Hyundai Palisade v Toyota Prado 2021 Comparison

Let’s get this out of the way right from the beginning. It might seem that comparing the mud-slinging 2021 Toyota Prado 4x4 with the new Hyundai Palisade maxi-SUV is like deciding whether potatoes are better than strawberries.

There are clear commonalities – both are of similar size, offer three rows of seats and are categorised as large SUVs – but there’s also a multitude of fundamental differences between the two that reflect varying buyer demographics.

From the get-go, the ‘Son of LandCruiser’ is an unapologetic bush-master. It will take you – within reason – just about anywhere you want to go.

The new Hyundai Palisade is clearly not set up to do that. Though the turbo-diesel all-wheel drive version will go off-road to a limited extent, its home is the suburbs and the highways.

A further interesting take is that the Hyundai’s ability to carry as many as eight passengers – the Prado maxes out at seven – puts it on the border line between SUVs and multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs).

Any buyer making a decision between a Toyota Prado and a Hyundai Palisade is likely to be conflicted by what each has to offer and how each matches their perceived needs.

There’s the potential for the end decision, seemingly clear at the time of purchase, to play out in time with unexpected negatives.

We’re not trying here to do the thinking for anyone choosing between the two. People ultimately make their own decisions. What we are doing, however, is laying out the pros and cons of the Toyota Prado and Hyundai Palisade so potential buyers can – hopefully – find the balance that best suits them.

Another factor comes into play as well. The Toyota Prado, recently updated but on sale in its current form since 2009, is tipped to be replaced by an even more off-road-capable model in a couple of years that could further define its character. Wait a year or two and things could be quite different.

The Hyundai Palisade, which has arrived in Australia as a front-drive petrol V6 or an AWD turbo-diesel four-cylinder – the latter tested here – stems from the smaller Santa Fe SUV but takes the company perilously close to some of the luxury Euro marques with its refinement, locally-tweaked on-road dynamics and super-generous body dimensions.

The bottom line: Both the Toyota Prado and Hyundai Palisade have their specialities, but one is better at multi-tasking.

It might be one of the most expensive models you can buy from the Korean brand, but the 2021 Hyundai Palisade Highlander diesel – priced at $75,000 plus on-road costs – is still well short of the Toyota Prado Kakadu, which starts at $87,807 plus ORCs.

Despite this, the reality is that, where in-cabin niceties are concerned, both are similarly specified. Front seats are powered, heated and cooled and the back seats are able to combat the summer heat or winter chills as well.

Both get self-dipping LED headlights, sat-nav, climate-control air-conditioning, a sunroof and respectable audio systems (14-speaker JBL for the Prado and 12-speaker Infinity for the Palisade).

Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone connectivity is there too, as is a multi-zone climate-control system that looks after the second and third rows via roof-mounted venting that is controlled by a supplementary panel located between the front seats.

The Prado’s inconsistencies include the cluttered centre console with its fumbly rotating wheels that regulate the front seat heating/cooling, the acute shortage of storage space in the front of the cabin and the fact that there’s absolutely nowhere to store the rear cargo blind when it’s not in use.

In keeping with its upmarket vibe, the Palisade Highlander’s interior trim and presentation are swish and modish. There’s the plush, velveteen roof trim, Nappa leather on the seats, extensive use of soft-touch surfaces and an overall sense of class that contrasts with the top-shelf Prado’s somewhat old-school, fake-leather ambience.

The Prado’s 12 grand or so higher pricing brings a few things that don’t appear in the Palisade.

The rearmost seats deploy up or down electrically which, despite the thin and flat cushioning, is a nice touch, there’s a roof-mounted fold-down video screen aft of the front row seats and adjustable-height air suspension at the rear which, among other things, plays a role in coping with changing loads or when towing a trailer, caravan, horse float and the like.

Hyundai recently broadened the Palisade range with the introduction of a mid-spec Elite model (from $61,500 in front-drive V6 petrol form), which sits above the base model that now begins – also in front-drive V6 form – at $55,000 plus ORCs.

Both models on test here are covered by an industry-standard five-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, with Toyota capping Prado service prices for three years at $260 per service. It also offers a paid roadside assist program for $89 a year, or $129 for a more comprehensive arrangement.

The Palisade comes with 12 months of roadside assist, extendable on a yearly basis (up to 10 years) with scheduled dealer servicing. The Hyundai’s first service is free, while optional choices include pre-paid servicing plans capped at $469 for the diesel.

Service intervals are 12 months/15,000km for the Palisade, but what looks to be an advantage for the Prado is tempered by the fact that the Toyota’s service intervals come much more frequently – every six months or 10,000km.

For the money, the freshness of the 2021 Hyundai Palisade shows through.

Although Hyundai has not put the Palisade up for independent ANCAP testing, leaving it unrated for the time being, it brings safety technologies not seen in the Prado.

For example, the Palisade’s autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system operates at both high and low speeds, contrasting with the Prado’s low-speed-only system.

The Palisade also betters the Prado with AEB in reverse, actively-assisted blind spot monitoring, driver inattention detection and a Safe Exit Assist warning system that alerts exiting passengers if a vehicle is approaching from behind.

Otherwise they are pretty comparable. Both have lane departure warning/lane keep assist (which the Hyundai expands with added lane trace assist), rear cross traffic alert (very handy in a big SUV), in-bumper parking sensors at each end, and front, side and rear cameras that enable a bird’s-eye view to pop up on the centre screen.

On the latter, the Prado’s markedly low-res screen is a fuzzy indicator of its age and contrasts with the Palisade’s crispness and clearness.

The Prado’s airbag count is seven, while the Palisade’s is only six. The Toyota also carries a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, which on the surface compares more favourably than the unrated status of the Hyundai.

But the fact that the Prado’s rating dates back to 2011, when the testing process was nowhere near as tough as it is today, makes it impossible to judge whether the Toyota would perform better in the event of a crash than the Hyundai.

Also showing its age, the Prado offers a sole USB port at the rear of the centre console while the Palisade – count ’em – has no less than seven located throughout the cabin, as well as four 12V outlets that are spread with equal largesse.

The Prado has only two of the latter but it does, unlike the Hyundai, provide a 220V plug-in via a single three-pin socket on the right-hand side behind the third row of seats.

Two four-cylinder turbo-diesels are at play here in the 2021 Hyundai Palisade and the Toyota Prado, the latter using a 2.8-litre mid-size unit and the newer model arriving with a relatively small 2.2-litre powertrain.

Both are brought to match-fitness through differences in their respective power-to-weight ratios.

The Prado’s newly up-powered 2.8-litre, producing 150kW at 3400rpm and a useful 500Nm of torque at 1600rpm, is gruntier than the Palisade’s 2.2-litre unit that develops 147kW/440Nm at 3800/1750rpm respectively. But Hyundai’s large SUV weighs less and therefore delivers more.

Though both are best described as adequately brisk, the Hyundai’s calculated power-weight ratio overshadows the Toyota, which contributes to it being more responsive to the accelerator and, importantly, friendlier at the fuel pump.

The four-cylinder diesels do a satisfactory job of hefting their respective weights, but there’s no hint in either of the unstoppable grunt lurking in many hi-po turbo-diesel Euro SUVs.

Hyundai claims a combined-cycle fuel consumption figure of 7.3L/100km, whereas the Toyota is quoted at 7.9L/100km. Over the course of our testing, the Palisade confirmed its thriftiness by returning 7.9L/100km on average, against the Prado’s 9.0L/100km.

The Hyundai, with its eight-speed automatic gearbox, has more ratios to play with across the speed range, which benefits accelerator response. The Prado’s six-speed auto does a brave job but it’s no match for the Palisade and you can bet Toyota is eagerly awaiting the eight-speed auto expected to appear in the next-generation model.

The Palisade’s engine, as is the way with most modern diesels, also tends to disappear quietly into the background at cruising speeds and is less omnipresent at lower speeds than the Prado.

Take the Toyota Prado’s on-road/off-road duality into consideration though, and the dynamic roles are reversed.

With a full-time, dual-range 4x4 system that competes with the best of the legitimate 4x4s, plus a 220mm ground clearance and a wading depth of 700mm, the Toyota Prado can be taken into the bush with confidence.

The Hyundai Palisade, with its AWD system incorporating various drive modes (Comfort, Eco, Sport and Smart) and a ‘Multi Terrain’ setting to cover various off-road challenges, is hardly a fish out of water when taken off the bitumen – but, as with others of its ilk, it can only go so far before it’s gasping for breath.

The towing capabilities of the Palisade Highlander are likewise limited. It is rated to pull a braked trailer weighing no more than 2.2 tonnes while the Prado Kakadu, with its braked towing capacity of three tonnes, has reasonably heavy-duty hauling in sight.

Weighing less than the Toyota Prado – 2059kg plays 2455kg – as well as being lower, wider and having a longer wheelbase, the 2021 Hyundai Palisade rides on an all-independent MacPherson strut front/multi-link rear suspension and can’t help but be more agile on the road.

Bigger 20-inch wheels and lower-profile 245/50R20 tyres do add some sharp edges to the ride, particularly on nasty potholes, but the responses through the lighter steering are brisker than the Toyota although both are similarly geared (3.0 turns from lock to lock for the Prado and 2.9 for the Palisade).

A benefit of the Toyota’s shorter wheelbase is an 11.6-metre turning circle which, even though the Prado is the longer overall of the two, is tighter than the Hyundai (11.8m).

In an overall sense, the taller and narrower Prado – its front double-wishbone coil-spring set-up working in concert with a live, air-spring rear axle – does its best but ultimately feels more primitive.

That’s not to say the ride is entirely lacking in suppleness. The Prado Kakadu is reasonably smooth for a big 4x4.

The suspension also allows the choice between three modes – Normal, Sport+ and Comfort – which affect the handling, help adjust for loaded weight balance and allow a minimal increase in ground clearance.

But it has nowhere near the poise, steering accuracy and balance that characterise the Palisade.

Even in Kakadu spec, the Prado is hardly transporting you in the lap of luxury.

Inner space? Well, there’s no questioning that the more efficiently-packaged, monocoque-constructed Palisade offers a lot more than the ladder-frame-chassis Prado.

Though you wouldn’t exactly call it claustrophobic, the Prado, with its attenuated shoulder-room, feels almost narrow-gutted by comparison with the Hyundai. Thankfully, this is partially compensated by the glassy sides that ensure excellent all-round vision right through to the rearmost D-pillars.

The Palisade feels as capacious in real time as its on-paper dimensions suggest. It’s awash with wide, sweeping spaces and has a welcome architectural simplicity with genuinely intuitive ergonomics and supportively-cushioned seats throughout, from row one to row three.

The Palisade’s seat-folding functions are also smoother and easier than the sometimes awkward Prado (except for the latter’s power-operated third row). And the occupants, once seated, are generally more comfortable and better-served for overall legroom and shoulder-room.

The Palisade’s seats also fold into a flat, full-length floor that stretches around 2.2 metres from tailgate to the front seatbacks. The Toyota measures around 1.8 metres here and its less impressive loading capabilities are exacerbated by the almost-non-existent space behind the third row backrests when they’re up.

Optional on the Prado is a relocated spare wheel that sits – like the Hyundai – under the rear floor rather than on the tailgate and comes with an opening rear window for quick loading of smaller items.

A downside for most is the deletion of the auxiliary fuel tank that reduces fuel capacity from a massive 150 litres to 87 litres (which is still more than the Hyundai’s 71 litres).

So, which is the better large SUV? The top-spec Kakadu version of the long-established, segment-leading Toyota Prado, or the massive, refined, high-tech new 2021 Hyundai Palisade Highlander?

Although any decision here will undoubtedly need to consider the fact that one of these is entirely off-road-capable and the other was never really intended to be, the functional similarities are obvious.

In the end, it comes down to which of the two SUVs performs better in the common, everyday modus operandi employed by most people, most of the time.

And here there’s no getting away from the fact that the Toyota is hindered both by its age and the fact that it’s on a quite different conceptual wavelength to the Hyundai.

The Palisade is a refined multi-passenger cruiser replete with safety technologies that barely existed when the present-generation Toyota Prado was born.

The Hyundai drives with car-like precision, offers a more spacious, comfortable cabin with measurably superior load space and is not about to embarrass itself if asked to venture (a little bit) beyond the hotmix.

The Prado does a good job in day-to-day use too, but is compromised in a tactile sense by the fact that it’s fundamentally a workhorse. One is reminded of this by the way one tends to climb up into a Prado, rather than – like the Palisade – more or less slide aboard.

And its workhorse 4x4 origins are dynamically always apparent – a good thing off-road, but not so good on-road.

In the end, it’s a nuanced decision-making process where what’s actually better needs to be weighed against what’s actually better-suited.

For the bulk of users, it’s the Hyundai Palisade’s contemporariness and all-round versatility that wins the day.

How much does the 2021 Hyundai Palisade Highlander 2.2 CRDi AWD cost?
Price: $75,000 (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: Not tested

How much does the 2021 Toyota Prado Kakadu cost?
Price: $87,807 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Engine: 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 150kW/500Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.9L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 209g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: Five-star (ANCAP 2011)