Three-row SUVs have replaced the station wagon as the ultimate family vehicle. However, some models that call themselves seven-seaters soon become redundant once the youngest offspring grow legs. Then there’s the issue of limited boot space when they’re being used as a bus.
Enter theHyundai Palisade, the Korean’s car-maker’s biggest SUV to date, which brings everything good about the popular Hyundai Santa Fe but in a longer, roomier package that can seat up to eight people, including three down the back.
We jumped into the mid-priced Palisade Elite seven-seater with the 2.2-litre diesel all-wheel-drive powertrain to see if this American-centric SUV is worth the additional cost and parking space.
Pricing and ownership
47The Palisade consists of three spec grades, the eponymous Palisade, Palisade Elite and Palisade Highlander, with each costing about $8000 more than their Santa Fe counterpart.
As with the Santa Fe, each Palisade variant comes with a choice of V6 petrol with front-wheel drive or a four-cylinder turbo-diesel with AWD. You also get the option of seven or eight seats, the seven-seaters coming with two fancy captain’s chairs in the middle row for the same price.
Retail pricing starts at $55,000 before on-road costs for the entry-level 3.8-litre V6 petrol Palisade, with the AWD diesel powertrain attracting a $4000 premium.
47The Elite, which joined the local Palisade range in August 2021, starts at $61,500 for the V6 petrol, with the diesel priced from $65,500 before selecting options such as premium paint ($695) while the range-topping petrol and diesel Highlander variants are priced from $71,000 and $75,000 respectively, which means they attract the Luxury Car Tax (prices before on-road costs).
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