Here’s the short version:
Just about everything that you’d pay $60-something for from Europe is yours from Hyundai for less than 50 thousand.
Yes…much like their corporate cousins over at KIA, the folks at Hyundai have a new baby…their biggest three-row SUV yet…and they’ve packed with most everything that anyone might possibly want…and brought it over here with a list price of $47,605.
Now high $40’s is about ten thousand over the average vehicle price these days, but Hyundai’s new Palisade has maybe $15 - $20,000 more content than today’s average vehicle.
And let me stop right there, as we tested the top-of-the-line “Limited” version…with all-wheel-drive and almost every luxury feature that one might want.
Drop a little content and you can pick up one of these in the low to mid $30’s.
And here’s what you’ll get:
Three rather comfortable rows seating either 7 or 8 depending on whether you go with a second-row bench or captain’s chairs, an eager 3.8 liter, 291 HP V-6 and an 8-speed automatic able to tow up to 5,000 lbs and getting 19 – 26 MPG while doing so. AWD will shave two MPGs off your highway numbers, but shouldn’t cost you anything in the city.
You’ll also have 18” alloys, Apple and Android connectivity, forward collision-assist and pedestrian detection. All for a window sticker in the low $30’s.
From there you can step up in increments of 2 or 3 thousand and add your “must-haves”.
Our Limited, as you might expect, had 20” alloys, heated and ventilated Nappa leather first and second rows, dual sunroofs, heated steering, Harman Kardon premium audio, a larger 10.25 “ screen, power folding and reclining third row, wireless charging, auto high-beams, a heads-up display, all of today’s warnings and driver alerts, and even had self-leveling rear suspension, trailer-towing pre-wiring, sway control and a transmission cooler.
One more plus? Hyundai’s Driver Talk and Quite Mode…allowing the driver to easily talk to those in the third row…or to mute the sound and allow the third row passengers to nap while the front two rows listen to music.
Hyundai also has what they call “safe exit”…giving you an alert if the vehicle’s radar senses a vehicle coming up rapidly from behind while you’re parked and unloading.
Compared to a Chevy Tahoe, for example, Hyundai’s Palisade is about eight inches shorter and three inches more narrow. That doesn’t sound like much, but for a comfortable three-row SUV, the Palisade is surprisingly easy to maneuver around town and while parking.
If you used to think of Hyundai primarily as a value proposition, they’re much more than that today. Comfort, capability, space, luxury, performance or tech…it’s all there for you in Hyundai’s new Palisade.
