Yahoo Autos 2021 Hyundai Palisade Long-Term Wrap-Up | Never lost its luster
Time is up on our long-term 2021 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy, and it’s just in time, too, as we got to experience Hyundai’s 2023 mid-cycle refresh for the popular three-row SUV just a couple of weeks ago.
Our Palisade leaves us in just as happy a mood as when it joined Autoblog’s long-term test car fleet. Over the course of the year, we put over 16,000 miles on this three-row family mobile, toting it all over the Midwest and Southeast. The only skipped beat came thanks to a rodent that decided the O2 sensor wires looked tasty. That put our Palisade out of commission for about two months while we awaited appointments and parts from Hyundai — if we’d have had access to it for those two summer months, we would’ve piled on even more miles.
Every other trip to the dealership in this Moonlight Cloud Palisade was a scheduled one. We only had to have one oil change performed, and beyond that, had Michelin X-Ice winter tires installed and uninstalled for the season changes. As Senior Editor John Beltz Snyder detailed in one update, those winter tires made our Palisade into a killer snow machine in Michigan’s slippery conditions. At a certain point during our long-term test, Snyder decided he didn’t have enough Palisade in his life, and bought one himself. We’ll let that endorsement speak for itself.
We originally took on testing a long-term Palisade because it sure looked like Hyundai’s first successful shot at the big three-row crossover and SUV segment, and we wanted to see if the vehicle remained as impressive over months as it was on the initial launch. We’re happy to see that the luster hasn’t worn off, and we’re just as smitten with this big hunk of Hyundai as we always have been.
Numerous thoughtful features made long-term life with the Palisade easy and convenient. Every time we’d hop out of the Palisade and into something else without its cluster-positioned Blind-View Monitors, it was a time of transition and wishing for the same in whatever car we might’ve been in. Even if you don’t rely on them, being able to take a quick peek in the dash to double confirm there are no cars in a pillar’s blind spot when merging on the highway is great peace of mind.
Want to fill this big three-row full of friends? Easy, the single-tap button to instantly slide the captain’s chairs forward and out of the way for third row access is one of the best in the biz (though the actual space between seat and pillar could be better for access). Plus, the electrical-folding third row is killer when you’re not in the mood to manually fold or yank up seats. This is the best combo of manual and electric-folding seats you can get for speed and ease of use.
There wasn’t a road trip this Palisade didn’t seem ready for, either. The number of cubbies, pockets and spots to store items got praise throughout the year. Charge ports are plentiful no matter the row, and the wireless phone charger worked nicely for times we forgot a cable or for passengers needing a quick juice-up. I even used the Palisade to move from house to house, taking full advantage of the boxy SUV’s utility-focused proportions.
We’ve also concluded that popping the extra cash for the top-tier Calligraphy is definitely worth it if you’re already considering the almost-fully-loaded Limited trim. Seeing and running your hands over the quilted leather on the doors and seats is a treat typically reserved for vastly more expensive luxury vehicles, so it made our sub-$50,000 Palisade feel like a bargain. Those white leather seats (no, they never stank) remained largely white and true to their original color throughout the year despite lots of seat time in blue jeans and other colored pants. That's better than past Hyundai efforts. Now, it’s hard to say what five years of wear and tear might do to them, but give Snyder a shout down the road, and he might have an answer for you.
As for running costs, our best purely highway trips saw us reach 25 mpg on multiple occasions. That’s 1 mpg better than our 2021 Palisade was EPA-rated for on the highway, so with a light foot, the rated fuel economy is readily attainable. Some of our more lead-footed staff saw fuel economy dip into the 15-17 mpg range when the driving was only short trips in and around town (this happened a lot due to social distancing from Covid keeping us from traveling longer distances). In mixed driving, fuel economy was largely on point with the 21 mpg EPA-rated combined figure. We suspect this will be what most owners experience in their day-to-day lives, since the 3.8-liter V6 doesn’t exactly inspire full throttle rips.
