The 2021 Hyundai Palisade builds a bridge to luxury with three rows of seats, big touchscreens, and quilted leather. The cramped battle wagons and cruddy minivans of the past have been passed. Enter plush crossovers like the 2021 Hyundai Palisade, with digital screens and wireless technology and quilted leather, all meant to cosset up to eight people in style. With the Palisade, Hyundai has built one of its finest crossover SUVs yet, one that’s smart enough to play up interior quality over ground-pounding performance.
Sold in SE, SEL, Limited, and Calligraphy versions, the 2021 Palisade comes wrapped in one of the more alluring shapes seen from Hyundai yet. Its wide honeycomb grille and vertical LED headlights are reptilian, where the similar Kia Telluride is rectilinear. It’s softer inside, with more elegant interior surfaces, where it looks great in basic black—but is a knockout in white quilted leather.
The Palisade sports a 3.8-liter V-6 with 291 horsepower, teamed to an 8-speed automatic with front- or all-wheel drive, good for EPA combined fuel economy of 22 mpg. It takes a relaxed tack, though midrange passing is brisk and though it’s able to tow up to 5,000 pounds. Where it excels over rivals like the Highlander and Pilot is in ride quality: it’s quiet and well-cushioned, with distinct damping that sets it apart even from the Telluride, even when it’s shod with 20-inch wheels.
The EPA pegs the front-drive Palisade at 19 mpg city, 26 highway, 22 combined. With available all-wheel drive, it sags to 19/24/21 mpg. Pilots and Ascents hit 23 mpg combined, while Toyota’s Highlander Hybrid soars to 36 mpg combined. Hyundai scores top safety ratings with the Palisade and fits each one with automatic emergency braking; a surround-view camera system, head-up display, and blind-spot monitors can be installed.
Big on the outside, the Palisade’s big on interior comfort, too. It sports shapely front seats wrapped in cloth, or draped in leather with heating and cooling, if you spend enough. Eight-passenger seating upgrades to seven seats when the middle sliding bench trades places with a pair of captain’s chairs. Adults can fit in row three thanks to power-assisted seats—and the Palisade can carry up to 86.4 cubic feet while it wears that fab white-leather interior. Need to ferry a lot of people from the Monterey airport to Carmel Valley in style? The Palisade’s a strong option.
Whether it’s a Palisade SE, SEL, Limited, or Calligraphy, Hyundai’s largest crossover comes with active safety features, an 8.0-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility, 18-inch wheels, eight-passenger seating, cloth upholstery, and front-wheel drive. All-wheel drive costs less than $2,000 extra. LED headlights now are standard in 2021, as is wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility. Drivers can project their voices through the speakers to third-row kids, or shut off speakers to the rear seats for quiet time.
The Palisade SEL, gets keyless start, second-row captain’s chairs, and blind-spot monitors. Option bundles pack on 20-inch wheels, parking sensors, a power tailgate, wireless smartphone charging, leather upholstery, a dual-pane sunroof, power-fold second- and third-row seats, and a 10.3-inch touchscreen with navigation. The Limited costs more than $45,000 and adds to that heated and cooled first- and second-row seats, Nappa leather, a surround-view camera system, a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, and a head-up display. Beyond that, a Calligraphy edition gains all-wheel drive, 20-inch wheels, quilted leather seats, and a sueded headliner for $48,890 all-in with standard all-wheel drive.
Hyundai has come a long way in a short amount of time. Nothing is more evident of that than the 2021 Palisade which has quickly become top dog in its class. With inoffensive bold looks, as much room as some minivans, and topnotch technology with a great value proposition; it’s easy to see how the Telluride is stellar. For those looking to try something new and step out of the current large SUV flock, the 2021 Hyundai Palisade is definitely worth a look.
