Going Big With The Hyundai Palisade
As a tallish/largish person, I sometimes feel that the world is not designed for me. Hanging lights seem to hover in the twilight zone so as to be invisible but not avoidable when walking into them. As does the bottom edge of kitchen cabinetry and the top edge of an aircraft entrances – luckily the pain of compressed knees against the seat in front of me helps to distract me from the searing pain in my forehead. Don’t even talk to me about off the rack shirts or trousers or flimsy office chairs. Anyway, before you start playing an undersized violin to my oversized issue, I’m not asking for your pity. In fact, I am here to gloat because now I have a vehicular haven made for me and it doesn’t skimp on anything. Not only is the all-new Hyundai Palisade well-appointed when it comes to spaaaaaace, but it has enough extras to put a Lord of the Rings filmset to shame.
Before we dig into these extras, let’s just spend some time with the proportions because this is of course important. The Palisade comes in at 4.98m long, 1.97m wide and 1.75 high. This gives plenty of room for legs, luggage and passengers and me. It also stands out from the crowd figuratively and literally. It also makes it an extremely versatile vehicle.
Our particular test vehicle was the top shelf Hyundai Palisade Limited, 2.2 Diesel AWD with 8 speed automatic and a 7-seat configuration. During my time with it, it was a daily commuter, a DIY wagon and the bus for a 6 year-old’s birthday party. After much in depth research, I can report back that the Palisade will carry 23 inflated balloons, a ridiculously expensive Pokémon themed cake and 3 x circa 6-year-olds in the back.
When you have a vehicle full of sugar-fuelled children, it pays to have some distractions… and the electric sunroof in the rear did the trick. Imagine thawing out a neanderthal and dropping them in a modern city for the first time and watching them take in the skyscrapers, and LED billboards. In my mind I imagine their facial expression to be something similar to that of my six-year old daughter’s as she watched with goggle-eyed, awe struck amazement as a part of the ceiling slowly slid away to reveal the majesty of a view of the sky. Mind you she had been mainlining icing, sponge cake, food colouring E102, jelly and more icing for most of the morning so that probably helped the exuberance but still, the sunroof is a nice touch.
In addition to the dual panel wide sunroof otherwise known as the child distraction device, the top-of-the-range Palisade Limited includes Nappa leather upholstery as an option with a suede headlining, 14-way power adjustable driver’s seat with memory function and 8-way power adjustable passenger seat. The Limited also adds an incredibly handy Blind Spot View Monitor (BVM) and Surround View Monitor (SVM) system. Whenever you indicate, a view of the side of the Palisade pops up on the dash so that you can be sure that you are not going to turn or merge into something that you shouldn’t be. It’s actually quite incredible how much more visibility it gives you. I reckon it could literally be a life saver.
Across the range though the Palisade is just packed with tech. This includes multi-function Forward Collision-Avoidance Assist (FCA), Driver Attention Warning (DAW) and Blind-Spot Collision Avoidance-Assist (BCA) systems, Lane Following Assist (LFA) and Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist (RCCA) systems, and Smart Cruise Control (SCC) with Stop & Go.
There is also a really cool Shift-by-Wire gear selector button and electric park brake. And as you would expect, keyless entry.
Typically, I didn’t read up on the specs before taking possession of the Palisade so was taken by surprise when struggling with balloons and the cake I was hovering around behind the back hatch while fumbling for the fob when the door opened by itself for me. Like it knew automatically what I needed to do. Yep it has a power tailgate and you can also adjust the opening/closing speed and lift height to suit personal preferences.
There is actually a lot more tech than I am giving the Palisade credit for and to go over everything would turn this into a satellite launch manual, but the main thing is that somehow Hyundai has implemented this technology in a way that just seems so natural and human. It just adds to the driving experience in a really wonderful way.
I could go into the specs of the AWD HTRAC system which features an electronic, variable-torque-split clutch with active torque control between the front and rear axles, but at the end of the day it really all just comes down to how it actually feels on the road and in this sense the handling is a dream.
In the same way we could go into all the specific details that make up the 12 speaker Infinity Premium Sound System, what actually really counts is the way it sounds and it is really the most crisp, immersive experience you could imagine. Mind you, I am probably not an expert in this area as I was mocked by a work colleague for my test drive audio track which consisted of 6 episodes of an Iran-Contra podcast series. The intro sounded amazing at least. And pro dad tip, but if your children are starting to misbehave in the backseats, an audio essay on 80s American politics really freaks them out.
And speaking of America, there is a link there in terms of the Palisade’s sentiment and design. Not only was it first unveiled to the world at the 2018 Los Angeles Auto Show, but it was very much designed with the American market it mind so you really get that US bling sense going on at the same time, though Australasian driving conditions were considered in the development phase, so you really get the best of both worlds. And it’s this kind of nuanced layering that makes the Hyundai Palisade something unique. Bold design, considered engineering, big scale and really clever innovation and then bundled together with this other X factor. Technically speaking, it’s just cool. In a big way.
Discover more driving innovation with the Hyundai Palisade.
