The Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy is in the upper ranks of the Palisade line-up.

It’s a big classy SUV, it’s packed full of features, it has eight seats, and it’s all-wheel drive, but with a price tag that’s more than $80,000, is it worth your consideration? 

We tested it for seven days to see how it’d fare as a daily driver and people mover…

How much does the Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy cost?

The Calligraphy is available as a 3.8-litre petrol front-wheel drive with an eight-speed automatic transmission and eight seats, or with the 2.2-litre diesel engine. eight-speed automatic transmission and AWD as in our test vehicle, priced from $82,175 (excluding on-road costs).

What features do you get in the Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy?

Standard features include a 10-inch head-up display, heated steering wheel, Nappa leather-appointed seats, 12-way power-adjustable driver’s seat (with position memory), ventilated first- and second-row seats, heated second-row seats, dual sunroof with tilt function, remote park assist (forward and reverse), a digital rear-view mirror and 20-inch alloy wheels and a full size spare.

This is a nice-looking SUV in a generic, non-offensive way.

The interior has a real premium look and feel to it; there are lots of soft touch surfaces and it's pleasant on the eye. 

Build quality is impressive. 

The driver and front-passenger seats are very comfortable and supportive, and these are both power adjustable. The driver’s seat is 12-way power-adjustable so you can dial in your preferred position.

There are plenty of storage spaces and 17 (!) cup holders and there are lots of charge points, including a USB up the front and two USB-Cs for each row’s passengers. 

The second row is comfortable and spacious and passengers have access to sufficient controls including aircon. 

The outboard seats are heated and there are controls for the fan on the back of the centre console. There are USB-C points on the inside edges of the front seats for the second-row passengers, a couple of cup holders either side as well as sunshades on each second-row window – that’s helpful if you're trying to get your little ones to sleep, or at least prevent the sun from blasting them in the eyes. 

In terms of child restraint points in the second row, you have three top tether points and two isofix points, and in the third row you have two top tether points and one Isofix point. 

The third row is the domain of children – or two adults if you don't really like them. There's not a lot of room. There are a couple of cup holders either side in the third row and passengers there do have access to air vents.

With all three rows in use, there is a claimed 311 litres of cargo space in the boot area. This is an AWD vehicle, and I drive on dirt roads as part of any AWD test, so I wanted some items from my vehicle-recovery kit, including a set of four MaxTrax (vehicle-recovery boards), an air compressor (to re-inflate a punctured or intentionally deflated tyre), a first-aid kit, and a tyre-puncture repair kit. All of these things fit easily into the rear cargo area with the third row up and theoretically in use.

That listed cargo space increases to 704 litres with the third row stowed away.

Kerb weight is 2070kg and GVM is 2755kg, so you have some wiggle room in terms of how much you can pack.

The Palisade has a full-size spare under the body at the rear. 

It has the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, from testing in 2022.

As standard the Calligraphy has seven airbags, as well as a stack of driver-assist technology including AEB, adaptive cruise control, a 360-degree camera, lane keeping assist and more.

Every Palisade is covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty and roadside assistance is available if you have your Palisade serviced at an authorised Hyundai dealer. 

Service intervals are set at every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever occurs soonest. 

What is the Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy like to drive?

Our test vehicle has a 2.2-litre four-cylinder common rail diesel engine – 147kW at 3800rpm and 440Nm at 1750-2750rpm – and an eight-speed automatic transmission. 

This Palisade’s AWD system is called HTrac (Hyundai Traction) and it operates on a similar principle to most other AWD systems in that it directs power to the appropriate wheels to optimise traction. 

This vehicle also has drive modes – Comfort, Sport, Eco and Smart – for on road and Sand, Mud and Snow for off road.

These off-road drive modes are absolutely no substitute for 4WD, but they are fine for when conditions get slippery, for example, if there’s a little bit of rain on the bitumen or the dirt track becomes slightly muddy.

This is an easy driving wagon – comfortable, refined and composed – and the engine and auto are a really clever pairing. 

Kerb weight is listed as 2070kg and this Palisade has an 11.8m turning circle, so it’s not an insubstantial vehicle to steer through urban and suburban streets.

It’s not very dynamic, but it has a nice consistent and controlled feel to it – and that’s crucial as a family vehicle. 

Ride and handling are well sorted out and, though there’s a touch of firmness to the suspension, ride quality is generally smooth. 

There are four on-road drive modes – Comfort, Eco, Sport and Smart. Smart tweaks vehicle characteristics – such as engine output, transmission settings and braking – to suit your driving style, and depending on which of the other modes you select, it will adjust those characteristics and/or more to suit the terrain or the conditions in which you’re driving. 

The Palisade has a few minor flaws though. 

Acceleration is a bit laggy and it takes a heavy right boot to get the Palisade moving at pace.

Some driver-assist tech is abrupt and intrusive. The traffic-sign recognition (or speed limit assist, whatever it is) is clunky: it detects and reacts to signs that don't apply at that time of day, say school signs or it picks up on signs that don't apply to that section of road. So it's forever chopping and changing between what speeds you should be at and what speeds you shouldn't. You can adjust those settings or switch them off in the Hyundai app via the touchscreen multimedia system, but those settings return as defaults when you next start the vehicle. 

As for its AWD system, the Palisade Calligraphy is an all-wheel drive SUV wagon that does sufficiently well on terrain that would be moderately challenging for a 2WD vehicle. 

Our light-duty test track is sandy and there are some very shallow wheel ruts – nothing serious – and this Palisade handled all of the minor challenges well. Ride quality over some of the lumpier bits was good. It's a little bit on the firm side as you'd expect because this is a SUV designed for the suburbs not the Simpson, but it is perfectly reasonable on a very easy dirt track in dry conditions. 

And that’s the good thing about an AWD over a 2WD vehicle is you do have that little bit extra of a degree of traction, especially if you get into a traction-compromised situation such as a slippery wet bitumen road or a slightly muddy, but otherwise well-maintained, gravel route. 

This Palisade has three terrain driving modes – Sand, Mud, and Snow – which each adjusts throttle response, engine output, and the automatic transmission, among other things, to ensure that you keep moving safely with a controlled momentum. 

If you’re planning to use your daily driver / family mover as a towing platform it’s handy to note that the Pailsade’s towing capacity is 750kg (unbraked) and 2200kg (braked).

Efficiency – What is its fuel consumption? What is its driving range? 7/10 (whole number, no half marks or decimals)

Fuel consumption is listed as 7.3L/100km on a combined cycle. 

On this test, I recorded 9L/100km. 

The Palisade has a 71-litre fuel tank. So, going by that on-test figure, you could expect a driving range of almost 800km from a full tank. But remember you’ll be carrying more people and gear onboard so fuel economy will be affected accordingly.

Is the Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy any good?

The Palisade Calligraphy is a nice SUV: it’s comfortable and refined, and, as an eight-seater, it makes a sensible daily driver, especially for anyone with children.

My kids loved this Palisade because there were charge points for them and that second row, according to them, is very comfortable.

While it’s not perfect, the Palisade Calligraphy does many things well – and AWD gives it a handy advantage over any of its 2WD rivals.