2023 Hyundai Palisade First Drive: Almost As Good As A Minivan

Chris Tonn
by Chris Tonn

Those who have known me for a while - or have been reading the words I’ve been spewing on this and other sites - know that I’m a minivangelist. I’ve owned several (I’ve lost count) of these unrestrained vehicular symbols of virility and/or fertility, and have appreciated their presence in my driveway every time I had to bring home a dishwasher from the big-box store, or shuttle a few stray children about town. There is no vehicle type better suited for suburban families than a minivan.


But nobody wants ‘em.


“There goes Tonn preaching to the choir,” I can hear already. Indeed, the typical TTAC reader and commenter is beyond the typical automotive buyer. We certainly can’t afford to do reader focus groups or formal “fill out this survey card and in 6-8 weeks we will send you this genuine touch-tone telephone with the name of our publication emblazoned upon it” surveys. But if we could and automakers took our readership seriously, the dealership forecourts of North America would look mighty different.


Anyhow, it seems that the Best and Brightest don’t buy enough new vehicles to return to the veritable cornucopia of minivans we once had. Instead, we get uncountable variations on the three-row crossover theme - all packing six to seven seats into something that looks like it might potentially think about considering fording a stream. Some are soft and rounded as if styled in a bar of Life Buoy in the shower, while some are more aggro about their intentions.


Into this arena steps the refreshed 2023 Hyundai Palisade. Since debuting for the 2020 model year, the Palisade has won the favor of many a buyer looking for the most interior space with the value expected from Hyundai. The exterior is lightly changed front and rear, while the interior and driver assist systems find more significant upgrades. A new trim package winks and nods at an outdoor lifestyle. The old Palisade was one of the best of these biggest crossovers - are these changes enough to keep up with the competition?


Full Disclosure: Hyundai invited journalists to test the Palisade at an event in the Greatest State of Ohio. As one of two Buckeyes here at TTAC, I drove north to Lake Erie for an evening in a hotel with a couple of meals served. Yes, both perch and walleye were consumed.


Styling

Yeah, it’s very slightly tweaked. Most notably, the new grille is more in keeping with the rows of geometric shapes theme seen elsewhere across the lineup - specifically looking at the Tucson and related Santa Cruz. The LEDs making up the daytime running lamps have been moved outboard a bit, giving a bit more visual heft to the already-big Palisade. New bumpers front and rear - giving a skosh of additional overall length - as well as a new alloy wheel design round out the exterior cues helping the neighbors know you’ve got something new.



Interior

Here we see a few more changes with a new dashboard and a new steering wheel. The seats are being offered with new materials - including a convincing H-Tex synthetic leather on many trims, and premium Nappa leather on the top Calligraphy trim. Acoustic rear door glass on premium trims helps to cut down on road and wind noise. Heated seats are available even in the third row on upper trims, so the kids will have to find something else to complain about on cold mornings.


Don’t worry, the kids will find something else to complain about. It’s what they do.

Most noticeably, the infotainment screen is up to 12.3-inches. A Wi-Fi hotspot is available, as is an improved - faster-charging - wireless phone charger, because we all must remain connected always and forever. Hyundai has also added the up-to-date USB-C ports, while a single USB-A data/charge port remains for those of us who still have old but functional cords. 

Safety, Performance, and Convenience

The biggest news for the Palisade is that Highway Driving Assist is now standard across every trim. HDA is simply an adaptive cruise control that will work to keep the vehicle in the chosen lane while on the interstate, applying steering for curves and the like. It uses the navigation system as well to monitor the anticipated road ahead as well as the appropriate speed - and a speed limit assist is included should you drive through areas with frequent speed limit changes. 


Like Ohio.

The 3.8-liter V6 remains, producing the same 291 horsepower and 262 lb-ft as before, driving through an eight-speed automatic transmission. Front-wheel drive is standard across all trims - AWD adds $1,900 to the price. The HTRAC all-wheel drive system adds a tow mode to the driving mode selector, which will hold gear ratios longer when towing up long grades. Whether front or all-wheel drive, the Palisade is rated for towing 5,000 pounds.


New Palisade XRT

The Outbackification of the crossover world continues unabated. No matter whether one will actually venture beyond a gravel parkway at a park for a soccer game, a rugged appearance package will let anyone feel as if they can set out across the desert. For Hyundai, the new XRT package does that trick on the Palisade. 


The XRT package is built upon the volume-selling SEL trim and adds dark-finished 20-inch alloy wheels, lower trim all the way around the body to appear like a skid plate, a dark grille, and blacked-out roof rails. While the cynic within wants to scoff at these features which do absolutely nothing to enhance the off-road ability of the Palisade, I’ll grudgingly admit that they actually look pretty good.


Driving

To honor the, ahem, frugal nature of TTAC readers, I chose to spend my time in the less-expensive XRT trim versus the bougie Calligraphy. You know what? I have nothing remarkable to report. It’s as comfortable and quiet as ever. Plush but supportive seats make long drives effortless. The cabin is airy with plenty of leg, head, and shoulder room. 


Like basically every three-row crossover/SUV short of the behemoth body-on-frame Suburban and Expedition, cargo space behind the third row is tight. This is one place where a minivan comes in handy - luggage space for a road trip. Should you need to haul six or seven to a mouse-infested resort in Florida, you won’t have a great deal of space in the back. Even picking up a bunch of people from the airport will be a fraught adventure. A carrier atop a roof rack is probably the only choice there.


It’s hard to go wrong with the 2023 Hyundai Palisade. It does basically everything this suburban dad needs in nearly all normal driving situations, without looking like a minivan. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to you.

[Exterior Images: © 2022 Chris Tonn, Interior Images courtesy Hyundai]

Chris Tonn
Chris Tonn

Some enthusiasts say they were born with gasoline in their veins. Chris Tonn, on the other hand, had rust flakes in his eyes nearly since birth. Living in salty Ohio and being hopelessly addicted to vintage British and Japanese steel will do that to you. His work has appeared in eBay Motors, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars, Reader's Digest, AutoGuide, Family Handyman, and Jalopnik. He is a member of the Midwest Automotive Media Association, and he's currently looking for the safety glasses he just set down somewhere.

More by Chris Tonn

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 13 comments
  • TheEndlessEnigma TheEndlessEnigma on Sep 27, 2022

    I love vans, one of our vehicles is a Grand Caravan, I've had a van in the garage for 20 years now. Never understood the van hate, they are good value, better functionality than SUVS, better ride, better on gas. Fight me.

  • FifaCup FifaCup on Sep 29, 2022

    Loving both Interior and exterior designs.

  • Varezhka Suzuki Jimny, Toyota Century, and I know it technically just ended production but Honda e.
  • CoastieLenn For those that care to read the details of the crash NOT included in this article but published elsewhere- this happened at nearly 10pm when the CRV was stopped in the center lane of travel, lights off, with the driver remaining in the car. Not only is it not known if Blue Cruise was being used, it would have been a nightmare for most alert human drivers to mitigate that driving the 70+mph speed limit on many sections of I-10 in Texas, much less an AV system.
  • Jeff This is what I would want: Toyota has now released an affordable truck called the Toyota IMV 0. The newly developed vehicle made in Thailand comes with a rear-wheel drive and a gasoline 2.0-liter inline-four matched to a 5-speed manual transmission. NEW $10,000 Toyota Pickup Has Ford & GM Crapping ... YouTube · Tech Machine 8 minutes, 46 seconds Dec 26, 2023
  • Jalop1991 At the same time, let's take these drivers off the road--at least the ones that haven't yet taken themselves off the road.I can guarantee, at no point was this guy or any of the dead Tesla-stans actually driving the car. They were staring at their phones, because, HEY, SELF DRIVING!!
  • 3-On-The-Tree To Maintenance Costs His best friend did the union meetings and he said that there wasn’t a lot of negotiating taking place between the union and state because they were happy with how the state was treating them. He said it seemed more like a formality having the union.
Next