite special. So, there’s still there’s still a market for luxury SUVs out there, like the XC90 Recharge, like the GV80, but those things also provide great performance that I can’t get um in the Palisade. But the Palisade does provide great power for the class and great, if not like arguably best fuel economy as well. I got to, you know, it’s not going to be a front-wheel drive uh Grand Highlander standard hybrid and fuel economy, but the front-wheel drive can come close. I’m reviewing a an all-wheel drive, so I’m expecting 30 32 miles per gallon when I fill it up. Again, I’ve put like 230 240 miles on it. um the Palisade this week and it’s I think it has just dropped below a quarter uh three quarter tank gas. So like the sort of range you’ll be able to get on these is like 600 miles I think pretty easily now that I’m thinking about it. 600 miles easily. So that’s wild. I’ll catch you guys in the comments. I could talk about this vehicle. I can’t believe I’ve been recording for almost 20 minutes before editing. It’s just such a fantastic vehicle. Hyundai has crushed it. Um, and the new Telluride, that one will be built in the United States, but that will also have the option for this hybrid powertrain. And that’s going to be another vehicle within like this really hyper competitive three row segment, which is great. We want more competition and the more vehicles that have this hybrid system, the better. It’s amazing. Thank you guys for watching. Stay tuned for more and well done Hyundai. Is this is this the first Hyundai? I think it’s my second Hyundai in the S tier alongside the Elantre N. Yep. No. Uh well, and the Ionic 5 in. That’s, you know, very nichy sports cars here, but Hyundai’s doing sports cars really, really well, especially bang for your buck. So, well done, Hyundai. You have three three cars in S tier that I’ve reviewed this year. Wow. And if I would have reviewed the the Santa Fe hybrid, too, there’s a possibility could have made it in the list, but I didn’t get to it. All right. Thank you guys. Have a great day. If you’re watching this around Thanksgiving, happy Thanksgiving and happy holidays.
#hyundai #palisade #hybrid
How capable is the Hyundai Palisade hybrid in accommodating BIG families? Here’s what I learned.
New, powerful, and efficient internal-combustion and hybrid powertrains
The 2026 Palisade offers two new powertrain options. The internal-combustion powertrain boasts a newly developed 3.5-liter V6 making up to 287 horsepower and up to 260 lb.-ft. of torque. The direct-injected engine is coupled to an 8-speed automatic transmission with a two-chamber torque converter. This standard ICE powertrain is available in both two-wheel and HTRAC® all-wheel-drive configurations. This naturally-aspirated V6 is targeting a robust 5,000-pound maximum towing capacity8, giving active families the flexibility to haul a variety of weekend toys, including campers, boats, and powersports equipment.
For 2026, a hybrid option joins the Palisade powertrain portfolio for the first time. It features a 2.5-liter turbocharged in-line four-cylinder engine putting out up to an estimated 258 horsepower. Two electric motors mounted in the six-speed automatic transmission’s case provide additional tractive force for a combined total estimated system output of up to 329 horsepower and up to 339 pound-feet of torque (both estimated). Palisade HEV’s high-efficiency powertrain is expected to achieve up to 34 mpg combined, yielding an internally targeted range of up to 619 miles1. The hybrid powertrain also offers an estimated 4,000 lbs. of maximum towing capacity8, all of which combine for supreme driver confidence and flexibility out on the open road. Specific features have been added to the hybrid to provide a more EV-like ownership experience, including a new Stay Mode function that monitors the battery system when parked to allow for extended use of the infotainment and HVAC functions.
00:00 – Loading up the kids
00:56 – What’s it like to drive?
17:08 – How much can the Palisade FIT?
17:47 – Buying Guide and RANK
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