As far as cars designed to do family stuff go, nothing beats a minivan. They’re the supercars of parenthood, designed from their sliding doors to their flip-and-fold seats to make your life easier. But what if they just don’t fit your needs? What if you require something that can tow a little bit more, something with a little more ground clearance for those canoe trips, or just can’t convince your partner that sliding doors are cool? You’re probably going to want a large crossover, and you’ll probably want it to be a hybrid. Well, there’s a new cat in town worthy of your consideration: The 2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid.
Of course, even though the Palisade Hybrid promises more power and efficiency than a regular Palisade, it still has some serious competition. For the people who subscribe to Consumer Reports, there’s the seriously roomy Toyota Grand Highlander. For those who want to plug in at home, there’s the Mazda CX-90 PHEV. Oh, and let’s not rule out the Palisade’s little brother, the impressive Santa Fe Hybrid. Still, the Palisade Hybrid is a bit of a different breed. Actually, it might be the sweet spot in the segment. Let’s dig in.
[Full disclosure: Hyundai Canada brought this Palisade Hybrid to the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada’s TestFest, lodging and fuel were provided through the Association.]
The Basics
Engine: 2.5-liter turbocharged 16-valve inline-four.
Battery Pack: Lithium-ion, 1.65 kWh, 300 volts.
Transmission: Six-speed automatic with dual electric motor/generators.
Drive: Standard front-wheel-drive on U.S. models, full-time mechanical all-wheel-drive optional on U.S. models and standard on Canadian models.
Combined Output: 329 horsepower at 5,800 RPM, 339 lb.-ft. of torque from 1,800 to 4,500 RPM.
Fuel Economy: 31, 32, 31 on other front-wheel-drive models, 29 MPG city, 30 MPG highway, 29 MPG combined (8.3 L/100km city, 7.9 L/100km highway, 8.1 L/100km combined) on all-wheel-drive models.
Body Style: Large crossover utility vehicle.
Base Price: $41,920 including freight ($62,599 in Canada)
Price As-Tested: $60,380 ($67,699 in Canada)
Why Does It Exist?
It’s been ages since the three-row crossover largely replaced the minivan as the de facto large family car, and while these machines aren’t as practical as their slightly gawky sliding-door predecessors, it’s easy to see why people love them. They meld all-wheel-drive grip with big space and fuel economy more in line with a large sedan than an SUV. The next frontier? Hybridization. Toyota already makes the Grand Highlander Hybrid, Mazda will sell you a CX-90 plug-in hybrid, and so the Hyundai Palisade Hybrid makes perfect sense.
How Does It Look?
Although the old Hyundai Palisade was about 20 percent grille-by-volume, the second-generation model introduces some much-desired restraint. Fewer textures and fewer character lines all add up to a design with more impact, even if it still has some polarizing statement pieces. The metallic frosted daytime running light lenses look like the di-noc seen on the occasional clay model, almost like the car isn’t quite finished. It’s an odd choice, but it does disguise the real headlight elements well, especially with the Palisade Hybrid specced in this dark blue paint finish.
What About The Interior?
Stepping inside the Palisade Hybrid, you’re greeted by a cabin unlike anything else in the segment. From the dashboard to the door trims to the console, Hyundai’s designers have gone with sweeping forms, broad curves, and on this top-trim, loads of light wood. It’s all very mid-century modern, a general aesthetic that’s simultaneously on-trend and timeless. Those who love it will adore it, and those who don’t will still have to concede that it all feels nicely made. It’s a cockpit rich with stitched textiles and soft-touch surfaces, and there’s plenty of space in all three rows for the entire family.
There are clever touches, too. Not only are the backs of the front seats molded in plastic, so are the seatback pockets. That means when your kids stuff toys or homework or discarded food wrappers in there, they won’t stretch out or stain like fabric would. At the same time, USB-C charging ports in the backs of the seats are just smart, and the aisle between the second row captain’s chairs is wide enough for adults. Add in cargo area remote releases for folding the second-row seats, and it feels like Hyundai put some serious thought into the new Palisade Hybrid.
How Does It Drive?
The V6-powered Hyundai Palisade isn’t quick. That might sound like a ridiculous complaint, but load the thing up with you, your partner, your two teenage children, and two of their friends, and suddenly you’re saddling a crossover with half a ton of human payload. Going up big hills? You’re gonna get some kickdowns. That’s where the Palisade Hybrid suddenly becomes more interesting. Under the hood sits the same sort of turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-four found in the Santa Cruz trucklet, hitched to a six-speed automatic transaxle with integrated electric motors. Obviously, an extra 42 horsepower over the V6 is appreciated, but the big gain here is an 81 lb.-ft. higher torque peak that hits as low as 1,800 RPM versus the V6’s peaky 5,000 RPM torque peak. Yep, that’s a huge difference.
The hybrid transaxle may lose two gears to the V6’s eight-speed automatic, but torque is so abundant that the Palisade Hybrid rarely kicks down a gear to maintain speed up an incline. Plus, all that torque keeps engine speeds low, so the cabin’s truly library quiet. Normally, this sort of power gain comes with a hit to fuel economy, but because the Palisade Hybrid leans on electric torque and can glide along on silent drive, you’re looking at 29 combined MPG on all-wheel-drive models. That’s a 45 percent improvement over the V6.
Of course, quiet is luxury but comfort is also luxury. We’re talking top-notch ride quality, almost as if the Palisade Hybrid scans the bumpy road ahead, then sends out an army of nanobots to fix it and then return it to its craggy state once you’ve driven over it. Bumps? What bumps? Superb. As for the rest of the driving experience, the steering blends relative lightness with a great sense of straight-ahead, and the somewhat soft brake pedal lets blunt-footed drivers make chauffeur-smooth stops. No risk of carsickness on the off-white leather here.
Does It Have The Electronic Crap I Want?
More than you could ever want. Like most recent Hyundai models, the Palisade Hybrid features dual 12.3-inch displays under a single pane of glass, one for your gauges and one touch-enabled for your infotainment. Light, fluid, easy to navigate, and equipped with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, you’re looking at the benchmark tech experience in the three-row crossover segment. At the same time, you don’t have to go through the screens to do everything. There are still rotary knobs and buttons for key climate control and stereo functions, although secondary climate functions including controls for the heated and ventilated front seats are on a separate touchscreen.
Speaking of seats, certain models with captain’s chairs treat the second-row occupants to heated and ventilated thrones and the third-row occupants to heated seats, an uncommon touch in this segment. Oh, and then there are all the other toys. An intercom to talk to passengers in the wayback, a 360-degree camera system, a supplementary resistance heater for near-instant cold-weather heat, blind spot cameras, and a full suite of well-developed advanced driver assistance systems. Oh, and it’s also worth mentioning the shockingly good 14-speaker Bose audio system, no doubt aided by the Palisade Hybrid’s low noise floor.
Three Things To Know About The 2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid
- The hybrid powertrain offers huge increases in power and fuel economy.
- It’s luxury-car quiet out on the road.
- You can get it either as an eight-seater or a seven-seater.
Does The 2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid Fulfil Its Purpose?
Absolutely. Hyundai’s three-row crossover was already a great pick, and the Palisade Hybrid takes things to the next level with more torque, more smoothness, better economy, and a quieter drive, while maintaining the ease 87-octane fill-ups gives to your wallet. The only tradeoff? Maximum towing capacity falls from 5,000 pounds to 4,000 pounds when you tick the box for the hybrid powertrain. For most buyers, that won’t be an issue. Sure, the new Palisade Hybrid isn’t exactly an inexpensive car, but you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth and then some from it. There are crossovers from luxury brands out there that don’t offer an experience this luxurious, and I’d absolutely recommend a loaded Palisade Hybrid over something like a four-cylinder Mercedes-Benz GLE.
If you’re looking for a little extra power and towing capacity, the Toyota Grand Highlander with its available top-spec 362-horsepower HybridMax powertrain can out-pull the Palisade Hybrid by 1,000 pounds, but there are whiffs of cheapness to Toyota’s big three-row that you won’t find in the Hyundai. At the same time, while the Mazda CX-90 PHEV feels upscale and can be plugged in and run around town on electric power alone, it doesn’t offer the same third-row space or comfort as the Palisade Hybrid, or quite the same array of toys. As for the Santa Fe Hybrid, it’s still brilliant, but it just doesn’t offer as much sheer space as its big brother. With the Palisade Hybrid, it feels like Hyundai’s landed a bull’s eye and made a great crossover even better.
What’s The Punctum Of The 2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid?
Electrification makes the 2026 Hyundai Palisade Hybrid better with almost no downside.
Top graphic image: Thomas Hundal
No mention of the factory dash cam? I don’t recall if it’s standard or optional.
I generally like the styling of modern-day Hyundai/Kia products, but front end of this is hideous and I didn’t like the interior styling much better. And a 1.65 kWh battery is not going to last long going uphill. OTOH, I am so far from needing something this big. My ex and I had a three-row MDX and used the third row exactly once in four years. I get that there are some people who can make a use case for this, but not me.
Unfortunately, lack of reliability is H/K’s thing that even the most blanketing marketing campaign in the United States will not overcome.
I think concerns about their reliability is a holdover from their early days. If you search for “Hyundai reliability,” the results show dramatic improvement.
Everybody I know with a H/K vehicle has oil consumption issues. Including a (1) year old Telluride.
That’s all well and good but re: the article about the blinding headlights and the IIHS study, these have become the bane of my existence as a low-to-the-ground (in comparison) sedan driver.
One approached me at an intersection recently at dusk, and I could no longer see the stoplight to tell when I could go.
The US birth rate is 1.6 births/woman. Who really needs 7 seats in a $40k-$60K crossover? I get wanting stuff space but the back seats take away space. It is really just “what if” or perception, like wanting a 10,000 towing capacity truck when you never tow anything?
Yes. It truly is.
Kids have friends. If you’ve got one, you’re often carting around several because you’re driving around their friends too – and the other parents are doing the same. The little buggers travel in packs.
That’s average but there will always be families with 4+ kids. There may be fewer of them than before, however it’s not crazy for an automaker to chase a niche demographic. That said, the more interesting question is how many kids does the average Palisade owner have? Assuming it’s closer to 1.6 than 4+, I agree with your point about people buying vehicles with more capability than they need.
Yes, 3 row crossovers do not seem niche anymore and there are always full size vans. Yes I agree there are not loads of people with 4+ Kids that can afford a $60K crossover.
Even then, safety-conscious families aren’t buying full-size vans, which don’t need to get crash-tested.
The use case is ferrying kids with friends to and from sports
Our two Outlanders with the third-row are perfect because our kids are not psychopaths yet and have friends. Ya don’t need a flippin’ $100,000 SUV or even this fuglier than fugly prone to fail early SUV.
My brother went from a highlander to a palisade in 2023. He’s been less than impressed with the car as a whole but he’s especially been upset about the dealer experience. Basically the dealerships suck, and when you own a hyundai, you’re going to be there fairly often. It’s been mostly electrical problems. He’s not a car person and I tried to explain to him that a hyundai is not a toyota but you can only do so much.
I have a low-mileage 2018 Kia Sedona that I bought used (was a 1-owner specimen) and I like the van, but a recent experience with a shady Kia dealer has soured me on the entire vehicle. Damn, I had always heard some stories but I didn’t realize they were *this* bad…
Counterpoint: we have a Hyundai and a Toyota and have had the exact opposite experience. Our Toyota has all kinds of problems.
Not gonna say it can’t happen. That would be the exception and not the rule though. Of of curiosity, which models are they?
2021 Highlander Hybrid AWD LE and 2024 Hyundai Ioniq5.
Yeah, we had the same counter-experience. We were inches from signing the contract on a new ’22 Rav-4 for my wife. The sales guy was unknowledgable, and kept lurking away to sneak hits from his vape pen while we looked at the car.
Whatever, I’m not adopting a salesperson, and I know what we needed. Then he told us the color we wanted was impossible to get in the Chicago area…but we were able to easily find it at a competitor 30 minutes away. Again, not a big deal cause my wife was in a crunch and she was fine with an alternative color. Then they brought out the contract, and there was over $2k in additional charges for dealer installed amenities. We told them we didn’t wan’t any of that stuff installed, but they refused to budge…so we walked.
Went to a neighboring Hyundai dealer and discovered the redesigned Tuscon that had just been released. I’m not gonna say that dealer was all rainbows and unicorns. Car dealer’s gonna deal. But it was way better than the Toyota experience. And my wife likes the Tuscon way more than the Rav-4. The safety features are better (particularly the side mirror cameras that are triggered when the turn signals come on); and 45,000 miles in we’re still pretty happy.
I feel the need to note that the dealership does play in strongly to reliability.
Which means that Hyundai needs to crack down HARD on their service departments, but also that the cars are generally reliable. I know of a few people with different brands whose cars suddenly got more reliable when they changed who serviced them.
My family and I have owned many H/K products over the years. A ’96 Sephia, an ’04 Rio and Sedona, a ’12 Sonata Hybrid, a ’12 Accent and a ’17 Tucson.
We could see he powertrain quality slipping with the GDI engines and then the ’17 Tucson loved to drink the oil.
We left and never will come back.
These 3 row SUVs are the perfect segment for hybridization. No one is buying these to be sporty, go rock crawling or for great engine noises so let’s just make them as efficient and low maintenance as possible. This and the Telluride will be big segment leaders but the Grand Highlander is still the one to get.
I’m really impressed with the outside and inside styling, and 29 mpg combined with 300+ HP is great!
My dad’s interested in getting a top-spec hybrid to replace my mom’s old Hyundai Santa Fe Sport. I’m really not a fan of how that car rides and drives, so I’m hoping the powertrain, interior materials/quietness and ride quality of the Calligraphy Hybrid are all they’re cracked up to be.
I love my 2023 Palisade, my biggest complaint is that there was no hybrid when I bought it. I have the 8 passenger configuration and it is very capable. I will agree it is no speed demon but the sport mode does seem to offer better off the line response then the leisurely eco mode.
I can get almost 30 mpg when using eco and driving carefully on the highway, but the average is 21 MPG over the entirety of my driving so an 8 mpg increase would be pretty good. If they keep the 17 gallon gas tank, I would get 493 miles vs my current 357 a 40% increase. That is 10 less fill ups a year and would save me $500
Give me that saleen xp8 from the other day.
I just can’t get past that front end. Maybe if they did the lighting lenses in amber like God intended it would look better. As it is, it looks like a 60k box with shiny reflective 3m sticky tape like I use on my rural mailbox stuck on the front corners.
Preach! Front end in real life is real bad. Makes the Lexus spindle grilles look bearable.
Yeah, I kept thinking the front end looked like the silver reflective fabric on high-visibility clothing, which is definitely not a compliment.
You know what would make this perfect? Sliding doors. Seriously, this is exactly what my wife wants (all wheel drive, good looks to her, good mpg), and all I want is sliding doors for ease of use. If I am going to be fitting in 7-8 people, at least the doors should make it easier. I know there are options out there, and we liked the Carnival when we rented it, but this looks better to us, but doesn’t have the doors and with car seats going in and out, that’s a very useful thing.
Get a Pacifica and a lift kit for it. https://www.journeysoffroad.com/chrysler-pacifica.html
or a Sennia https://www.journeysoffroad.com/siennaawd.html
Yes, but that is where it comes back to looks. We have an Odyssey, which is great and does everything we need or want, but for looks, my wife prefers the look here. But I am all for another van once we are done with this one.
I’ve been keeping my eye on the family-hauler space for over two years now. I had some bigger repairs after some really inconvenient reliability issues for my wife driving the Mazda5, and I figured the clock was ticking.
But once I got everything fixed, it’s been running like a top and I haven’t found an alternative that’s appealing enough to want to replace it.
Then a few weeks ago it developed some really concerning engine vibrations and I thought it might finally be time. But new engine mounts and a replacement exhaust hanger has it driving better than ever.
Everything out there is just too damn much money and too damn complex for features I don’t really care for. I don’t like power doors or liftgates, I don’t want a big glitchy infotainment system, I like having mechanical simplicity under the hood. And I’m definitely not paying $60k for a tool that doesn’t fit my needs as well as what I already have. At this rate I’ll probably have the 5 for another 60k miles and hopefully 150k more.
Which, considering the operating costs, I like the idea of more and more, even if it needs the occasional big repair.
This is the way. I’m going to be repairing our current cars. All the tech in today’s cars is going to start failing spectacularly, as planned obsolescence is built in by design. This is okay(ish) for mobile phones, not $60k family haulers.
I can’t decide if I like the interior or exterior styling. But I applaud Hyundai for doing something unique. I’ll hold my overall judgement on these until I actually experience one in person.
The previous generation was a massive letdown in person compared to all the internet and media praise it garnered.
2 motor hybrids don’t need a conventional automatic or a turbo. Part of the great things about hybrids is the mechanical simplicity and reduced maintenance.
Bingo. I’m skeptical enough of Hyundai’s powertrain reliability – I don’t want more complexity. the Toyota standard hybrid is so appealing precisely because it drops the conventional transmission and foregoes turbocharging.
I recall sitting in the last gen Palisade and thinking that it looked nice, but the moment I touched something that appeared to be high quality, it came across as thin and/or flimsy. The leather on the door armrests could not have been any thinner or they would have been translucent. I’d rather get a Toyota interior that looks cheap but feels solid. I hope I get to sit in a new Palisade to see if the story is the same
I had the same experience. I was incredibly disappointed by the last gen’s interior in person. I’m very curious to experience this new one to see if it is also just a picture performer.
At what point does a crossover stop being a crossover and start being an SUV?
When it is body on frame and built on a truck platform.
I’m not very convinced by BOF vs Unibody being a dividing line when deciding whether or not something is a truck or SUV vs something else. As far as I can tell that argument was only invented 20 years ago to come up with a reason the Honda Ridgeline wasn’t a “real truck”.
Yeah, the Jeep Cherokee XJ was unibody and anyone wanting to argue its’ off-road SUV bona fides will have to fight one of the editors of this siite…
The XJ didn’t share a unibody with a car platform. It also wasn’t FWD and had traditional live axles instead of independent suspension. Also 4wd with low range and locking hubs.
It is the odd one out though. The exception to the rule.
Also the ZJ Grand Cherokee.
This distinction goes back way farther than the Ridgeline. Per my memory it started in the 90’s with a new range of “SUVs” that didn’t have anything in common with traditional SUVs. Vehicles like the RAV4 (1994), CR-V (1995), Escape (2001) Equinox (2005)
Per KIA:
“The key difference is an SUV is a body-on-frame built on a truck chassis, while a crossover or CUV, is a unibody frame constructed on a car chassis.”
They go on to talk about 2WD version of CUVs being FWD while SUVs are RWD.
Many years ago when there were actual magazines. There use to be 4×4 magazines that had best truck and best SUV or 4×4 of the year awards and competitions. It got really hard to decide what to include. they messed with criteria like low range t case, ride hight, approach and departure angles, and other stuff.
Typo alert: “Palidsade” in the top graphic.
Pallid is how you’ll look after seeing the price tag. And Hyundai dealerships sometimes feel like torture chambers the Marquis de Sade could only dream of.
I like the look, like the interior, do not like the price….but a Toyota still makes more sense to me. Depreciation on Hyundais is more rapid, making any savings (hah!) pretty much a moot point.
Of course, in our neck of the woods, Highlanders are prized by car thieves, and sometimes aren’t there when you go to get them in the morning. There’s a downside to that too.
Hyundai BAD! Hyundai UNRELIABLE! BUY THE TOYOTA OR YOU’RE A STUPID DUMB IDIOT! Any attempt at styling after the year 2010 is a DISGRACE! Only IDIOTS or people with BAD CREDIT buy Korean!
I think I got most of our curmudgeon bases covered but I know this comment section will continue be flooded with people just spewing piss and vinegar because someone said nice things about a Korean car and we simply cannot have that around these parts. Anyway while this loaded the gills example is too expensive Hyundai usually does a good job of having a trim below the top one that has basically all of the good stuff aside from some electronic shit you don’t really need.
These will also have money on their hoods sooner rather than later and Hyundai will subsidize financing so you’ll get 0-2.9% APR which is a great deal in this day and age…not to mention the interior is still loaded with actual buttons knobs and switches. I get that the styling is widely reviled among enthusiasts but normies like it because I already see the new Palisade everywhere. I personally think they look fine to maybe even decent in person.
If you go easy on the options I think these are a great buy. Despite me defending Hyundai I do have some reservations about longevity though. This is a brand new powertrain that combines a lot of complex parts. I’d trust a Japanese equivalent to last 10 years and I’m not sure that I’d trust one of these to do the same. If you solely care about longevity, as many folks online claim to, the NA V6 is almost certainly a better bet.
At the end of the day it comes down to what you prioritize. Usually I’d say just go Japanese and don’t think twice but I don’t know that I would in this case. You are not leaving a Toyota dealership in a hybrid hauler without paying a markup and Toyota’s in house financing is god awful. The Korean residuals are still worse, but the initial cost delta is probably going to flirt with 5 figures off the bat and the difference between 1.9% APR and 6% APR really adds up.
You have to decide if paying that much more is worth it. If you don’t care about cars that much, cost isn’t a big issue, and all that matters to you is carefree ownership than the Toyota equivalent is a better choice. If you find the lower cost of entry and financing appealing and you’re willing to put up with some potential headaches then this is enticing.
It’s also worth noting that the interiors and tech in the current Hyundai crossovers are way better than the equivalent Toyotas and Hondas. I’ve been in a moderately spec’d Santa Fe and it ran circles around the current CRV and RAV4 on that front. But I can’t speak for what it’ll feel like in 5-10 years.
The Palisade hits all of our family wants/needs out of our next car, except for two: a luxury brand and proven mechanical reliability.
That said, I’m wondering exactly how long it will take for me to get used to post-pandemic pricing. $30+k for our mid-spec VW Tiguan back in 2022 was a bit on the high side but somewhat reasonable, I thought. But that segment of the market appears to be growing smaller and smaller with each passing year.
I mean this would be perfect for my wife’s next car but her family only buys Japanese cars and she’s intent on doing the same. I’m going to be a bit salty when we wind up paying $65,000 for a fucking Highlander but what can you do…
I was straight Grand Highlander/Sienna myself until 1) I actually tried to buy one and Toyota dealers are less than helpful and 2) even the Hybrid Max Platinum is missing some features the Palisade has that we like.
I’ve also read the hybrid Highlander is loud when the gas engine is on, which as the owner of a Toyota hybrid, I don’t really look forward to hearing that buzzy four-cylinder in my $60k version during a road trip. On the flip side, every review of the Palisade I’ve read compares it more with Lexus than Toyota for things like that.
The Hyundai does have a long warranty….in theory…if the dealers are willing to help you use it. I don’t get a great vibe from the Hyundai dealer down the street, but if I am being honest, I don’t want to rely on the local Toyota dealer for warranty support either.
But it seems like Grand Highlander (and Sienna) availability is getting a bit better these days. Guess the line of people with $55-65k for a new Toyota is finally winding down? Or maybe the Palisade is stealing some demand?
The Nissan Pathfinder and Subaru Ascent are both Japanese (the companies are, anyway). True, neither are hybrids. But if reliability is a primary concern, then I think I would take the Pathfinder’s proven VQ engine & ZF transmission over the Hyundai. (I’ve heard less-good things about the Ascent’s reliability, but I’ll bet the resale value is decent if that sort of thing matters to you.)
In terms of luxury trimmings, the Nissan Armada is definitely a stronger entry than the Pathfinder, but the Armada is also a BOF behemoth.
Reliability, obviously. But my question, not sarcastically but curiously about a viewpoint that has not been mine, but is held by many other people: what makes “luxury brand” a necessity, a must-have? Yours would be only one anecdotal data point, but it would be more than I’ve got now.
Sorry to disappoint, but your search is going to have to continue. I probably should have written my comment more clearly, but luxury brand fell under “wants,” and not “needs.”
If you’re buying new or CPO, you still get the 10/100 powertrain warranty and the 5/60 bumper to bumper. Depreciation is something for 2035 You to worry about.
(The big warranty doesn’t carry over to a regular used purchase, which is one of the reasons for the depreciation. Honestly I’d need a pretty big discount to buy one used, but that’s what you tend to get.)
I don’t want any hybrid with this much complexity added (and that includes the Toyota Max system). But I also can’t bring myself to buy any of the NA V6’s knowing I can get very similar capability with 34 mpg.
I don’t really like the Highlander that much, and the Toyota tax is crazy, but every time I weigh it against any of the other semi-interesting hybrids out there I come back to the Toyota. Their hybrid is just that much better than all the other options.
I love the CX-90, there’s a lot to like about some of the 4xe Jeeps, the Kia/Hyundai hybrids have a lot going for them, etc. But it just seems like it’s a foregone conclusion that all of those are going to be spending at least some time at the dealer for warranty repair, then be a nightmare after 100k miles.
That said, I fixed a few things on my Mazda5 this weekend and it’s running better than ever, so it’s staying. I’ll spend the car payment money on travel and all the things I even want a fun family hauler for.
My local Toyota dealer doesn’t do markups as far as I know. The HiHy’s do have $1800 in added packages and accessories. But it’s at least kinda useful crap like all weather floor mats and a cargo cover. If you are going to pay regardless, might as well get some utility instead of buying the salesman a week of steak dinners.
When they inevitably drop this powertrain in the upcoming Telluride (with its somewhat more conventional styling), it’s going to print money.
The front grille was developed in partnership with the Gillette Labs™ and the Fusion 5 Razor™.
I do chuckle a bit when I see a white/very light interior on a ‘family hauler’, though I am aware not everyone who buys one has kids.
For $60,000 I’m just buying the Toyota, thanks.
I’m not even out of touch with the ridiculous pricing of modern new vehicles but having to say for 60k I’m just gonna buy the Toyota feels like such a hoof right in the junk. And I say this realizing that a base MSRP under 30k is what constitutes affordable today, and that’s basically a subcompact crossover or maybe Toyota Corolla or Hyundai Elentra. Also I know that the window sticker on even a basic work truck spec full-sizer is about 45k-ish. Patently absurd
Nothing about this design looks good to me. Inside and out, its quite bad. Add in the fact that Hyundai has been having so many quality issues over the years, no one is going to convince me to buy one. They seem to want to design their way out of their quality problems – restyle their vehicles every 2 years in the hopes that people will forget that their dealerships are quite shady and they have multiple engine families that need lots of repairs. Lipstick on a pig.
When my daughter’s youngest hit 4 years old, that Chrysler minivan was gone replaced by a Palisade. There’s no doubt these are a big hit with former Minivan Moms.
Its hideous, I’m sure it will sell well! Both the styling and this overworked turbo 4-banger wont last a decade; thankfully, as I wont have to have have my visual senses assaulted over multiple decades.
I’d be far more worried about the electronics than the ICE – a four cylinder turbo is pretty darned proven tech at this point (or at least it should be), and the electric motor and battery are going to be doing a lot of the heavy lifting, so “overworked” I don’t buy at all. At this point it really doesn’t matter how you make the horsepower – GM and Toyota managed to make what should be axe-simple V8s explodey today.
But realistically, who owns one of these things for a decade? That’s the third or fourth owner’s problem.
Agree that it’s hideous – but what isn’t at this point? It’s not as bad as many on the outside, and current same-old, same-old on the inside.
You make valid points. I was thinking along the lines of when the turbo lets go outside of warranty, most of these will probably end up a the junk yard.
No they won’t any more than people don’t fix blown transmissions in out of warranty cars and just junk them. They do, all the time. It’s just something that gets repaired, and turbos are relatively simple unbolt old, bolt on new (why people are so scared of them baffles me). It’s just a judgment call as to what condition the rest of the thing is as to whether you spend the money or not. And I think there are myriad things that are more likely to junk one of these than a turbo going – like that big-ass screen in the dash. Those are going to kill a LOT of cars. How long do you think you will be able to get replacements for those? At least mechanicals are generally shared across a large number of different models. And on a four cylinder in a relatively large vehicle you probably don’t need to remove the engine to replace a turbo so so it really shouldn’t be that big of a job. Probably lots easier than all manner of tasks on the formerly ubiquitous big V6 shoehorned in there.
Also notwithstanding poor maintenance (or Ford/GM Daewoo engineering) blowing a turbo in a modern car is almost unheard of. My dad’s V70 was junked at 247k on its original turbo because he let the timing belt go, not because of turbo failure.
Very much agreed, at least for “ordinary” cars. Ze German hur-dur nonsense you have to pay to play.
I have owned more than a dozen turbocharged cars and have never had a turbo issue.
The constant fearmongering over turbo engines is baffling to me. I mean sure, my dad used to say things like that in the 70’s, but in the 70’s it was a valid concern. But I don’t know anyone who has had a turbo fail in the last 20 years. Any mechanical issues they may have encountered were not related to the fact that the car had forced induction.
Even my dad, now well into his 80s, would not run away from a late-model turbo car on principle. This is a guy that bought a used Caddy with a Northstar, so it takes a lot more than that to scare him off.
To be fair, there are DEFINITELY some turbos that are notoriously explody. Early BMW N54s for example, though even there the problem is usually the integrated wastegates, not the turbos themselves (but you can’t replace one without the other). And sundry Audis <shudder>. But if you leave the poor things stock even on those engines they don’t really give much trouble – too many people give in to temptation though.
But I really can’t think of any on 4 cylinder engines that are particularly problematic. They are one more thing to go wrong, but they usually don’t. They certainly DO add to the heat Hellscape that is the under hood area of a tightly packaged modern car – TANSTAAFL. But on the other hand, they do actually deliver the goods of good power AND good economy, as long as you drive them correctly and don’t expect miracles. Used in anger, X horsepower will always require Y fuel, no matter how you make it.
Very good point. In my defense, I have had little experience with German cars ever since my uncle’s Audi 5000 became a shop queen that was notorious throughout our extended family.