Every time I drive a modern Hyundai, I go into it thinking: “This is going to be way nicer than people expect, and it’s going to be way cheaper than people expect.” Almost every time, that’s true. It’s the reason my first car was a 2012 Hyundai Elantra, and it’s the reason I’m here to rave about a car I drove last week: the 2026 Hyundai Palisade.
[Full disclosure: Hyundai covered travel and lodging to bring me to Northern California, where I drove the new Palisade near mountains called the Palisades. Punny! -AK]
What Is the 2026 Hyundai Palisade?
The 2026 Palisade is a new era for Hyundai’s flagship SUV. The first-generation Palisade debuted in 2018 as a big, practical, and realistically priced three-row SUV, and it arrived alongside its platform sibling, the Kia Telluride. That’s these two cars (pictured from the 2025 model year):
For the past seven years, I’ve read countless positive reviews about the Palisade and Telluride, made positive reviews about them myself, and watched them take over American streets. Almost every time a friend or family member needs a three-row, they tell me one or both of those models is on their list. I nod in approval.
But seven years is a lifetime for a car generation, and the new Palisade debuted at the New York International Auto Show in early 2025. It had a bunch of changes and, for the first time ever, a new hybrid powertrain and an off-road trim called the XRT Pro.
The Palisade has two powertrain options for 2026, and the one we drove in California was a 3.5-liter V6 internal-combustion engine with an estimated 287 horsepower, 260 pound-feet of torque, and a 5,000-pound towing capacity — similar numbers to the outgoing 2025 model. Hyundai told us these V6 models are arriving at U.S. dealerships right now.
The second powertrain is a 2.5-liter, turbocharged hybrid powertrain with an estimated 329 horsepower, 339 pound-feet, and a 4,000-pound towing capacity. Hyundai’s targeting “up to” 34 miles per gallon combined on the hybrid Palisade, along with 600-plus miles of driving range; these are great numbers, especially for such a large vehicle. Hyundai said the hybrid will be available to customers (and reviewers) later this year, and that production of both SUVs is in Ulsan, South Korea.
Let’s look at the V6 Palisade’s basic specs for 2026:
- Price: $38,935 (base, front-wheel drive); $56,060 (starting price for the top, all-wheel-drive Calligraphy trim, which we tested)
- Engine: 3.5-liter V6
- Transmission: 8-speed automatic
- Drivetrain: Front-wheel drive (base), all-wheel drive (Calligraphy, as tested)
- Power: 287 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque (est.)
- Fuel Economy: Not yet rated, but roughly 20 mpg in the mountains
- Body Style: 3-row SUV
What It Looks Like
The 2026 Hyundai Palisade is bigger than the already-big outgoing model, and it trades the old SUV’s rounded, 2010s-era design with a boxier style. Not everyone loved the design when I posted photos of the new Palisade online, and the people who didn’t like it pointed out the lighting features on the front and back of the vehicle.
In person, those are actually my favorite parts, because they look elegant and gemstone-like to me. I also like the vehicle design overall, because boxy is timeless in the automotive world.
The only thing I don’t love about the exterior styling of the new Palisade is the grille. The whole vehicle is sleek and simple, like something an executive would ride in. Then, if you have a lighter paint color, the grille jumps out at you like a black hole. I wish the shiny black pieces in the grill were body-colored instead of black, but the redeeming thing — in terms of this complaint — is that many of the new Palisade’s paint colors are dark enough to camouflage it.
What About The Inside?
Inside, the new Palisade is the opposite of its boxy exterior. It’s round and bubbly. In the top Calligraphy trim, which I drove, the materials all feel like the ones you’d see in a boutique hotel: raw-feeling wood on the dashboard and center-console area, soft coffee-colored leather, tightly-woven fabric, and a two-tone steering wheel. The combination of materials is serene, and the infotainment display isn’t tacked onto the dashboard like a tablet.
The driver-instrument cluster and infotainment screen are dual, 12.3-inch panoramic displays that run in a long rectangle, yet they don’t feel like an afterthought. They feel like a cohesive piece in the interior design, with dedicated placement. Screens are the future, whether everyone likes them or not, and that means vehicle design needs to incorporate them — not slap them on. The new Palisade does that.
The 2026 Palisade has standard wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as a bunch of capacitive buttons, including for climate controls. I don’t enjoy using capacitive buttons; they’re prettier than normal buttons, but they come with the downsides of touchscreens (poking around for a control without tactile feel, which makes me feel lost). The redeeming feature in the Palisade is that the center console includes a palm rest just under the capacitive buttons, so you can rest your hand while poking around.
Each row of the Palisade Calligraphy gets a long list of features. In the first row, you have: reclining seats that are heated and cooled, a crisp rear-view camera, 64-color ambient lighting, a factory dash cam for the front and rear, and a UV-C feature in the center console to sanitize your phone and other belongings.
In the second row, you also get reclining seats that are heated and cooled, along with your own climate controls, fan settings, voice-recognition controls that connect to the infotainment screen, window shades, and a vehicle blind-spot warning light so kids don’t hop out of the car if a vehicle is driving by.
Then, in the third row, there are power-adjustable, heated seats. This way, you can choose more cargo room or more legroom for the folks in the back.
The top-level Palisade Calligraphy feels more expensive than it is, in both styling and features. The trim starts at $56,000, but if you removed all identifying features, put me in the SUV before I saw it at the debut, and told me it was an $80,000 vehicle, I’d believe you.
How It Drives
The 2026 Palisade V6 is borderline slow. When you tip into the gas, the SUV gives you the impression that you have a lot of initial torque and will have power to accelerate. Then … not much happens. There’s also engine noise in the cabin, which is surprising. To me, if a vehicle is slow but fancy, I’d rather have sound deadening and not hear the engine at all.
The brake pedal is soft but not fully mushy, but that’s where my complaints end. And in the big picture, they don’t matter, because the Palisade Calligraphy is so good as a full package.
The suspension in the Calligraphy is smooth. There’s zero road noise. Wind noise is very faint; you have to drive fast, silence your voice, and listen purposefully to hear it.
Driver-assistance features including adaptive cruise control and lane-centering assist make long drives a breeze, and the capacitive steering wheel that senses whether I’m really touching the wheel is a feature that I’m a big fan of. I find wheel squeezing to be a little redundant when a car has driver-attention monitoring, which is when it follows your eyes to make sure you’re looking at the road. A capacitive wheel allows you to rest your hand on the wheel — ready to take over if needed — but not play stress-ball with it all day. It rocks.
Another handy feature of the new Palisade is that on the XRT Pro, Limited, and Calligraphy trims, there’s a factory-installed tow hitch, trailer-wire connector, and integrated trailer-brake module. It’s a plug-and-play system with a trailer, along with a driving mode for towing that holds gears longer to allow you to tow with more power.
Although the V6 Palisade is a great SUV, I’m looking forward to the hybrid more. Hybrid commuter cars and SUVs are perfect for the time we live in in America, because they bypass all the things holding back the adoption of electrification: mainly, accessibility to fast and reliable charging stations.
When people can drive long distances and get decent fuel economy, especially in a comfortable SUV like the Palisade, they see how rewarding hybrids are — and they may be open to more electrification in the future. That’s a win.
Conclusion
The 2026 Hyundai Palisade out-classes, out-styles, and out-features many of its competitors. If you put the logo for Hyundai’s high-end brand, Genesis, on the front of the Palisade Calligraphy, I’d believe it belonged there.
I’m a minivan defender every day of my life. Most people who buy three-row SUVs actually need minivans, but they want to seem cooler than people who buy them — thus, they get an SUV that’s more expensive and has fewer convenience features. But the Palisade makes a real argument for a three-row SUV, because it’s a relatively affordable vehicle with the kind of space, family safety, and features I’ve come to love on minivans. I often roll my eyes when someone who should buy a minivan goes for an SUV instead, but with the 2026 Palisade, I wouldn’t.
The Palisade is the experience of a luxury SUV with the price of a normal one, and that’s why they’ll be everywhere in no time.
All Images: Author (unless otherwise specified)
When you say the second row reclines, is it like the legrest recliners in the Kia Carnival, or do the backs just have adjustable rake?
The interior is interesting, I quite like it. I love the exterior except for the black ‘grille’ area. I just hope this isn’t like the previous gen, which gained endless media praise, but was meh in person.
My wife and I bought a 3 row SUV in February, and we went in expecting to like the palisade the most based on all the media praise. We left feeling extremely underwhelmed and a little annoyed with all of the gimmicky ‘features’.
So Hyundai made a Korean Ford Flex?
That’s the Santa Fe, this is less boxy and a little bit bigger
Wtf. I didn’t know coke was legal in Korea.
HYUNDAI BAD! BUY A TOYOTA! KOREAN CAR GO BOOM! FUCK THIS ROLLING PIECE OF SHIT!
Did I cover all the bases? Anyway, as usual with current Kia and Hyundai the design is too busy and definitely chasing trends over timelessness, but that doesn’t mean it’s BAD necessarily. I think it looks alright and stands out, which is what a lot of people want anyway. They definitely get extra points for offering it in BRG over tan though.
Anyway, packaging wise there’s a lot to like here. Current Hyundai interiors are a massive step up from what they used to be and I think they do a good job of implementing technology without making it overbearing. Their infotainment systems are intuitive and user friendly, their safety suite is pretty damn good and can be set so it isn’t annoying, etc. Also, check it out! It doesn’t look like the screens were haphazardly taped onto the dash!
That being said the hybrid will undoubtedly be the one to get. It’ll offer more power, more low end torque, and if Hyundai is to be believed similar gas mileage to the Highlander Hybrids. The other advantage I’ll mention is you will probably actually be able to buy these off lots at reasonable prices, unlike the Toyota competition.
However the usual Hyundai questions linger. Will this last? Will it be worth anything at all after a few years? Will you feel the need to shower after you leave the dealership? At the end of the day those are what continue to make people hesitant to buy one.
IDK man, last time I was in the market for a 3 row, the Korean cars had higher markups than the Toyotas. Granted that was 4 years ago, but if this thing is as popular as people are predicting, I don’t think that will change.
The one thing I did notice was that the Koreans usually have more generous financing and better (on paper) warranties.
Those days are long gone and were driven by scarcity. There are enough haulers sitting on lots in 2025 that I don’t think they’d be able to get away with that shit now.
Lets hope not! Anyway, I’m not buying anything soon (I hope)!
If you don’t have to buy anything then don’t buy anything, shit’s pretty fucked at the moment
Yeah my Traverse will have to keep soldiering on, rolling like the great shroud of the sea rolled on, as it rolled 5,000 years ago.
On the Palisade forum or Reddit, can’t remember, there were reports of 2026s hitting lots last week and some dealers were trying to mark them up. I’m sure it will be even worse with the hybrid since their competitor is the often still marked up Grand Highlander.
Now whether they are successful marking them up will be the second part of it.
I was curious and did a cursory search here in the DC area. All the 2026 ones are listed at MSRP or $1,000 off which I assume is a promotion. But you’re right, the real test will be the hybrids because they’re what everyone is going to want…especially with the 18/24 rating of the V6, which is pretty bad even by family hauler standards.
As someone at a Hyundai dealer, you forgot, “NICE LOOKIN’ PAPERWEIGHT WHEN THE ENGINE GRENADES”
Unless the other powertrains will be physically bulkier (not counting the hybrid batteries which can go anywhere) it looks like the whole cowl should’ve been made at least 4″ lower.
Such is the way of things in the Year of Our Pedestrian Impacts 2025.
Ever since the 2017 Charlottesville car attack, it seems like EU market cars became safer for pedestrian impacts and US market trucks and SUV’s have turned into rolling brick walls.
https://usa.streetsblog.org/2017/12/07/while-other-countries-mandate-safer-car-designs-for-pedestrians-america-does-nothing
I don’t care for the title of this article as I don’t see how yet another all-show-no-go 3 row SUV is at all a suitable replacement for a minivan. However, I do appreciate that the close of this piece was a little more pragmatic in the message.
It matters not what anyone writes anyway, insecure people will always want the faux-butchness of a cushy SUV over the honest utility of a minivan. They’ll make lame excuses like “I need to drive in the snow” or “I want to get to a trailhead and I NEED awd!”. Not having any of it. People got along for a long time on shitty old-school snow tires and RWD, if you love walking in the woods so much, walk to the trailhead.
After my wife drove a rented Chrysler Voyager in Hawaii over a road that is largely made of lava to Kekaha Kai State Beach, I find myself less impressed by the modern SUV. It wasn’t a joyful ride, but it got there just fine. I doubt that most people who want to justify their purchase would drive on worse.
I think the problem is that minivans just don’t look as nice. And they have the word “mini” in them.
Why don’t they just put sliding doors on an SUV and call it a day?
Well, that and lower the floor pan an inch or two while keeping the roof where it is. Ingress and egress and feeling of roominess are much better in a minivan because of that difference.
Kia kind of did that with the Carnival. Yes it’s technically a minivan, but the styling (particularly the front) is designed to mimic an SUV. From what I’ve read they’re pretty great cars too….but I see WAY more Telurides than Carnivals.
Carnival is way too on-the-nose a name for a minivan. It needs a peaceful, tranquil name rather than a name that tells you what’s happening behind the front seats.
Yeah, the “I go camping twice a year and need to drive on a perfectly good dirt road so I need an SUV” crowd. This is why the illusion of off-road performance sells so well.
I’m a big believer in “you do you”, but when I had a growing family we went through three minivans (one on a company-paid lease and one that got wrecked, the last one went over a decade). They were uncool in one sense, but there’s at least a few of us out there who think cool is defined by the ability of a tool to do perform its required duties and the minivans absolutely delivered on that front. So what if driving it screamed to everyone “I’m a practical father!” That’s a bad thing?
The amount of people and gear we hauled around was incredible, and as you said about your Hawaii trek the truth is non-SUVs can get across less than ideal terrain in a pinch if you know how to drive and know the limits of the vehicle and your talents (ref. Mercedes + Smart car + Gambler 500).
And a face only a mother could love. Another box on wheels with useless character lines. Design? Not so much.
Counterpoint: all character lines are useless. All a vehicle needs to be is a box on wheels, or a round-edged tapered box for aero efficiency.
Curves!! I want curves. Like a 37 Talbot Lago by Fagoni and Falaschi. Not a straight line anywhere. The Jaguar XKE another curvy design. Don’t get me wrong, a box on wheels will have the most interior room. Scion XB. Don’t get much nicer than that!!
20mpg and a noticeable lack of power is not a winning combo. Hopefully the hybrid fixes one or both of those shortcomings.
Any one walk into a Hyundai or Kia dealership recently? Has the experience improved?
During the chip shortage Kia/Hyundai dealerships were downright insufferable about these large SUVs, showing that their way of treating every customer as someone down and out who has to accept whatever terms the dealership wants because they have no alternatives can easily transition to slapping huge markups on a desirable vehicle and dismissing anyone who refused to play by their rules. I’m talking about requiring that you sign an agreement to buy the vehicle at their inflated price before they’d even let you test drive it. I guess when you are already an asshole you can switch your flavor of assholery to a different type of victim without missing a beat.
When I bought one in 2022 they were still a nightmare. Scams abounded and I was legitimately screamed at and insulted by a sales manager when I informed him I was not willing to pay a markup. I eventually a found a dealership that was polite, professional, and got me in and out with the purchase of my Kona N, but it took work and that dealership is now under new ownership so it could very well suck for all I know.
The Hyundai dealership where I get my car serviced has improved. They built a new, fresh showroom and service center that’s nice and feels upscale and the service techs are polite. That being said I’ve had wretched experiences with the cast of characters that are there to have their cars serviced. Lots of yelling at employees, excessive displays of public affection, they’re an odd bunch.
I think they’re doing better, but better for them merely gets them to average.
It’s a crapshoot, honestly. Comparing within the same brand, I’ve been to a Kia dealer that was fantastic and a Kia dealer in a different town which was an absolutely infuriating high pressure nightmare.
“Absolutely infuriating high pressure nightmare”
.…but anyway, enough about my upbringing!
When I bought a Hyundai in 2011, the dealership experience was mostly just fine. Though I don’t doubt others’ experiences, and it may help that I’m a middle aged white male. The one shenanigan was after the initial pricing and finance talk, when they came back from the backstage finance office with the final sale papers. We were seated in a booth on a low sofa with a low coffee table, and the finance rep bringing the endless pile of papers to sign was a 25 year old female in a very short miniskirt, and the loan rate was a little higher than what was quoted.
Weirdly, had a similar experience in a Hyundai dealership in 2007. Went in to test drive an Accent, was greeted by a very friendly young woman in a very short skirt.
Their tricks didn’t work on me, since I’m both gay and didn’t think the car was all that great (though clearly Hyundai is way better now since I’ve since owned two.)
I did buy a Hyundai at a different dealership in 2013 and 2018 and that experience was a whole lot less… That. Actually genuinely liked the guy I wound up buying from (and not because he was much closer to my actual tastes, he was just pretty decent all around.)
Meh, my experience at a Ft.Lauderdale Kia dealer about 6 months ago wasn’t too bad but I’m probably an edge case. I knew the exact car I wanted (last new ’24 Forte GT2 they had in stock) had financing arranged in advance and my trade was long ago paid off. They had to get my car out of the showroom (despite my having set a test drive up well in advance; plus, why did they still have a discontinued 2024 model in the showroom in the first place?) and we went back and forth on my trade some. F&I didn’t push too hard on the various extended warranties and service plans. The sales guy looked at me like I’d just beamed down from Jupiter when I was adding the new car to my insurance over the Progressive app while sitting at his desk… I get the feeling that their usual clientele might be a bit life-skills challenged. The real downside was how long it all took (4+ hours) despite having all my ducks firmly in a row before ever setting foot in the dealership. I can’t even imagine what a hassle it would have been if I’d walked in clueless and unprepared like I assume 90% of buyers do.
About the only thing missing here is a limited edition with a V8.
I read all the way to the penultimate photo, and went…. there it is that unmistakable design low self-esteem. A Range Rover for the masses.
Serious question: If this thing is going to be $80k in higher trims, why would you not consider a Defender 130?
The Land Rover dealer won’t treat you like you have bad credit.
The top-level trim starts at $56,000, but the author said that it feels like an $80,000 vehicle. Lot of daylight between those 2 numbers.
Yes, but it’s not just the price. Such different crowds. The Defender is a niche lifestyle vehicle, probably driven mostly by wealthy/aspiring men, around the coasts where the dealers are. A Palisade is a sensible family vehicle for sensible people, who nonetheless have been convinced that they deserve to be pampered.
I did check, and was pleased to see that at least the 130 gets the 3 liter even in base version, which starts at 73k.
I tend to see more women than men in Land Rovers around LA, and their vibe is “aspiring to be seen as wealthy”. The few authentically wealthy people I know seem to prefer Land Cruisers.
Its time for Stellantis to step up and bring back the Grand Caravan for the budget friendly families and the Pacifica give it a proper interior to compete with these “high class” SUVs. GM alone has like 3 flavors of the same SUV.
For some reason automakers are not putting enough effort for the minivan segment to make them more attractive.
For this particular vehicle, handsome interior but that current powertrain meh, hybrid should be the standard now, thats why people keep buying Toyotas.
What’s the killer feature on a minivan? The sliding door? They’re not much roomier.. I’d love a sliding door on an SUV.
Seating position even on the third row with plenty of space that can fit adults, Stow and Go, sliding doors, better MPG, bigger trunk. I am still surprised how easily we were able to fit 2 adults, 3 kids, 2 dogs with a week worth of luggage and christmas gifts without using the roof or the hitch.
I disagree, although my minivan experience is a couple of decades back so it might be a bit different now. The minivan was way more roomy and airy feeling, at least as I remember it, than sitting in a modern large SUV.
In a minivan, the lower floor pan plus similar roof height combined with the shorter hood plus similar overall length absolutely translate into roominess and carrying capacity, particularly in and behind the third row.
They are much roomier. Try packing anything behind the third row of a crossover; it’s miserable. In a minivan you can fit an entire string quartet, two parents, and all the instruments with ease.
I still remember the days you could get one of these new for $30k. And even then, if you could get over the badge, it was an impressive package.
I do like the styling. A little unfortunate the much less premium Nissan Kicks got the stacked rectangular LED look first, but what can you do.
What’s the deal with the front badge? From the press photos, it looks like a white vinyl. Does it light up during driving, or does it look like it can get immediately peeled off?
My parents bought a GMC Safari in 1987 that noticeably exhibited this behavior. From a stop, 10% throttle and 80% throttle were essentially the same thing. It was annoying because you really needed to pay attention to how you modulated the pedal in a RWD van with a light back end and one-wheel drive in the rain, much less snow.
I wouldn’t say that a lack of access to fast and reliable charging stations is holding back electrification. Primarily, because the cost per mile when charging at a retail charging station tends to be higher than the cost per mile of driving an ICE equivalent. All the fast, reliable chargers in the world won’t fix that issue. Plus, I think current public charger utilization is around 16%, which indicates there isn’t a lot of need for more chargers.
BEVs only really make sense when you charge at home. The bigger issue is that 30-40% of people don’t have access to garage parking where they can charge at residential rates.
That front end though…. woof.
I am a big fan of many of the last 6-8 years of Korean car designs but now I think the Hyundai/Kia designers are getting high on their own supply.
My first reaction was that the front end looked like it was designed by Gillette or Harry’s for their new 7 blade razor. Maybe it is better in person but that is not an attractive front end.
Strange, it feels to me like they’re coming down from their high of the past 6-8 years.
That interior is beautiful. It really, really, hurts to see that lower screen below the buttons by the infotainment. They were so close to a 100/100 from what these photos show. Those buttons bring it down to a 70/100 just because its been clear people do not want that, and it does so much damage to such a nice interior.
If you showed photos of the interior of a lux-o-barge from 10 years ago, there is no difference.
Surprised they haven’t released the hybrid first.. It’s like Mazda releasing the new CX-5 on the ancient powertrains and waiting a year before the hybrid.
Means all the initial press will be like this one, where the cars are called slow, noisy, and not particularly efficient.
I’d still take a CX-90 over this.
It’s not too unusual, Palisades have been selling better and better with the same V6 and most of the volume still are fuelish nonhybrids. Hyundai also had all the hybrid specs ready pretty much out of the gate including estimated MPG, so it was known to be coming.
Compared to the CX-5 situation, hybrids are the norm in its segment now and Mazda was typically coy about the specs, just saying “it’s coming 🙂 at some point :)”
I’m glad we bought a CX-90 rather than wait for this. That engine choice is a head scratcher.