Video: 2026 Hyundai Palisade First Drive: Sophomore Supremacy

And now for 2026, the Palisade is all new, and based on the specs and the updates, I think we are in for a serious treat, especially once I get my hands on the new off-road ready adventure XRT Pro. Let's dive in. (mellow music) After driving the new generation of Palisade for, well, kind of the whole day, put about 120 miles on it, on road, off road, all that good jazz, the key takeaway here is that Hyundai's largest SUV, it drives large, and I think that is definitely an intentional choice. And by drive large, I mean that it feels heavier, it feels muted. Unlike the old Palisade, this kind of feels a bit body on frame. It's not, it's a unibody crossover, and it's certainly not even close in size to a Tahoe, Suburban, something like that. But I think there was a definite effort to make this feel substantial, and I think it's a job well done. It's not necessarily that much heavier on paper. The steering is a bit slower than I remember the previous generation being. But the brakes feel squishy, marshmallowy. The accelerator is kind of a little bit slow to respond when in regular standard driving modes. Now, this might sound predominantly negative, but I do think this was an intentional choice and I don't necessarily think it's the wrong one. With this lovely, lovely interior, 'cause it is, it's exceptionally nice in here for the class, this is a little bit of a Genesis lite, I believe. Now, the pricing is not necessarily gonna be Genesis lite, this is towards the upper end of the range, but these muted, slowish, relaxed driving inputs kind of match the thick, cushy, plush nature of the interior. The steering wheel, definitely more so than before is, at least on this Calligraphy, thick and padded and huge. All the surfaces for the most part are soft touch and rounded, devoid of hard edges. That was an intentional design choice inspired by mid-century design. So it's kind of a purposefully soft, quiet driving experience. I say it's quiet and it is comfortable. This is a non-adaptive fixed suspension. Handles fine, no better or worse than you'd ever want a three-row SUV to handle. You'll have no problem taking the kids up through a mountain pass. It's all good. I will say, power-wise, I was not a big fan of the previous Palisade and Kia Telluride's 3.8-liter naturally aspirated V6, and this 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V6 with three less horsepower, it's not much better. It's not a bad engine and it's not a bad powertrain. I just find this not necessarily suited to this size of vehicle, to be honest. I am actually somebody who prefers a turbocharged four-cylinder to a naturally aspirated V6 when the SUV grows above the midsize segment. Here, we did a very rudimentary and rough 0 to 60 test, just we came to a full stop, floored it in sport mode. I was in the passenger seat and I recorded. Again, you can't really take these numbers to the bank, but we recorded with two guys in the car, 8.7 seconds 0 to 60. Not great. Certainly not a deal breaker, again, what is this vehicle used for, but also consider that, well, what this vehicle is used for. Loading it up, kids, family, dogs, luggage, taking it on a road trip, merging on the highway. With just two people in the car at 8.7 seconds, you are absolutely gonna feel that weight. I don't think this thing needs 400, 500 horsepower. That's not the point. The point is the power delivery. With a turbocharged four-cylinder, torque comes in lower. You feel you have lower-end grunt. Acceleration is a little bit better and maybe peters off towards the top end. This, you're really not getting into the power band till kinda the top end. It's a bit peakier. Transmission, I do like a good eight-speed automatic traditional versus like a CVT or a dual clutch, but this one hunts around a decent amount. I will say this, if all of this sounds rather negative but you really liked the way the previous Palisade drove, and Telluride for that matter, this is kind of more of the same. This engine and transmission character are right in line with how they used to be. Tows 5,000 pounds, and when you do get up to highway speeds, you know, long cruise, settles down real nice. When you're just driving at normal around-town speeds, you're not merging, you're not trying to climb up a mountain pass or anything like that, it's totally fine, especially if you don't have a ton of stuff in the car. I will say, it really does feel like they engineered in some substantiality, even if it is kind of just a placebo effect, or in my mind. It feels bigger. I think that's what customers want. If you liked the previous Palisade, you are gonna freaking love this thing. And yeah, I've hardly done any family activities today, going off road and just driving, you know, well, commuting around these beautiful California roads, but I can imagine this would be a fantastic family hauler. (mellow music) Now, that Palisade Calligraphy is a nice, nice SUV, but I prefer my boxes to be a little bit more brutish, if you know what I'm saying. So I think I'm gonna stick with this, the new for 2026 Palisade XRT Pro. Yes, yes, another off-road special, and this time from a brand not necessarily known for going off-road. But Hyundai made sure that the new XRT Pro is a clear step away in capability from the familiar XRT package that we kind of know as an appearance package. An upgraded suspension adds an extra inch of ground clearance, and, you know, improves approach, departure, and breakover angles. The all-important all-terrain tires are here, supporting an XRT Pro exclusive limited-slip differential. Now, that supports hill descent control and a full suite of terrain driving modes. And of course, naturally, we've got XRT-specific wheels, we've got side cladding, we've got XRT badges, the whole lot. And you see those really neat-looking bright tow hooks? Completely functional. So it's not anything new. Maybe it is for Hyundai. So let's see if the XRT Pro can put its mud where it's terrain modes are. And that doesn't make any sense, so let's just go for a drive. Let's see how it is. Now, usually automakers are overly cautious when it comes to these curated off-road demo courses, but this ranch road was pretty darn tight, steep, and rocky in some places. Now, I'm not so sure where the XRT Pro's exclusive limited-slip rear differential came into play on this course when you compare it to the standard Palisade's all-wheel drive system, but I do know that at least two thirds of the course could be completed by a Palisade Calligraphy, as somebody took a wrong turn in said Calligraphy and ended up making it to the articulation and rock crawl demo area. It ended up skipping those, which I think was definitely the best course of action considering this is where the XRT Pro's suspension lift and all-terrain tires paid the biggest dividends. Overall, look to the Palisade XRT Pro as a plenty capable adventure vehicle capable of any moderate fire road and desert two-track that you might reasonably come across, which of course means it's more than capable of traversing that steep entry ramp at your local Whole Foods parking lot. Now, I gotta say, after just a day driving the new 2026 Hyundai Palisade, I do think that this is one of the best, if not the best three-row crossover in its entire segment, and now we are gonna find out how it does stack up against the competition once we throw this in one of our inevitable large vehicle comparisons. But, well, for now, if you already like what the Hyundai Palisade offered before, boy, you are gonna love this thing. I have definitely got some more to say on this, but for my full thoughts and reviews you gotta go to cars.com/news.