Hyundai Palisade SUV is ready to make eight seats sexy

Hyundai will have a new headline act in 2021 in the boxy shape of the Palisade large SUV.

Set to take on established success stories in the large SUV category like the Mazda CX-9 and Toyota Kluger, the Hyundai Palisade will trump both with the option of an eight-seat layout.

It will hit Australian showrooms late in 2020, offering a blend of bold n’ brash US styling and pragmatic family inclusions in a package that will crown a Hyundai model line-up that’s in the midst of a massive refresh.

Eight seats on offer in the Palisade

The Palisade will also cross between worlds by offering both a seven- and eight-seat version, and will top a fleshed-out SUV range for Hyundai that includes the seven-seat Santa Fe, mid-sized Tucson, small Kona and compact Venue.

The three-row SUV will, depending on the variant, be able to be optioned with a pair of captain’s chairs for the second row to complement the full-size third row for a seven-seat layout, while a traditional second-row bench will bump accommodation up to eight.

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As well, the Palisade will offer three ISOFIX baby seat mounts; two on the outboard second row and one in the third row. What’s more, all seats can recline while the front two rows will be heated and cooled in top-spec variants.

Throw in 16 cupholders, seven USB chargers, driver mic system for speaking to passengers and air vents for all three rows, and the Palisade stacks up well for the large family.

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The Palisade range hasn’t been locked down yet, but the Korean-built SUV will be offered here with both diesel and petrol powertrains.

Palisade offers petrol and diesel

Hyundai’s 147kW/440Nm 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel will be teamed with all-wheel-drive, while a 3.8-litre naturally aspirated V6 petrol engine-equipped version will send 213kW and 355Nm to the front wheels.

Both powertrains will use a traditional eight-speed automatic transmission; there will be no manual transmission offered in the Palisade range.

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Despite Hyundai’s fondness for retuning the suspension settings of every car it imports, the Palisade actually passed muster with the local development team right out of the box, and will remain unchanged.

A quick rummage around a left-hand-drive version of the Palisade at Hyundai’s Sydney HQ reveals a spacious, squared-off SUV that prioritises space over overt styling.

Large door apertures and wide ingress points for the third row make access easy, while a simple centre console and dashboard arrangement will be familiar territory for former and current Hyundai owners.

In fact, the simple twin-dial dash with a central digital screen and the relatively small multimedia screen is in stark contrast to the sharper, more current Sonata and i30 Sedan cockpits.

Hyundai assured WhichCar that the Palisade is likely to score a similar level of tech in the course of its model life.

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Rear cross-traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring with screen display and AEB will be added, while the multimedia system will offer Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard.

Hyundai Palisade pricing for Australia

In terms of the price of the Hyundai Palisade, the company is yet to lock in the final specs, but expect the range to kick off close to the $50,000 mark before extending to around $70,000 for high-spec versions.