2025 Hyundai Palisade | Still a GREAT Option for 2025! (What's New?)

What's going on YouTube? So since the introduction of the Hyundai Palisade, it has taken the three row SUV segment by storm. And you can tell that by the number of them out on the road. And for 2025, Hyundai is not stopping the improvements for this popular pick, even despite a redesign coming soon. So is this even better than ever? Well, let's go ahead and First of all, let's go ahead and start things out under the hood for 2025. We don't have any powertrain changes. So that means we continue to have a 3.8 liter V6 engine with 291 horsepower. That's going to be routed through an eight speed automatic transmission. And then this model with all wheel drive is going to come in at 21 MPG combined. Now, of course, later on in this review, we're going to be taking this out on a spin. During that spin, we'll be getting things like But let's go ahead and close up the hood and get into those 2025 revisions. Now, as far as the exterior design is concerned up here in the front, we're not seeing any 2025 changes. This is the fully loaded model. This is the calligraphy night edition, which means that over top of the regular calligraphy, we're basically going to add a lot of blacked out elements, including this full gloss black grill, which really stands out against the white paint we have on today's model. Now, what is new for 2025 is the fact that we've got a slightly revised trim structure. So now we have an SEL premium trim level. What that does is basically make what was previously SEL with premium package that turns that into its own dedicated trim level this year for 2025. Now, let's come over here to our headlights. We continue to have that cool design where you've got your turn signal up here kind of built into the grill itself, daytime running light that water falls down, and then you've got your two projector LED headlights across all the trim levels. As far as the rear design is concerned, it continues to have that nice handsome look to it. Yeah, and it's spiced up a little bit for this night edition model. What I mean by that is, of course, you're going to have the spoiler up top, but all of your Palisade branding is going to be completely blacked out, which has a lot of contrast with this white unit specifically. Let's go ahead and check out our taillights and see if all the elements are LED. So we have an LED brake light portion through here, LED turn signal indicator that's finished in amber. I like how the brake light also goes all the way across the top here. Your reverse light is going to be incandescent though and integrated down in the bumper. While we're down here, I want to mention that all of this is finished in a nice gloss black. We do have dual exposed exhaust outlets finished in chrome and your tow rating is 5,000 pounds. And moving on to our wheels, you've got a lot of different 18 to 20 inch alloy options. Most models will come with 20 inch alloys, including this calligraphy model. This has got the special turbine wheel, but we again have the gloss black finish for the night edition. Of course, have your painted moldings down through there. And as far as our mirrors, unique design here with our turn signal indicators. As far as the features, there have been some adjustments for 2025. So blind spot monitoring and heating do remain standard. However, auto dimming is no longer standard. That's going to move up a couple rungs to just the XRT trim level and above. Power folding is still unavailable for 2025. Now at the side, we come in at an overall vehicle length of 197 inches. That doesn't change this year. And we also have a nice gloss black roof rail up top. Now in terms of your safety equipment, I'm happy to tell you that all Palisades are going to get every single feature as standard equipment. The only caveat to that is that highway drive assist 1.0 will be standard on your lower end models and highway drive assist 2.0 will be standard on SEL premium and above. But guys, there are more changes on the inside. So let's talk about that. But first, if you're new here, we're brothers and we've been reviewing cars since we were 12 and 16. We may be young, but we love cars. And we'd love for you to subscribe to be a part of our car confections family. Let's learn a lot, have some fun with all the latest cars. All right, let's go ahead and check out the interior. First, we'll take a look at the key fob. This is not actually the latest Hyundai key fob. It's the one before that. So you do have kind of a more traditional look to this. Smart entry is going to be standard. Most models will have remote start. Our top model is going to give you smart park. And then in addition, SEL and above also have digital key access. Now getting inside the vehicle, just reach behind the handle that will unlock the door and then take a look inside the interior. And once again, this is the calligraphy at night edition. So this is our top spec model. And we do have more standard features for 2025. But before we get into that, let's talk about our seats. So with this model, you're going to have a really wide assortment of options in terms of materials beginning at cloth, moving up to leatherette, leather, and then at the top calligraphy, real Napa leather. Normally, unless you get this night edition, that's going to actually substitute the most of the seat out for a suede instead. So you have Napa leather trim on the outside edges and the headrest. And then you've got the suede that runs through the center section. Black is going to be your only color choice on board for this. And the seat adjustments are going to be a lot of them. So you've got 12 way power with four way lumbar support. We also have ergo motion massage on the calligraphy models and memory seats over there on this door trim. Let's go ahead and get inside. Now that we're inside here, let's go ahead and look at the rest of the overall cabin materials. They continue to impress six years into this model's life cycle. We have a leatherette all through here. We have a stitched leatherette through the center section. We have real metal speaker grilles, just like a luxury vehicle. Up top here, you've got a couple different trims you can choose from, including a faux bamboo. We have a soft touch plastic along the top, more of this trim through here, leatherette, and then you have kind of a silver trim down through here. Let's go ahead and fire it up. Now that everything's all fired up here, let's take a look at some individual features. We'll begin with our gauge cluster. Of course, this is the premium 12.3 inch gauge cluster. This is going to be included at that new SEL premium grade and above. Also included in that is going to be our blind spot camera system. Now the head-up display though that you see above, you will have to choose at least the limited to get that. Now coming back to the steering wheel, we have a nice looking design on board. It's going to be manual tilt and telescoping. Also the SEL premium grade is going to give you steering wheel heating. But let's go ahead and take a look at interior storage. It's not changing for 2025. It continues to be a very strong area of this Palisade. You'll notice inside we have lots of donuts. That's because this is car confections. We like to do the donut test to check the volume of the center console, and today we have 18 donuts inside, so we're getting close to two dozen. That's really, really good. If you push this forward here, you're going to find another big console. This is going to have a wireless phone charging pad, and if you press that button, that'll also pop in two cup holders. Furthermore, we have this large center pass-through as well, so we can stick kind of odd and end objects through there. Other than that, we've got our shifter. This is just a push-button style. Press D for drive. You do have paddle shifters on the steering wheel as well. R is for reverse, and when you go into reverse, we have a 360 camera. This has now been moved to the XRT trim level and above, so that's actually going to be more widely available for 2025, and as you can see, you've got that nice traditional view, but you also even have the cool 3D view where you can spin all around the vehicle. Then just press the P there for park. Right next to that is going to be all your different drive modes. Also in this area, you're going to notice that we've got some controls for our heated seats. Heated seats are going to be included in all but the base model. If you want seat ventilation, you can choose the SEL Premium or above. As far as our climate controls themselves, we have a three-zone automatic setup. Your main buttons here are going to be physical buttons that you can easily adjust the temperature, but we do also have a little touch screen here for some of our other functions, such as the vent speed. Then right above that, we also have our volume knob for the audio system. This is going to be the upper-end Harman Kardon sound system, of course, being the fully loaded model. Let's go ahead and give it a sample. Overall sound quality of this system is quite excellent. It definitely hits a notch above your average mainstream crossovers audio system. Let's take a look at our infotainment system here. This is a 12.3-inch display. This will be included on all of your trim levels, but this does not have the latest and greatest software. I do want to point out compared to the new Santa Fe, which has the CCNC, this is going to lack a couple features that you might be looking for. Those features are wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. You'll see if I press that, you do still need to connect that via a USB cable for the 2025 Palisade. Rising above here, all the models will come with an auto-dimming mirror. Since we have a calligraphy, we also have the rear camera mirror. You just flip that switch, cut out all the rear obstructions. Also, since we have the calligraphy, we've got the nice suede headliner all through here. XRT and above will come with a single panel sunroof. Limited and calligraphy trims will also come with this panoramic style one. One of the best things about the Hyundai Palisade is this rear seat area. Let's go ahead and dive in when it comes to features and space. Talking about space first, we're looking at about 42.4 inches of legroom, about 40 inches of headroom. Those are really good space figures. It's actually going to be larger than the vast majority of options in the segment. When it comes to your knee room, that's something we measure in all of our car confections reviews. As you can see behind Drew's 5'8 seating position, and I'm 5'9 for reference, we are sitting at 8 inches of additional knee room. Quite nice. My feet can slide up underneath of the seat. I want to point out these seats can slide forward all the way, and they can also go back quite a good distance as well as recline. Very comfortable setup here. I want to point out your captain's chairs do come standard on SEL trims and above. You can get bench seating on SEL Premium though if you prefer. Nice little armrest through here. I want to point out, check this out, we actually have a wing style headrest, so kind of like you're flying in an airplane. Keeps your head from falling around when you go to sleep. Now as far as features are concerned, here in the center we have standard climate controls. Off to the side of that, you're also going to notice this. We have heated rear seats and ventilated rear seats. Yeah, you heard me right. We have both of those features, and it's not just the top trim that gets that. It's actually SEL Premium and above, so that new trim level this year is actually going to have heated and ventilated rear seats. Now as we drop down below that, we have a 12-volt outlet, a household style outlet, as well as USB ports integrated into both of the seat backs. Turning over to your door trim, we do have a nicely equipped one. XRT and above are going to get rear window sunshades to keep the sun out of your eyes, and we're going to have a really nice material setup. Soft touch on the upper part, leatherette through all the middle, leather on your armrest, and not one, but two cup holders here in the back. The Stanley will only fit in one of those cup holders though, so be aware of that, but overall this is a fantastic rear seat, especially with these nice vents that blow right in your face. And let's go ahead and check out the third row. In order to get back here, they've made it really easy. Just press that button right there or on this side of the seat, and that's going to tilt it and slide it out of the way. Hopping back here, we're going to be sitting at some pretty good space figures. As a matter of fact, to be exact, it's about 31 inches of overall leg room, so that's pretty good. This seat's slid all the way back. Like I said, I'm 5'9". I still have about an inch of additional knee room left over, and my feet can slide up underneath the seat. The thigh support is not the best in the segment, although it's certainly pretty good. The Toyota Grand Highlander will kind of be your benchmark for best third row in the segment. As far as features are concerned, we have two cup holders over here. We also have the ability to power recline these seats back, so as you can see, to make myself even more comfortable, I can kind of recline back. And next to that, you're going to notice this button. That's our heated third row button. Yep, you heard me right. That's a class-exclusive feature to have a heated third row. That's standard on Limited and Calligraphy versions. We also have a USB port and then vents coming out of the ceiling here. As far as how this ranks on our third row rating scale, I'm going to say that this is fit for adults, mainly because of the features that you're going to find back here. You definitely don't feel jepped out with a heated third row. Now, let's check out your cargo capacity. We do have a power tailgate with hands-free ability on SEL trims and above, and as far as the space is concerned in this Palisade, we are going to be looking at some good numbers. We're sitting at 18 cubic feet behind the third row of seats, 46 cubic feet behind the second row, and is a maximum 86 cubic feet. As far as how that compares to the rivals, that's right on par with the Honda Pilot, for instance. Really, the only ones it's going to be less than would be Toyota Grand Highlander, Chevy Traverse, GMC Acadia. Now, as far as some of the features, I do want to point out you have quite a bit of underfloor storage. You can put all of the cargo cover, as well as any other junk you don't want seen, underneath the floor here. And off to the side, you're going to notice these buttons. These are actually to power fold the third row. It's just one press, and the third row will go ahead and fold down. That's standard on limited trim levels and above, and we also have these buttons to electronically fold the second row, as well. So, with the two quick presses of a button, you can have all the seats folded. That's way easier than the vast majority of options in the segment. As you can also see, it's completely flat with the floor, all rows of seats. And from behind Drew's 5'8 driving position, we are looking at 86 inches of overall length. That's something we measure in all of our reviews, in case you're looking to haul something specifically. From behind the second row, 48 inches of length. Behind the third row, 19 inches of length. See how wide it is? 45 inches wide. And as far as cargo height, 31 inches is going to be your overall number, so it's a very practical choice. Well, guys, here we are behind the wheel of the 2025 Hyundai Palisade. In this test drive, we're going to be discussing quite a few different things. As you can see on the screen right now, we'll also be getting our signature sound level reading. But first, we want to go ahead and start with a hard acceleration. And as easy as that, we make it to 16 miles per hour. So, with the 2025 Palisade, like we said, the spec dump, nothing changes under the hood. Continues to keep its tried and true 3.8 liter naturally aspirated V6 engine. Total power output, 291 horsepower, 262 pound-feet of torque. In the time since this debuted, we've just seen progressively more and more and more offerings migrate from V6 as a turbo four-cylinder. So, if you're a fan of a naturally aspirated V6 engine, you're really going to like the experience behind the wheel of the Palisade because it does feel nice and smooth and plenty powerful. Yeah, I have to say, the V6 refinement is something I very much appreciate, especially when you get into a top trim level like this Calligraphy Night Edition model. You're paying quite a bit of money, so I like that V6 refinement. It makes it feel more like a luxury SUV than anything else. Now, as far as the other aspect of the powertrain, that is an eight-speed automatic transmission. This is a conventional automatic. It's nice and smooth. It's plenty responsive. Even when you're at speed, you know, you put your foot down, it doesn't take but just a second or two to get you that downshift and get the engine back in its power band. Now, as far as how the power is routed to the ground, you have standard front-wheel drive or optional all-wheel drive for most versions of the Palisade. I do want to point out the Calligraphy Night is all-wheel drive exclusive though. As far as your fuel economy is concerned, it's going to be sitting at either 22 mpg combined or 21 mpg combined if you choose all-wheel drive. So front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive, just a one mpg difference between those two. All right, but we're speeding up and one of the most important things to discuss when it comes to a Palisade is the ride quality. We've said it in past Palisade reviews that of course does not change for 2025. You're going to have phenomenal ride quality when you hit a bump. It does a fantastic job of soaking it up and we even have one of the larger wheel setups in the lineup with this Calligraphy Night model. You're going to be nothing but impressed and this is definitely something you could just eat away the miles on a nice long road trip. Now, one of the other reasons why you'd be able to just eat away those miles is because it also has a pretty quiet cabin, but that's one of the reasons we get our sound level reading in all of our CarConfectionist reviews so we can compare to the competition. So I'll go ahead and the rear climate is off and put it on fan speed one and we'll go 55. We are sitting at 55 decibels even as our official CarConfectionist sound level reading for the 2025 Palisade. And cheers to consistency. That is what the Palisade has always tested at on our channel. Just, you know, very slight tenths off from that. That doesn't mean that it's not going to be like the quietest option in the segment. However, it definitely is going to be on the quieter end, especially if you compare it to some of the other vehicles. Some of the Honda Pilots, especially in the lower trim levels, definitely test a lot louder. Now, if you'd like to learn more about all of our sound level readings, you can find that at carconfections.com slash sound level readings where we post all the cars that we review on this channel. Yeah, I think the engine itself is just very, very quiet when you accelerate kind of just at that normal speed you would in the city kind of gingerly. Yeah, you really don't hear it at all. And now it's time for us to get our CarConfections slam dunk and air ball out of the way. Our favorite and least favorite element about this 25 Palisade. Drew, why don't you kick us off with the slam dunk? So of course, for 2025, we really have the same, you know, really, really strong elements. But for our unique slam dunk today, it's just going to be the kind of updates that they made. They subtly did a few revisions to kind of, you know, add a little bit more value, especially if you go for that new SEL premium trim, that's really going to be a sweet spot in the lineup. Yeah, I definitely appreciate how Hyundai, even though this is most likely the last model year of this current generation Palisade, is still making updates to overall refine the experience. Now on the air ball side of things, what we're going to say, one thing that is starting to show its age is this infotainment screen. It's not necessarily bad, but it's definitely not going to be the newest setup that you get in something like a Hyundai Santa Fe and some of the newer Hyundai products, and that definitely shows. I do also want to point out that your signature Hyundai warranty will apply here, a five-year 60,000 mile basic, 10-year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. You do also get three years of complimentary maintenance. And let's talk pricing for the 25 Palisade. Most prices are going to rise only about $400 this year, so not much of a concern there. The XRT trim level though does rise about $1,000. Keep in mind though, it's getting quite a bit more standard features this year. Now if you want what we have, the fully loaded model, as you can see we have the 25 Palisade Calligraphy Night Edition all-wheel drive. Once we add in a couple accessories as well as the 1415 destination charge, $56,870 is what we're looking at on this model. Now if you're looking to buy a Hyundai Palisade or any new vehicle, we would encourage you to go to carconfections.com slash new car quotes. Now the reason you do that is because we have a tool on our website that will connect you with local car dealers in your area to get you the best price. It's also going to give you access to invoice pricing information, which is a great tool for dealership negotiation. If you'd like to take advantage of that, a link is provided in our video description, and we also have a pinned comment at the top of this video. And now it's time for us to discuss potential resale value and reliability to make sure you are making a smart purchase. Now first up, we want to talk about resale value. As an economics graduate myself, Drew and I took the time to develop what we think is a good estimate for this Hyundai Palisade's potential resale value. We estimate that after five years and 60,000 miles, it'll be worth 55.3% of its original MSRP, and after 10 years and 120,000 miles, 19.6%. Now it's worth noting that that resale value percentage is actually above industry average, although it is going to be still below other vehicle brands like Toyota and Honda, some of the Japanese offerings. Now we've also done the same for reliability by developing the combined reliability index. This takes into account several studies from trustworthy sources and combines them into a way that paints a more holistic picture. In this regard, Hyundai is rated just slightly below the industry average for all vehicle makes. Now if you'd like to learn more about our resale and reliability data, as well as our methodology, be sure to go to carconfections.com and carconfections.com reliability. Buying a new car is a very big decision, so you want to make sure you're making a smart purchase, especially if you're cross-shopping between different vehicle brands. And guys, that's going to be it for our in-depth review of the 2025 Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy Knight Edition. If you enjoyed watching this video or found it helpful in your purchasing decisions, which we surely hope you did, we'd really appreciate it if you hit that subscribe button down below. 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