Do the 2020 Hyundai Palisade’s Cupholders Hold Water? We Test ’Em Out

To paraphrase Yoda: So-and-so torque at such-and-such rpm? Heh. Zero-to-60-mph time? Heh. A family-SUV shopper craves not these things. With all the news about performance luminaries such as the 2020 Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and Toyota GR Supra dominating headlines of late, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that most people don’t actually buy these cars, let alone care what a gear ratio is. But they do buy practical people haulers like the equally attention-grabbing 2020 Hyundai Palisade — and they certainly care about quotidian concerns like, say, cupholders.

Related: 10 Biggest News Stories of the Month: Hyundai Palisade, Kia Telluride Outrun Corvette

Our editors were split roughly down the middle on the general utility of the otherwise well-liked Palisade’s beverage receptacles, but there’s no denying that those push-button retractable cupholders in the all-new large SUV’s front-seat center console are pretty cool.

Push back the sliding console cover to reveal a handy storage bin that houses both the wireless charging pad for your smartphone, as well as just the right amount of storage space for tossing those varied little items you need to keep track of while driving: phone charger, parking garage ticket, tollbooth change, vape pen, whatever.

But maybe it’s Free Slurpee Day at 7-Eleven, or you just got a Pink Drink at the drive-thru Starbucks and have to be on your way. All you gotta do is shove your storage-bin flotsam and jetsam aside, push one or both of the nearby release buttons, and click! The circular cupholder springs out of hiding quickly and rotates into place with a decisive, switchblade-like snap. Need that space instead for expired-meter citations or CDs (I mean, maybe, right?)? Just rotate those cupholders back into the hidden position until you feel that satisfying click. (Watch the video above for a demonstration.)

It’s clever little deets like this that demonstrate how automakers are maximizing use of space while still providing the common-sense conveniences you expect in modern cars … which made it all the more puzzling to some Cars.com editors to find the Palisade’s cupholder game to be lacking in consistency.

Those retractable cupholders are neat and all, but they’re not exactly one-size-fits-all. Drinking your morning coffee on the way to work in a standard-size travel mug? It should fit fine. But if you’re toting along your bottle of Beverly Hills 9OH2O on your way to hike Runyon Canyon, that bottle’s gonna fall forward and tip back and roll annoyingly around the perimeter of the cupholder every time you hit the gas or brakes (a curious oversight for a car model named after an exclusive neighborhood in a city where bottled water is a fashion statement).

More From Cars.com:

• 2020 Hyundai Palisade First Drive: Same, Same, But Better?
• 2020 Hyundai Palisade Video: A Clean, Modern, Comfortable Ride
• 2020 Hyundai Palisade: Everything You Need to Know
• 2020 Hyundai Palisade: Priced to Take on Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander
• 2020 Kia Telluride: 6 Things We Like (and 2 Not So Much)

Second-row passengers, on the other hand, have a nice little setup back there. On each occupant’s door are a pair of different-sized cupholders, one large enough in diameter for that travel mug and the other a tight enough fit for something skinnier, both adequately deep. There’s also an in-door receptacle beneath the second-row passengers’ armrest that can accommodate a bottled water or maybe even an old-timey glass bottle of RC Cola. The otherwise accommodating third row, meanwhile, has a small, bow-tie-shaped storage space that could hold a slender bottle, but is probably intended more as a place for wayback riders to stash their phones between Instagram Story updates.

Cars.com’s Editorial department is your source for automotive news and reviews. In line with Cars.com’s long-standing ethics policy, editors and reviewers don’t accept gifts or free trips from automakers. The Editorial department is independent of Cars.com’s advertising, sales and sponsored content departments.