The Hyundai Palisade has gotten rave reviews and stands out in the three-row SUV segment for its refinement, luxury car aspirations, and overall value. Although it drives well, has some great tech, and is an overall excellent package, spending two weeks with the Palisade Ultimate over the Christmas holidays really helped me appreciate the little features and details that don’t always get mentioned in regular car reviews.
Here are seven great features in the 2020 Hyundai Palisade that help make life, especially during the holidays, just a bit easier.
Widescreen Infotainment System
Higher-trim Palisades come with 10.25-inch widescreen infotainment system, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto come standard on all trims. Not only is the screen quick to respond to touch inputs, but the layout is user-friendly, requiring almost no learning curve to get used to. Because the screen is so wide, the home screen can display three different sections, so you can have more information available.
USB Ports
Every row in the Palisade has enough USB ports for each passenger and the fact they are all 2.1-amp fast-charging is a bonus. Because we all know how terrible kids get when their iPads are not charged.
Electronic Folding Second and Third Row
I’m all for kids learning to be independent, so it’s a bonus when my boyfriend’s kids can get into the third row (which I taught them is called the “back-back”) by themselves. All it takes is the push of a button from the trunk to stow away (including folding the headrests) or deploy the back-back. There are also buttons in the trunk to fold the second row flat, which was very useful when we were taking our Christmas tree to get recycled. And you don’t even have to hold the buttons down, because ain’t nobody got time for that. To get into the back-back, one button tips and slides the second-row captain’s chairs forward, and pushing it back into place doesn’t require adult strength – the kids were able to pull it back into position easily.
Stowable Cupholders
This might seem absurd, but this is a little detail I very much appreciated. One or both of the cupholders in the front can be stowed away to reveal a large storage cubby. Because I don’t usually have beverages while I drive, having a larger storage cubby that could fit my purse (or a takeout container that I definitely wasn’t snacking from while I was driving…) is extremely convenient. This area – which includes a wireless charging pad that will fit even the largest phones – is also rubberized so things don’t slide around.
Great Reminders
Before you leave the Palisade, it will remind you if your phone is still in the wireless charger, a little thing that saves you from forgetting your phone in the car, which happens to me all the time. All my shopping lists and loyalty cards are stored in my phone, so trying to get any errands done without them and relying on my memory alone would be a disaster.
If a rear door had been opened prior to setting off, the Palisade will also remind you to check the back seats. While I only have to ferry kids around for a few days a month and my boyfriend’s kids are far too chatty, loud, and, um, headache-inducing, to ever be forgotten, this could be a great reminder for parents to not forget their kids in the car, something that might happen because of how busy and distracted we can all get during the holidays. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, but this reminder is a useful one. Even when I didn’t have to ferry kids, it was a good reminder to make sure I didn’t forget the takeout I threw back there, which I kept warm with the second-row’s heated seats (they’re also ventilated on the top-trim Palisade).
Advanced Blind Spot Monitoring
The Palisade has cameras all over the car, which allows for an excellent 360-degree, top-down parking camera and rear cross-traffic alert. These two features take a bit of the stress away from the parking-lot Battle Royale during the holidays. The other benefit of these cameras is that when you use either turn signal, the cameras show you what’s happening in each respective blind spot. The display shows up in the digital gauge cluster: left gauge for left blind spot, and right gauge for right blind spot. While it’s not a replacement for using the side mirrors or doing an old-fashioned shoulder check, the blind spot cameras are very useful for double checking for cyclists before turning while driving in the city.
Automatic Trunk Opening
Christmas is said to be a time for family and slowing down to be grateful, but more accurately, it’s a time to run many, many errands. My endless holiday to-do list had me running back and forth between the Palisade and various grocery stores, butchers, malls, kid pickups, and to and from different family gatherings or activities for kids. With my arms full of enough groceries to feed an army, skating equipment, or far too many gifts to spoil my family and boyfriend’s kids, the Palisade’s automatic trunk opening was like a star atop the Christmas tree – a beacon of hope in a dark and stormy parking lot.
Instead of fumbling for keys or risk falling over while doing a silly dance trying to figure out where a foot-activated sensor is located, the Palisade’s setup is much simpler. All you have to do is walk up to the trunk, wait a second, and the hatch opens automatically. With my arms full with bags and boxes, every time it did this, I could hear angels singing. Any little thing that helps reduce stress during the holidays is a miracle, and I was extremely thankful for this one.
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