Hyundai Palisade

Hyundai typically uses Texmex place names as far as its SUVS are concerned – Tucson, Santa Fe – so what’s the deal with the 7/8 seat Palisade? The Pacific Palisades are actually the bluffs above swanky Sant Monica in Los Angeles, so it kind of works, in

But if you want to make a statement, the Palisade is a hard option to ignore. If you are in the market for a seven/eight seat vehicle, the big Palisade is a strong contender and big does not mean ungainly.

Indeed, on a twisty road, the Palisade really does show what it’s made of: an

SUV which holds the answer to the eternal question: “Are we there yet?”

Yep. You are, and it didn’t take as long as you though to get here either.

But that’s just on the weekends. During the nine-to-five Monday to Friday, the Palisades’ proportions play a different role – and not only for transporting large bulky objects, which of course, it can do.

No, the Palisade imbues the driver with a sense of being king of the road, but that’s a working king; y’know, one who might wear a tie instead of an open neck shirt and a selfperceived crown.

You will be paying more than you think you want to with even the entry-level Palisade, but you’ll likely find – as we did – that the return on investment is not only measured in running costs or residuals, it can also be measured in customer satisfaction.

And in a world where one SUV is much like another, when one stands out by virtue of its appeal to its owner, well, that’s worth commenting on in our opinion.

Of course, such a benchmark can only be used once the owner is in the vehicle, and to get potential owners sitting in them, well, that’s the purpose of these reviews, so here’s what you need to know about the Palisade:

Hyundai has driven into rarefied atmosphere and parked alongside some seriously heavy metal: BMW, Mercedes

Benz, Jeep, Range Rover, Audi, Lexus, Nissan, Mazda, Toyota – all have skin in this game, but not all offer eight-seat options.

The Hyundai Palisade does.

In saying that, this is the Limited model, which means it is a seven-seater. Even so, it has considerable flexibility and high specification levels for all occupants, USB charge ports, dual sunroofs, roof mounted air vents, ease of access touch seat controls and a power assisted tailgate, among others.

Up front is where all the action is, however. The driver’s seat (heated and ventilated) for the Palisade sets up the driver in a command position with its 12-way adjustment and easy to access central control console with its big, beefy buttons.

Driver information is displayed on the traditional instrument cluster or on the crystal-clear, heads-up display and while this all sounds very nice and contemporary, what hasn’t been mentioned is the extraordinarily high comfort levels of that driver’s seat.

Not just all-day driving comfort, this is comfort on a whole new scale, showing off the Palisade’s Amurican market appeal.

What is not so Amurican about the Palisade is the option of the diesel engine. The US of A is none too fond of diesels for its passenger vehicles, which explains – in part – why Hyundai has a 3.8-litre V6 petrol engine available for both Elite and Limited grades for its biggest SUV.

It is the well proven R-series 2.2 turbo diesel that works best here however, with Hyundai’s market intelligence showing that over 72 percent of large SUVS are diesels with 0.2 percent uptake of PHEVS (largely due to the availability more than anything else) but petrol engines only make up a smidge over 27.6 percent.

Diesels – especially in this class of vehicle – are the weapon of choice for the Kiwi lifestyle, when whacking great gobs of torque are needed to tow jet-skis, caravans, boats, small kindergartens for the littlest members of the family…

But in all seriousness, while some might think the Palisade is a little out of place in among the elegant SUVS from Hyundai – the Santa Fe, Tucson, Kona and Venue – we say look again.

No argument, the Palisade is the Big Daddy of Hyundai’s SUV line-up, but when its positioned alongside any of the others, the family resemblance is clear, which does beg the question: will Santa Fe continue to be New Zealand’s favourite large seven-seat SUV, or will Palisade take that mantle?