Textual content by Tom Appel
2025 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy AWD
Specs
Class: Midsize Crossover
Nation of Manufacture: South Korea
Shade: Hyper White
Seating Capability: 6
Miles pushed: 188
Actual-world gas economic system: 19.9 mpg
| CG Report Card | |
|---|---|
| Room and Consolation | A |
| Energy and Efficiency | B |
| Match and End | A |
| Gasoline Economic system | B- |
| Worth | A- |
| Report-card grades are derived from a consensus of test-driver evaluations. All grades are versus different autos in the identical class. Worth grade is for particular trim degree evaluated, and will not replicate Shopper Information’s impressions of your entire mannequin lineup. | |
| Massive & Tall Consolation | |
| Massive Man | A |
| Tall Man | A |
| Massive & Tall consolation scores are for entrance seats solely. “Massive” score based mostly on male tester weighing roughly 350 kilos, “Tall” score based mostly on 6’6″-tall male tester. | |
| Drivetrain | |
| Engine Specs | 291-horsepower 3.8-liter |
| Engine Kind | V6 |
| Transmission | 8-speed computerized |
| Drive Wheels | AWD |
Driving combine: 65% metropolis, 35% freeway
EPA-estimated gas economic system: 19/24/21 (metropolis, freeway, mixed)
Gasoline kind: Common fuel
Base worth: $52,600 (not together with $1415 vacation spot cost)
Choices on check automobile: Particular paint ($470), ground mats ($215)
Value as examined: $54,700
Execs and Cons
The good: Luxurious for the worth, refined demeanor
The great: Ample passenger and cargo area, loads of energy
The not so good: Gasoline economic system trails competitors
Overview
Take a deep breath, and benefit from the pause. Turns on the market’s not a lot new for 2025, at the very least so far as the favored Hyundai Palisade is worried. The Korean maker’s largest crossover returns for ’25 that includes just a few tweaks, and a brand new ‘tweener” midline trim degree aimed on the coronary heart of the midsize crossover market.
The massive Palisade information comes for 2026. We’ll get to that in a second…
For 2024, the midsize crossover race completed on this order:
Jeep Grand Cherokee (216,000 models)
Ford Expedition (194,000)
Honda Pilot (141,000)
Hyundai Santa Fe (119,000)
Kia Telluride (115,000)
Hyundai Palisade (110,000)
For those who mix Toyota Highlander (89,685) and Grand Highlander gross sales, the online quantity would place these autos second on this record (161,000).
For those who take away the Grand Cherokee from this record—provided that it’s priced as a premium automobile—you find yourself with a tightly grouped pack of wonderful autos, all of which advantage shopper consideration. And despite the fact that the Palisade is due for replace within the close to future, we predict the current-generation crossover is effectively price a glance.
For 2025, the Palisade is obtainable in seven trim ranges, they’re: base SE ($38,215), value-oriented SEL ($40,965), off-road oriented XRT ($44,065), upscale Restricted ($49,615), premium Calligraphy ($52,015), and range-topping Calligraphy Evening Version ($55,515).
Added this 12 months is the SEL Premium ($45,565), which slots properly between the XRT and Restricted, and can doubtless show to be a preferred Palisade variant.
All Palisades include the identical 291-horsepower 3.8-liter V8 mated to an 8-speed computerized transmission. All trim ranges include front-wheel drive, and can be found with AWD, save for the Evening Version on which AWD is normal.
Be aware: Although uniquely styled, tuned, and priced, the Kia Telluride shares the Palisade’s primary structure and drivetrain. You possibly can learn our most-recent assessment of the Telluride right here.
Shopper Information just lately spent every week behind the wheel of an AWD 2025 Palisade in Hyper White. With vacation spot cost, our check truck got here to $54,700.
Because the Palisade got here onto the scene again in 2020 with its luxury-level cabin appointments, the makers of aggressive midsize crossovers have stepped up their inside design efforts. Take a look at the within of the 2025 Ford Explorer ST we simply reviewed.
And whereas the Palisade cabin is not startlingly plush, it’s nonetheless terribly plush, and wouldn’t disappoint in a automobile itemizing $30,000 increased. We discovered the contrasting black upholstery stitching particularly elegant.
In now-typical Korean style, the controls work effectively and fall readily at hand. Each Palisade comes with a 12.3-inch touchscreen—as a result of the precise measurement apparently issues—that’s properly positioned on the sprint. Touchscreen icons are simple to establish at a look, and the system responds instantly to the touch inputs. Local weather and drive-mode features are nonetheless manipulated by way of bodily switchgear positioned slightly below the display screen. All instructed, we discovered the final management format easy and simple to make use of.
The cabin itself is shiny, ethereal, and roomy, and the sense of area is enhanced considerably by our test-car’s Mild Beige trim scheme. This massive editor discovered getting into and exiting the Palisade simple sufficient, thanks partially to giant door openings. There’s additionally loads of grownup area within the first two seating rows.
Third-row lodging method the extent of grownup pleasant, although the way-back seats are greatest left to the most-nimble of your touring social gathering.
Underway the Palisade shines dynamically, and by way of refinement. The massive V6 serves up a lot of simple torque, making for relaxed cease and go driving. There’s additionally loads of energy for passing and merging. The engine additionally sounds refined in operation, and mutes virtually utterly in freeway driving. The Palisade powertrain isn’t particularly thrifty, although our noticed 20 mpg is consistent with the crossover’s EPA estimates.
Trip high quality is great, and consistent with the Calligraphy’s luxurious pretense, our check truck proved each exceptionally quiet and composed on longer freeway jaunts. It’s maybe the Palisade’s freeway demeanor that greatest defines it as an upscale crossover.
We don’t usually touch upon construct high quality, as so few check autos have dissatisfied us in latest reminiscence. Nonetheless, we have to level out how even and lustrous our check automotive’s paint was. Whereas we endure from white-car fatigue, the Palisade’s cooly iridescent paint offered effectively.
As we famous above, the Palisade can be redesigned for the 2026 mannequin 12 months, and is predicted to develop barely in most dimensions. We additionally anticipate the graceful V6 to get replaced by a regular turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. Additionally supplied can be hybrid variant that includes a drivetrain much like the hybrid setup discovered within the present Kia Carnival. Count on vital styling updates each inside and out of doors of the automobile, as effectively.
We’re massive followers of the Palisade, and it’s Kia cousin the Telluride. The Palisade—in higher trim ranges—serves up a genuinely premium expertise for what stay midsize costs. Be aware that, because the Hyundai Santa Fe noticed vital worth will increase when just lately redesigned, we anticipate the brand new Palisade to be likewise “worth adjusted.” For those who’re procuring now, we propose including the 2025 Palisade to your test-drive quick record. It’s unlikely the Palisade will ever this sturdy of a price once more.
Hearken to the Automotive Stuff Podcast
2025 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy Footage
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