Palisade Calligraphy: Luxury Feel Without The Luxury Cost
I bought my 2026 Palisade Calligraphy on the last day of 2025 after months of research and test driving various three-row SUVs. I am a long-time Toyota buyer and still love their vehicles, so the biggest competition for this Palisade was the 2026 Toyota Grand Highlander Hybrid. I also looked at Kia, but the real decision came down to the Toyota or Hyundai.
My overall impressions of the Palisade Calligraphy match what I had read about and had seen in speaking with car reviewers. This is a very luxurious vehicle without the luxury price tag. The biggest differentiators between this and the Grand Highlander Hybrid are the innovations that Hyundai has made in their SUVs while Toyota has made very few new changes or innovations. The Grand Highlander SUV cost more than the Calligraphy but had fewer features and a much less luxury feel.
The warranty from Hyundai beats Toyota's hands down as well. This is important to someone who plans to put 100k+ miles on a car.
The only aspects of my Calligraphy which I would rate lower than the Toyota are engine performance and transmission performance/feel. Toyota has the engines and transmissions done pretty well perfectly, with the right amount of power and the incredible smoothness of the transmission throughout all the gears. No pulling, no over-revving, no clunking between gears. So smooth you never think about it. And Toyota has no equal when it comes to the efficiency of their hybrid engines. My Palisade has issues with very jerky acceleration from a standing stop, especially on uphills. I drive the car extremely carefully and with fuel efficiency in mind. No racing, no jackrabbit starts. All as slowly and smoothly as possible. But the car doesn't shift very smoothly and definitely over-revs starting on an uphill slope from a stop. It's very bad in that regard. And the fuel efficiency is still nowhere near the claimed numbers. With over 3600 miles on the car my lifetime fuel efficiency is 28 mpg. Again, while driving slowly with all thoughts on best mileage.
The only other nit to pick is with the electric folding second and third row seats. It's way to complicated, and seems to have changed how to do it. I really dislike the way the seats have to be adjusted. It's unacceptable for this to be so difficult.
Other than those two issues, everything about my car is so much better than I expected and definitely better than the Toyota. I am extremely happy overall with the Palisade Calligraphy and have already recommended it to family, friends, and co-workers.
Recommended
Verified Owner
