Long-Term – All about car

Is it wrong to confess how brilliant I am for picking my long-term test vehicle?Hockey season is in full swing, and between my sons experiment with the goalie position while coaching his team and my own beer league excursions, the Hyundai Palisade is the large crossover I never knew I wanted. The best thing about it, however, is that despite being large and accommodating in terms of passenger and cargo space, it doesnt feel large to drive the seating position is high and commanding, but the turning circle is nice and tight, the steering is linear and quick, and best of all, the excellent outward visibility, 360-degree cameras, and parking sensors make parking easy and stress-free. Even with the third row up, theres room for a couple of kids hockey bags and my coaching gear, so its carpool friendly even for hockey excursions. After enjoying the Palisade myself for a few weeks, I sent resident crank David Booth off with the Palisade for the weekend and the most criticism he could come up with was: The engine is not as smooth or as powerful as I expected. When hauling, theres more noise than expected and not as much fury as the cacophony promises. This criticism isnt even unanimous both my wife and I find the power level is entirely reasonable, and the throttle appropriately responsive in every mode. For example, even in Eco which I use frequently on my commute there is good jump off the line when you plant the throttle, while in ordinary situations it prioritizes smooth, tepid acceleration. Comfort and Smart both provide mildly different balances, and Sport is always ready with quicker throttle tip-in, holding gears longer and quicker downshifts when getting on the go-pedal at most speeds. Booth did agree on that point: I like the modes. There seems to be more differentiation between modes than in most vehicles.The transmission has also been nearly flawless, and only the most severe changes from cruising to braking and then acceleration have generated any hiccups. It doesnt hurt that the 3.8L V6 makes up to 291 horsepower and 262 lb.-ft. of torque, which doesnt sound like a lot these days, but between the eight-speed automatic and the throttle tuning, I dont feel that it struggles at all with the 2,022 kilogram-plus the weight of the family and gear were carrying around.Booth actually had many more positives to list from his short time, and speaking of transmissions, he noted, I find this the best push button control for an automatic transmission yet. Intuitive and easily deciphered even without looking, the separate park function works well. Here were in agreement, and even when making seven-point parking maneuvers (yes, Im a bit parking-challenged), the Reverse button on top and Drive button on the bottom have become second nature and I barely need to look.As mentioned, we wanted to answer any questions you had, and we had a few on our Driving Youtube channel that Ill share here. Our first question was about refinement: How is the comfort and the cabin noise compared to (the) MDX or GLE? I know these cars expensive to convert to. Just curious. Another viewer also was interested in the noise: Have read comments about some wind noise at front pillar and window, any thoughts? I can confirm the comments about noise: There is some wind noise from the front A-pillars, and as Booth points out, the sound of the engine is unrefined, but the comfort is just right, absorbing rough bumps erasing them without being soft and wallowing in turns. However, it is interesting to see that people are more than willing to compare the Hyundai to well-established luxury brands like Acura and Mercedes-Benz. The Mercedes GLE only starts at $64,000, while the Palisade tops out at $53,999 for this fully loaded Ultimate.The base Acura MDX, which starts at $54,390, is a fairer comparison, but youre trading brand reputation (and likely some refinement) for features like the 360-degree camera system, perforated leather seats that are cooled in addition to being heated (if you have the second row captains chairs, those are also ventilated), various driving aids like blind-spot warning and rear-cross-traffic alert, and the MDX is showing its age as it does not even offer head-up display in any trim, though it does counter with a built-in widescreen in top trim to keep the kids zoned out on long trips.The next question we had was about the technology: How customizable is the digital display? How does the ACC and lane centre work compared to others?” At this point, I have used adaptive cruise quite a bit, and it’s been very good at maintaining the pace of traffic and smoothing changes of speed, without leaving huge gaps or lurching forward when a car moves out of the way. Lane keep assist has also been good, but it does sometimes react a bit late and give a bit of a jerky tug rather than smoothly getting the Palisade back to centred. The digital instrument cluster’s customization is a little disappointing, as I was hoping
Origin: Long-Term Test Update: 2020 Hyundai Palisade

Its been quite some time since Driving.ca last had a long-term test, but with the ever-increasing complexity of vehicles, all to often one week is barely enough to scratch the surface and really get to know it. With a family vehicle in particular, settling in to a routine and seeing how it holds up after weeks and months of harried schedules and never-ceasing activities reveals just how much it enables peace of mind or builds frustration.After a pair of glowing reviews and a Comparison Test victory, we still couldnt get enough of Hyundais entirely new 2020 Palisade. Hyundai has been delivering ever more refined products behind its Hyundai badge and making impressive first steps into the luxury market with its Genesis brand, and the Palisade makes a much more convincing play in the midsize-large-ish three-row SUV arena than the awkwardly styled Veracruz and undersized Santa Fe XL. There has certainly been a lot of interest in the Palisade, both from my colleagues in the office and hockey parents from my sons team, so we hope to answer any and all questions we get about its driving characteristics, capabilities and features. While the Palisade lineup starts with a front-wheel-drive model for $38,499 (plus all models carry a $1905 freight PDI charge), we were provided the all-singing, all-dancing, all-wheel-drive Ultimate 7 passenger in a lovely Sierra Burgundy. No matter the trim, the Palisade comes equipped with a 3.8L direct injection V6 paired with an eight-speed automatic. The all-wheel-drive system defaults to front-wheel drive but can shift up to 50 percent of torque to the rear axle, and the available AWD lock can keep a minimum of 20 percent of torque at the rear wheels. We look forward to an early snowfall that will afford us the opportunity to see how the AWD system handles typical Canadian winters.As far as first impressions go, between the 12.3-inch fully digital gauge cluster, 8-inch central touchscreen infotainment, head-up display and supple quilted, perforated Nappa leather seating and trimI kept thinking to myself: How is this not being sold with a Genesis badge? I cant say Im a huge fan of the grille, but the rest of the design is pleasing, and the interior is simple yet pleasing, neither too busy nor too spartan, and the pale cream leather really brightens up the cabin. Well see how that light colour holds up to messy kids and whether the quality is as good as it looks at first glance. Of course, the interior of such a large vehicle isnt just meant to be pretty, it also needs to carry lots of stuff, and the Palisade certainly has abundant passenger and cargo space. In fact, the very first thing my daughter said when she first got into it was, Can we take this on our next camping trip? She was convinced it had a much larger interior than the Kia Sedona we packed to the rafters for our trip to Killarney Provincial Park this past summer. In reality, its 509 litres of trunk space and 1,297 with the third row folded doesnt hold a candle to the Sedonas 960 L in the trunk, and 2,220 with the third row down. However, passenger space is on another level with massive headroom, legroom and shoulder room, especially for young children, but even for adults, and that translated into my daughters view that she could have brought six more bags of stuffed animals and diversions along for the ride.The Palisade is proving to be an easy companion for family life so far, so stay tuned for updates, a comparison with one of the most popular vehicles in this segment, and perspectives of various staff here at Postmedias head office. If you have any questions or requests, please post them in the comments below, and well do our best to answer or demonstrate in a future
Origin: Long-Term Test Introduction: 2020 Hyundai Palisade