A SIZEABLE WHOLE
SUPERB EXTRA-LARGE SUV TAKES THE CURTAIN CALL
MY BUDDY Jay has been my best mate since we met in high school, so as with any long-term relationship, the occasional homicidal urge does have to be suppressed by both parties.
Like the other day when he was casting a critical eye over the Palisade. Jay likes cars, but he’s not an obsessive, and large SUVs don’t really blip his radar. “So how much?” he asked. “Seventy-five large,” I told him. He let out a low whistle.
I had to explain there’s a hefty premium of around $10,000 for the Palisade’s extra size and eight-seater accommodation over the sevenseaters below it, like in-house sibling the Santa Fe Highlander, or Kia’s Sorento GT diesel. I also mentioned that the three-tier Palisade range now kicks of at $55,000, but Jay wasn’t really listening. “Still sounds like a very fat wedge for something that you don’t actually enjoy driving,” he sniped.
I didn’t slap him with my thong, even if he was hopelessly wrong.
I can honestly say that I’ve absolutely enjoyed every drive in the Palisade, and not just because it provided a brief respite from the sameness of being in COVID lockdown for a chunk of the loan period. An SUV like this is proof that you don’t have to be driving the doorhandles off something low and sporty on a remote backroad for it to qualify as an enjoyable drive. Just soaking up the Palisade’s comfort, amenity and response to inputs was ample for me to always enjoy every outing in it. That, and the fact that I rate even an average drive as better than, say, completing your greatestever tax return.
But as the six-month mark rolls around and it’s time for the eightseater to go back, here’s my wish list of jobs for the facelift.
Firstly, the diesel engine. Oil-burners may be on the endangered-species list, and there’s no question the Palisade would be an even better thing as a turbo-petrol hybrid (currently not on the horizon.) But for as long as it’s offered with the 2.2-litre diesel, the main area for improvement (along with meeting next-gen emissions regs) is noise and vibration. Both are far from horrible, but some extra soundproofing to cut the clatter would be welcome, as would a better balance shaft or more sophisticated engine mounts to quell the high-frequency vibes at idle. In the petrol variant you’re barely away it’s actually running at idle, whereas the Palisade diesel’s decibel reading of 45db shows there’s ample scope to do better.
No gripes about the engine’s strength on the move, though, nor
the calibration of the excellent eight-speed auto. It’s also frugal on a highway run, which drops the fuel burn to around 7.5L/100km, down from high nines around town.
The slightly laboured, unappealing engine note is really only evident in low-speed driving, and the obvious fix is to follow the sage advice of Michigan rockers MC5, and kick out the jams.
Which the Infinity audio system does mighty well, especially when fed high-resolution files, rather than relying on the slightly compressed-sounding DAB radio. The one caveat is that tracks with really intense subbass – and only when cranked up to near-concert-level volume – can cause a slight rattle in the front doortrims. My work-around was to cut an old beach towel in half and stuff each of the door bins, which solved the issue, but a minor redesign of the trims’ mounting system would be the proper solution and save a few towels.
The rest are really just small gripes I’ve already touched on like the lanekeeping that I had to disable before each drive. Only one button press, sure, but I’d really like it to be part of the customised set-up specific to each driver, so the car would recognise me as a I jump in, and disable it while setting the seat and mirrors.
The other small but important thing that needs to function more reliably is the speed-sign recognition. It misreads the signs at least 30 percent of the time, often indicating you’re in a 50km/h zone when it’s actually 40km/h. Not to be relied on.
But for a family that needs eight seats and doesn’t want a peoplemover, Palisade really is in a class of its own. Or, configure it as a sevenseater (two bucket seats in the second row are a no-cost option) to give walk-through access to the third row, providing a level of accommodation and versatility offered nowhere else. The fact Palisade won our large-SUV comparo against the Kluger and Mazda CX-9 (Wheels, Sept) pretty much says it all.
Share that with your mates.