
Textual content by Tom Appel
2025 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy AWD
Specs
Class: Midsize Crossover
Nation of Manufacture: South Korea
Colour: Hyper White
Seating Capability: 6
Miles pushed: 188
Actual-world gas economic 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 all the mannequin lineup. | |
Huge & Tall Consolation | |
Huge Man | A |
Tall Man | A |
Huge & Tall consolation scores are for entrance seats solely. “Huge” score based mostly on male tester weighing roughly 350 kilos, “Tall” score 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 economic system: 19/24/21 (metropolis, freeway, mixed)
Gas kind: Common fuel
Base worth: $52,600 (not together with $1415 vacation spot cost)
Choices on check automobile: Particular paint ($470), ground mats ($215)
Worth as examined: $54,700
Professionals and Cons
The nice: Luxurious for the value, refined demeanor
The nice: Ample passenger and cargo area, loads of energy
The not so good: Gas economic system trails competitors
Overview
Take a deep breath, and benefit from the pause. Turns on the market’s not a lot new for 2025, at the very least so far as the favored Hyundai Palisade is worried. The Korean maker’s largest crossover returns for ’25 that includes a couple of tweaks, and a brand new ‘tweener” midline trim stage aimed on the coronary heart of the midsize crossover market.
The large 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)
For those who mix Toyota Highlander (89,685) and Grand Highlander gross sales, the web quantity would place these automobiles second on this record (161,000).
For those who take away the Grand Cherokee from this record—provided that it’s priced as a premium automobile—you find yourself with a tightly grouped pack of wonderful automobiles, all of which advantage shopper consideration. And despite the fact that the Palisade is due for replace within the close to future, we predict the current-generation crossover is nicely value 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 Night time Version ($55,515).
Added this yr is the SEL Premium ($45,565), which slots properly between the XRT and Restricted, and can possible show to be a preferred 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 Night time Version on which AWD is normal.
Word: Although uniquely styled, tuned, and priced, the Kia Telluride shares the Palisade’s primary structure and drivetrain. You possibly can learn our most-recent overview of the Telluride right here.
Client Information just lately spent per week behind the wheel of an AWD 2025 Palisade in Hyper White. With vacation spot cost, our check truck got here to $54,700.
Because the 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 automobile itemizing $30,000 greater. We discovered the contrasting black upholstery stitching particularly stylish.
In now-typical Korean trend, the controls work nicely and fall readily handy. 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 simple to determine at a look, and the system response instantly to the touch inputs. Local weather and drive-mode capabilities are nonetheless manipulated by way of bodily switchgear situated slightly below the display. All instructed, we discovered the final management format easy and straightforward to make use of.
The cabin itself is brilliant, ethereal, and roomy, and the sense of area is enhanced considerably by our test-car’s Gentle Beige trim scheme. This massive editor discovered coming into and exiting the Palisade simple 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 greatest left to the most-nimble of your touring celebration.

Underway the Palisade shines dynamically, and by way of refinement. The large V6 serves up a lot of simple 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 great, and consistent with the Calligraphy’s luxurious pretense, our check truck proved each exceptionally quiet and composed on longer freeway jaunts. It’s maybe the Palisade’s freeway demeanor that greatest defines it as an upscale crossover.
We don’t typically touch upon construct high quality, as so few check automobiles have dissatisfied us in latest reminiscence. Nevertheless, we have to level out how even and lustrous our check 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 might be redesigned for the 2026 mannequin yr, and is anticipated to develop barely in most dimensions. We additionally anticipate the graceful V6 to get replaced by a regular turbocharged 4-cylinder engine. Additionally supplied might be hybrid variant that includes a drivetrain much like the hybrid setup discovered within the present Kia Carnival. Count on important styling updates each inside and outdoors of the automobile, as nicely.
We’re massive 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. Word that, because the Hyundai Santa Fe noticed important worth will increase when just lately redesigned, we anticipate the brand new Palisade to be likewise “worth adjusted.” For those who’re buying now, we propose including the 2025 Palisade to your test-drive brief record. It’s unlikely the Palisade will ever this robust of a worth once more.
2025 Hyundai Palisade CalligraphyTake heed to the Automotive Stuff Podcast
2025 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy Photos
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