Hyundai Palisade Elite 2023 Review

How much does the Hyundai Palisade Elite cost?

Priced from $65,900 before on-road costs, the 2023 Hyundai Palisade Elite now opens proceedings for the South Korean car-maker’s largest SUV range, the previous entry-level version having been discontinued.

Today, the range consists of two variants – Elite and Highlander – and both trim grades are available with the option of a V6 petrol engine with front-wheel drive or a four-cylinder turbo-diesel with all-wheel drive, the latter powertrain adding $4000 to the bill. 

Here, we’re testing the diesel-powered Palisade Elite, finished with a $695 premium paint job, boosting its as-tested price to $70,595 (plus ORCs).

What equipment comes with the Hyundai Palisade Elite?

The 2023 Hyundai Palisade’s mid-life update brought a new-look exterior and, as mentioned, a downsized line-up, meaning that even though the Elite is now the ‘entry-level’ grade, it’s fitted with oodles of standard equipment.

Outside, the Elite brings bold, dark metallic trim accents (Highlander is chromed-out), along with 20-inch alloy wheels, dusk-sensing LED headlights, LED tail-lights, heated and power-fold side mirrors and roof rails.

Inside the cabin, every Palisade gets dual-zone climate control, glass sunroof with manual sunshade, a 12-speaker Infinity sound system, and a pair of 12.3-inch digital displays.

Elite grades also get leather-appointed trim – which isn’t quite as soft as the Highlander’s Nappa leather – as well as heated seats up front and 10-way power adjustment for the driver.

Hyundai Australia covers every Palisade with a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty.

Services are due every 12-months or 15,000km for both petrol and diesel powertrains, however, the petrol is more affordable to service, capped at $399 each for the first five years, compared to $489 per year for the turbo-diesel. 

How safe is the Hyundai Palisade Elite?

The 2023 Hyundai Palisade Elite is fitted out with all the important safety and driver aids you’d expect.

Included is autonomous emergency braking (AEB) that now includes junction turn assist, blind-spot monitoring, lane-assist, high-beam assist, intelligent speed limit assist, safe exit assist, adaptive cruise control with overtake acceleration assist, connected services automatic collision notification, and an electronic child safety lock system.

Parking sensors feature at either end, along with a tyre pressure monitoring system, and comprehensive airbag coverage, including a front-centre airbag and a curtain airbag that extends to the third row.

That’s enough to boost the refreshed Palisade’s sub-standard four-star ANCAP safety rating score, to a full five stars (awarded August 2022).

What technology does the Hyundai Palisade Elite feature?

An array of tech updates and fresh inclusions made the facelifted 2023 Hyundai Palisade a stand-out when it arrived last year.

Among those, Hyundai’s server-based Bluelink connected services now brings a host of clever features accessible via a smartphone app, at no cost for the first five years.

You can now remotely start your Palisade from anywhere in the world, access live photos from your vehicle’s cameras, lock or unlock the car, and more. Owners can also ‘track’ their Palisade to find its location, as well as be alerted if a pre-set speed limit is exceeded when another ‘user’ is behind the wheel (ahem, naughty teens).

Other standard tech to appear includes wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, Bluetooth, digital radio, navigation, live traffic updates, voice memo function, and a passenger talk function that sends the driver’s voice to the rear speakers so you don’t have to scream.

While most of its systems are easy to navigate, we found the some of the driver assist aids – particularly speed limit assist – too invasive.

Going just 1km/hr over the posted speed limit causes it to chime and whistle every 10 or so seconds. That’s made even worse when the system picks up the incorrect speed limit (or fails to recognise a change in speed limit, e.g 60km/h to 80km/h) and it thinks you’re going 20km/h over.

You can switch it off via a sub-menu in the touch-screen, but it automatically resets back on every time you start the car.   

You’ll also need to have patience when using the adaptive cruise control system in mild traffic. That’s because it leaves a large enough gap for other cars to slot in front (in the ‘closest’ setting), causing the Palisade to brake and slow down enough to create an even larger gap, only for someone else to jump in front and slow you even more, only to leave a… see where I’m going with this?

When the road clears up, it also seems to take a while to get back to the speed you’ve set and you end up so far under the speed limit, holding up traffic, that impatient motorists just drive around you. 

It might sound like nit-picking, but on a long stretch of road or a busy highway, it can get tiresome.

What powers the Hyundai Palisade Elite?

As before, there are two powertrain options for the 2023 Hyundai Palisade range.

Our tester was fitted with the pricier CRDi turbo-diesel option, which sends 147kW of power and 440Nm of torque to all four corners, via Hyundai’s on-demand HTRAC AWD system.

The other is a front-drive 3.8-litre petrol V6, producing 217kW/355Nm, through the same eight-speed automatic transmission revised by the South Korean car-maker for the Palisade’s mid-life update to make it ‘smoother and more intuitive’.

For reference, we tested a petrol V6 Palisade the following week in range-topping Highlander guise, to get a back-to-back feel for both drivetrains.  

If it were our money, we’d go for the turbo-diesel based on efficiency (more on that in a sec) and performance. Both are refined and hushed inside the cabin, but the diesel is particularly impressive under load, where it produces minimal fuss and effortless thrust lower in the rev range.

The petrol engine provides plenty of gusto but needs to be worked harder to achieve the same levels of performance and can’t match the sure-footed feeling of the diesel’s all-wheel drive on the move. 

How fuel efficient is the Hyundai Palisade Elite?

Every variation of the 2023 Hyundai Palisade comes with a huge 71-litre fuel tank and it’s the turbo-diesel that takes the cake for fuel efficiency, both on paper and in reality.

After a circa-1000km trip consisting of some urban and lots of highway kays, we were bang on Hyundai’s combined fuel consumption claim of 7.3L per 100km for the Palisade Elite CRDi.

We did fewer miles in the petrol-powered Highlander, which we found only slightly thirstier than Hyundai’s hefty claim of 10.7L per 100km.

What is the Hyundai Palisade Elite like to drive?

The large and in charge 2023 Hyundai Palisade is great to drive, with lots of vision out of its huge glass work and a high-riding cabin that’ll make the whole family feel safe.

You feel its near five-metre length and two-metre width on road and when parking, but it rarely feels intimidating to drive.

The steering is lighter than you’d probably expect from an SUV this size, making it easy to place on road and manoeuvre around town. The big Pali also brings an uber comfortable ride, feeling planted on road and stable even over more challenging, pothole-ridden roads. 

It feels settled, and although you’ll get a bit of body roll if you start cornering with a bit too much enthusiasm, it’s an overall composed ride, with plenty of insulation to provide a peaceful cabin.

Four switchable drive modes include Comfort, Eco, Sport and Smart, while three multi-terrain modes (Snow, Mud and Sand) also come standard on every Palisade.  

But it won’t get as far as a proper ladder-frame 4x4, so those into off-road adventures might find options like the Toyota Prado, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, or Ford Everest better options.

A maximum braked towing capacity of 2200kg is standard across the Palisade range.

What is the Hyundai Palisade Elite like inside?

It can’t quite match the Highlander’s snazzy interior, but the cabin of the 2023 Hyundai Palisade Elite is still a nice place to spend time.

Materials throughout are great quality, and while the seven-seat layout (with two captain’s chairs in the second row) in our Elite tester adds a more sophisticated feel to the big SUV, the eight-seat option in the Highlander tested the following week feels more practical.

That’s because you can fold the third row flat and still cart around five people.

There’s enough room for average-sized adults to ride in the third row with a decent amount of room, making it a great option for bigger families that need to use all three rows on a regular basis.

It can’t quite match the people-moving Kia Carnival for cabin space – including loads of boot space with all three rows in use – but the Palisade comes pretty close.

But while the Palisade might be the perfect SUV for big families – with a plethora of cup holders, USB ports, and an easily accessible third row, even for kids – it’s slightly let down by a 311-litre boot capacity when all seats are in use, which could be a problem for those needing to haul around prams, luggage etc.

Should I buy a Hyundai Palisade Elite?

For big families or those needing a spacious people mover but wanting all the latest in tech and safety, the 2023 Hyundai Palisade Elite is a great choice.

If you can go without luxuries like ventilated seats, a head-up display, fancy suede headliner, and clever blind-spot view monitor, the Elite fits the bill just fine.  

When the facelifted Palisade range arrived last year, the car-maker quoted wait times of around four months. Today, Hyundai says the wait for a new Palisade is between 3-6 months.

It’s not cheap and you might have to join a waiting list to get one, but the Palisade Elite brings loads of equipment and, paired with the diesel powertrain, we reckon families will love it. 

2023 Hyundai Palisade Elite CRDi at a glance:
Price: $69,900 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.2-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 147kW/440Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.3L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 193g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2022)

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