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 financial system: 19.9 mpg
| CG Report Card | |
|---|---|
| Room and Consolation | A |
| Energy and Efficiency | B |
| Match and End | A |
| Gas Economic system | B- |
| Worth | A- |
| Report-card grades are derived from a consensus of test-driver evaluations. All grades are versus different automobiles in the identical class. Worth grade is for particular trim stage evaluated, and should not replicate Client Information’s impressions of your complete mannequin lineup. | |
| Large & Tall Consolation | |
| Large Man | A |
| Tall Man | A |
| Large & Tall consolation rankings are for entrance seats solely. “Large” ranking based mostly on male tester weighing roughly 350 kilos, “Tall” ranking 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 financial system: 19/24/21 (metropolis, freeway, mixed)
Gas kind: Common fuel
Base value: $52,600 (not together with $1415 vacation spot cost)
Choices on take a look at car: Particular paint ($470), ground mats ($215)
Worth as examined: $54,700
Professionals and Cons
The good: Luxurious for the worth, refined demeanor
The nice: Ample passenger and cargo area, loads of energy
The not so good: Gas financial system trails competitors
Evaluate
Take a deep breath, and benefit from the pause. Turns on the market’s not a lot new for 2025, not less than 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 stage 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)
Should you mix Toyota Highlander (89,685) and Grand Highlander gross sales, the web quantity would place these automobiles second on this checklist (161,000).
Should you take away the Grand Cherokee from this checklist—provided that it’s priced as a premium car—you find yourself with a tightly grouped pack of fantastic automobiles, all of which benefit shopper consideration. And though the Palisade is due for replace within the close to future, we expect the current-generation crossover is nicely 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 yr is the SEL Premium ($45,565), which slots properly between the XRT and Restricted, and can probably show to be a well-liked 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.
Observe: Although uniquely styled, tuned, and priced, the Kia Telluride shares the Palisade’s primary structure and drivetrain. You’ll be able to learn our most-recent evaluate of the Telluride right here.
Client Information not too long ago spent every week behind the wheel of an AWD 2025 Palisade in Hyper White. With vacation spot cost, our take a look at truck got here to $54,700.
For the reason that 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 car itemizing $30,000 increased. We discovered the contrasting black upholstery stitching particularly elegant.
In now-typical Korean trend, the controls work nicely 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 straightforward to establish at a look, and the system responds instantly to the touch inputs. Local weather and drive-mode features are nonetheless manipulated through bodily switchgear situated just under the display screen. All instructed, we discovered the final management format easy and simple to make use of.
The cabin itself is vivid, ethereal, and roomy, and the sense of area is enhanced considerably by our test-car’s Mild Beige trim scheme. This massive editor discovered coming into and exiting the Palisade straightforward sufficient, thanks partly to massive 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 finest 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 straightforward 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 fully 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 superb, and consistent with the Calligraphy’s luxurious pretense, our take a look at truck proved each exceptionally quiet and composed on longer freeway jaunts. It’s maybe the Palisade’s freeway demeanor that finest defines it as an upscale crossover.
We don’t usually touch upon construct high quality, as so few take a look at automobiles have upset us in current reminiscence. Nevertheless, we have to level out how even and lustrous our take a look at automobile’s paint was. Whereas we endure from white-car fatigue, the Palisade’s cooly iridescent paint introduced nicely.
As we famous above, the Palisade will probably be redesigned for the 2026 mannequin yr, and is predicted to develop barely in most dimensions. We additionally count on the graceful V6 to get replaced by a typical turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. Additionally supplied will probably be hybrid variant that includes a drivetrain much like the hybrid setup discovered within the present Kia Carnival. Anticipate important styling updates each inside and outdoors of the car, as nicely.
We’re large 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. Observe that, because the Hyundai Santa Fe noticed important value will increase when not too long ago redesigned, we count on the brand new Palisade to be likewise “worth adjusted.” Should you’re purchasing now, we propose including the 2025 Palisade to your test-drive quick checklist. It’s unlikely the Palisade will ever this sturdy of a worth once more.
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2025 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy Photos
Click on beneath for enlarged photos