Calligraphy 7-seat hybrid – BabyDrive

How much does the 2026 Hyundai Palisade cost and what are the options?

The price of the Hyundai Palisade Calligraphy Hybrid starts at $89,900 (excluding rego, stamp duty, etc.) for the 8-seat configuration. If you prefer the 7-seat layout with individual second-row captain’s chairs, that’s an extra $1,000.

The 2026 Hyundai Palisade launched as a single high-spec Calligraphy version with a 2.5-litre hybrid engine and all wheel drive. The previous model was available in different versions with either a 3.8-litre V6 petrol (two wheel drive) or 2.2-litre diesel engine (all wheel drive). More Palisade versions are coming, which will probably be more affordable.

The Palisade can be further personalised with Premium Paint ($750) and a choice of four interior colour combinations including Dark Charcoal with Brown Stitch, Dark Navy & Light Grey, and Brown Pure tone (the two-tone ones are $295 extra).

The amount of creature comforts this car comes with is amazing, including a dual tilt and sliding panoramic sunroof, LED lighting front and rear, Nappa leather interior with plush suede roof lining, 14-speaker Bose premium sound system, and a full suite of Hyundai’s SmartSense safety technology features.

 

How big is the boot of the 2026 Hyundai Palisade?

I found using the boot of the 2026 Hyundai Palisade was super convenient for my family. On the left-hand side of the boot, you’ve got your controls for raising and lowering the rear seats, which is really handy. There’s also a 240-volt plug and a 12-volt plug as well, which is fantastic for powering camping equipment or keeping an esky cold on road trips.

The boot door opens and closes at the press of a button and if you press the lock button when closing the tailgate it locks the whole car for you. Which is very helpful when you are leaving the car and you are carrying your kids or their school bags etc. It’s a feature I love for families!

Storage in the Hyundai Palisade’s boot is excellent for family use, it has a foldable carpet mat that protects the back of the seats and creates a smooth flat surface for emergency nappy changes and transporting your dog.

When using two rows of seats, the boot of the seven-seat Hyundai Palisade will hold 22 shopping bags, which is excellent and matches the previous Hyundai Palisade Highlander. This is also comparable to the Nissan Pathfinder (22 bags) and more than the Toyota Kluger Hybrid (20 bags). The Kia Carnival hybrid will fit 24 shopping bags in the boot.

The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with a single seat…

…will fit in the boot of the Hyundai Palisade with 14 shopping bags.

The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with two sibling seats…

…will fit in the boot with 14 shopping bags.

The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with a single seat and the bassinet…

…will fit stacked in the boot of the Hyundai Palisade side by side with six shopping bags.

The boot space and its functionality are really important. I like to have a big boot space and little side wells or areas I can divide things into. So something I don’t want to move around while I’m driving such as my daughter’s lunch bag or her wet swimming gear can be sectioned off in a little well where it’s not going to spill or get squashed by the rest of the things in the boot.

Hooks for securing shopping bags to are also favourites of mine, I like being able to secure the bag containing more fragile things like eggs so they don’t move around on the journey.

I measure the boot space in freezer shopping bags, prams and dogs. Not because I think all there is to a mum’s life is food shopping, prams and dogs. (Although it can feel like it sometimes!!) But because these are visually measurable items we can all associate with. For me, the car company boot measurement of litres is not an amount I can easily visualise and 400L in one car may differ in usability to that in another due to the configuration or shape of the space.

The Thule Urban Glide 3, ultimate All Terrain stroller with the back wheels on fits easily in the Palisade’s boot…

…with 11 shopping bags.

The Thule Urban Glide 3, double ultimate All Terrain stroller with the back wheels on fits easily in the boot of the Hyundai Palisade…

…with nine shopping bags.

The Thule Spring, lightweight and one-handed folding stroller fits in the boot of the Hyundai Palisade…

…with 16 shopping bags.

The boot of the Hyundai Palisade can also accommodate two 90-litre and two 70-litre Thule Chasm duffel bags when using two rows.

A very large dog will fit comfortably in the boot when using two rows of seats.

When using all three rows of seats, the boot of the seven-seat Hyundai Palisade will hold eight shopping bags. This is comparable to the Nissan Pathfinder (eight bags), previous Palisade Highlander (eight bags), and Toyota Kluger Hybrid (eight bags).

The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with a single seat…

…will fit in the boot of the Hyundai Palisade with two shopping bags when using all three rows.

The Thule Sleek, future-proof, multi-configuration pram with two sibling seats…

…will fit in the boot but with no shopping bags when using all three rows.

The Thule Urban Glide 3 ultimate All Terrain stroller with one of the back wheels removed fits easily in the boot…

…with one shopping bag when using all three rows.

The Thule Urban Glide 3 double ultimate All Terrain stroller with the back wheels removed fits easily in the boot, but with no shopping bags when using all three rows.

The Thule Spring lightweight and one-handed folding stroller fits in the boot of the Hyundai Palisade with three shopping bags when using all three rows of seats.

You can also fit one 40-litre and one 70-litre Thule Chasm duffel bags in the boot when using all three rows.

A very small dog will fit in the boot of the Hyundai Palisade with all seats in use.

When it comes to the spare tyre in the Palisade, there is one which is fantastic news! It’s a full-size alloy spare wheel stored underneath the vehicle on the underside of the boot, so you won’t need to empty your whole boot onto the side of the road if you get a puncture.

That said, you do have to lift a flap in the boot floor to access the jack and other tools you need for changing the tyre yourself. There is some underfloor plastic storage there too for wet or muddy gear.

How good is the storage in the 2026 Hyundai Palisade for families?

When it comes to storage in the Hyundai Palisade, it is excellent for families of all sizes.

The front interior is really lovely and modern, very minimal and clean and comfortable. It feels spacious giving all passengers a sense of personal space. Parents know how important that can be!

In the front of the Hyundai Palisade, you’ve got so much storage. There are two cup holders in the central console that will hold a reusable or disposable coffee cup.

There’s also a wireless phone charging pad next to the cup holders, and behind that is the central console box.

The central console box is a good size and features a UVC sterilising mode – you can pop your glasses, keys, phone or anything like that in there, press the UVC button, and with the lid closed it will sterilise everything you’ve put in there. This is a really nice feature for families and you can put your kids’ well-loved (yuck) toys in there!

Underneath the central console bridge has a lovely storage space for a handbag, or an iPad fits easily. There’s also a 12-volt socket down there and a little shelf for popping glasses as well.

There’s no glasses case in the ceiling, however there are lit vanity mirrors in both front visors, which is great.

The glove box is a good size in the front to hold a phone, wallet, and the manual. There’s a little shelf above it which is good for the front passenger’s phone as well.

The door bins in the front are enormous. They will hold one or two water bottles, and there’s a long shelf as well instead of a handle well, so you can easily store a phone in there.

There are USB-C charging sockets throughout the vehicle – six 100W USB-C ports in total, plus one additional data and charging port. This is fantastic for keeping all the family’s devices charged on long road trips.

The Palisade also features an interior Vehicle 2 Load (V2L) system with a 240-volt plug socket in the boot. This allows you to power external devices and appliances drawing up to 3.6kW (enough for laptops and camping fridges). As someone who writes A LOT of my BabyDrive reviews in the car while little ones are napping in the back, this is really handy. It is also useful for my family, who love camping adventures!

In the second-row of seats storage is just as good. The door bins will hold a large refillable water bottle and there is a cup and phone holder in the doors which are great for kids to easily reach from forward-facing child seats. The door handle spaces are good storage for phones too.

In the back of the central console box is a drawer that’s ample in size for phones and toys.

There are map pockets on the back of both front seats that hold an iPad.

In the third row are two cup holders on each side that will hold a water bottle or kids drink cup.

 

How many child seats will fit in the 2026 Hyundai Palisade?

The seven-seater Palisade tested here will fit four! The rear doors of the Hyundai Palisade open really wide making access in and out of the car easy for passengers and when installing child seats.

This seven-seat Hyundai Palisade family SUV has two captains chairs in the second-row.

Each captains chair has ISOFix in the seat base which are not within plastic guides but clearly labelled and easy to connect to.

Each captains chair has a top tether anchor point on the seat back which are easily accessible by sliding the seats forward.

The third-row bench can seat three passengers.

There are ISOFix for the two outer positions. They are not within plastic guides but are clearly labelled and easy to connect to.

There are top tether anchorages on the back of the third-row outer seats, that are easily accessible through the boot. There is no top tether anchorage in the centre third-row seat, so you can’t install a child seat in this position.

Two child seats fit really comfortably in the captains chairs, either forward or rear-facing.

And two fit in the third row, there is not room between two child seats for a passenger to sit.

Legroom is excellent throughout the Palisade. This all-new model features an extended wheelbase, that is 70mm longer than before, which contributes to greater legroom throughout. Hyundai says third-row legroom has increased from 798mm to 815mm, which can make all the difference for lanky teenagers and grandparents riding in the back if you’re upgrading from the previous Palisade.

We found that a 186cm tall driver could fit in front of a rear-facing infant capsule with plenty of room for a forward-facing child seat or 180cm passenger in the third row. With forward-facing child seats in the second and third-rows even taller drivers can fit. The third-row powered seats can slide 70mm forward and 40mm backward and the captains chairs slide individually to distribute legroom as your family needs it.

Third-row access with child seats installed is fantastic in the Palisade! The footwells are flat throughout the car and in this seven seat model there is the walkthrough between the two captains chairs.

There are buttons on the shoulders of the second-row seats for the ‘One-touch Walk-in Tilt’ function for easy access to the third row.

This is one of my favourite features because it keeps a vertical seatback angle so you can access the third-row with child seats installed in the second-row forward or rear-facing (providing you are using ISOFIX).

 

How comfortable is the 2026 Hyundai Palisade for families?

All members of the family will be kept comfortable in the Hyundai Palisade with its really lovely, modern interior.

Rear passengers can be kept comfortable with air vents in the ceiling above both rear rows of seats.

There are controls in the second-row ceiling for your more mature and sensible rear passengers.

Don’t worry, while you are carrying the kids, you can control the rear air conditioning from the front, and you can also lock the rear controls so the kids can’t fiddle with it while you are driving! You can easily turn the climate to driver-only mode, once you have dropped off the kids. Which saves using all the energy to cool the entire car when it’s just you travelling on your own.

There are heated seats in the front, second row and third-row outboard seats, which is fantastic for cold mornings (and soothing achy backs from carrying tired toddlers). The front and second-row outboard seats are also ventilated for hot summer days.

There are handles above both rear doors so you can hang a toy for little passengers to keep them entertained on long journeys. As well as lights in both rear rows of seats so you can see putting little passengers in and out at night.

I have found our daughter does not like travelling in the dark in the car so if it gets dark whilst travelling then I reach back and turn the interior light on for her. So it’s really important for me that I can reach the rear ceiling light.

Also if I am traveling home and it is getting near to bed time and I DEFINITELY DON’T want her to fall asleep in the car as even a 5-minute nap in the car means bed time is all over!!!! I lean back and pop the light on so it’s not dark and try to keep her awake!! Along with screaming/singing at the top of my voice!!!

It is also useful when there are lights situated above the doors where the handles are usually positioned. These are good for when putting baby into their child seats when visibility is poor, so you do not have to reach across them to a light situated in the ceiling centrally etc.

The rear doors have built in window blinds so you can keep little rear passengers shaded from the sun while driving along.

The front seats are really lovely and comfortable. The driver gets an 18-way power adjustable seat with “Ergo Motion technology” that uses air pockets to hug and support your body and even automatically providing extra side support when going round corners. The passenger gets a 12-way power seat.

Both front seats also have a “Premium Relaxation Comfort” system. When the vehicle is stopped, you can press the button on the side of the seat and it will recline into a lovely zero-gravity like position with a footrest as well. We went camping when we had the Palisade and were tempted just to sleep in the car! The second-row captains chairs also have this Relaxation Comfort function in this seven seat model. Just be careful activating it when child seats are involved…

There are also buttons on the side of the front passenger seat, so from the driver’s seat, you can change the position of the front passenger seat. This is really helpful when you have school pickup and use the ‘drop and go’ lane and you’re letting your kids in and out of the back without getting out of your seat. It’s also great for helping elderly passengers in and out of the front.

The steering wheel is fully adjustable and features a heated rim for cold mornings.

The cruise control and other functions are really simple to use from the steering wheel buttons.

The media system in the Hyundai Palisade is within this panoramic curved screen which dominates the dash.

Including a 12.3-inch digital cluster and 12.3-inch infotainment display.

The media system is really lovely and modern and it is easy to use and to navigate. It does have wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which is fantastic for safely accessing your phone’s navigation, podcast, music and messaging apps while you’re driving.

Within the settings, you can control and customise pretty much everything about the car – including all the sounds so they don’t disturb your little passengers or frazzle your already sensory-overloaded parent brain.

There’s also a 12-inch head-up display that projects key driving, navigation and safety information onto the windscreen in the driver’s field of view, which is really helpful.

You also get a “Digital Centre Mirror” that lets you switch between a regular mirror and a digital camera feed which is helpful for when the rear view is blocked by child seats or a packed boot. Compared to a regular mirror I found it a bit distracting having that in my peripheral vision and refocusing my eyes to that from the road so it’s great you can turn it off. The good news is you can still turn the reverse camera on while driving forward, which I find easier to deal with and the kids enjoy being able to see it from the back seats.

When you put the Palisade into reverse, the camera screen is really nice and clear. You’ve got a 360-degree Surround View Monitor as well, so it’s really nice and easy to see around the car. Being a really big vehicle, having those good cameras is really helpful.

The Hyundai Palisade is really nice and quiet inside. It’s really cocooned from outside road noise and wind noise. Hyundai has even filled its tyres with acoustic foam, installed layered soundproofing and fitted special thicker sound-deadening door glass like you get on high-end luxury cars.

The windows and doors open and close quite quietly and wouldn’t disturb little sleepy passengers.

With baby asleep you can get in and out without worrying the doors will be too noisy. The same for the windows their mechanism is not too noisy and I didn’t notice them having a loud opening or closing sound.

With baby asleep you want to be able to get in and out without worrying the doors will be too noisy and wake Bub up!

You can lock the windows and doors from the driver’s door control panel, which is fantastic. You can just press that and it locks both the rear windows and doors, so no one can fiddle with those in the back.

One of my favourite features in the Palisade is the Sounds of Nature. Within the media screen, you’ve got a lovely collection of white noise – there’s the sound of autumn leaves, waves, sailing, a noisy cafe – all those noises that are great for sending our little ones to sleep on long journeys (or those last-resort round-the-block drives trying to get infants to nap)!

‘Baby Drive Mode’ softens acceleration and steering giving a smoother and calmer ride, ideal for driving babies to sleep and helping to reduce travel sickness. I’m not saying Hyundai copied my brand name but the previous Palisade and Santa Fe pages on their website did have an infographic spookily resembling the “fast facts” box on every BabyDrive review… Cheeky!

Once you have got your Bub to sleep the ‘Passenger Talk’ is like an intercom for the driver’s voice to rear passengers so you don’t need to shout and ‘Quiet Mode’ moves speaker sound to the front and limits its volume.

 

How safe is the 2026 Hyundai Palisade for families?

The Hyundai Palisade comes with a five-star ANCAP safety rating, scoring 86% for child occupancy protection and 84% for adult occupancy protection. The Palisade also scored 71% for vulnerable road user protection and 73% for safety assist.

According to ANCAP, in the frontal offset and side impact tests of the Palisade, protection of the 10-year and 6-year child dummies was rated as GOOD, and the Palisade scored maximum points.

The Hyundai Palisade features a suite of 8 airbags, including:

Dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting airbags, as well as a driver knee airbag, are standard. A centre airbag which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes is also standard.

The Hyundai Palisade comes with comprehensive Hyundai SmartSense active safety technologies as standard, including Forward Collision-avoidance Assist 2 (FCA 2) which includes Car-to-Car, Vulnerable Road User, Junction Turning, Junction Crossing, Lane-change Side, and Evasive Steering Assist functions.

The driver-assist safety features also include Navigation-based Smart Cruise Control, Lane Following Assist 2 (LFA 2), Lane Keeping Assist (LKA), Highway Driving Assist 2 (HDA 2), Blind-Spot Collision Avoidance Assist (BCA), Blind-Spot View Monitor (BVM), Parking Collision Avoidance Reverse (PCA-R), Surround View Monitor (SVM), Parking Distance Warning Forward/Side/Reverse, Intelligent Speed Limit Assist (ISLA), Tyre Pressure Monitoring System, Rear Occupant Alert with sensor, and Remote Smart Parking Assist (RSPA).

One feature I particularly love for families is the Safe Exit Assist (SEA). When the electronic child safety lock is engaged and it detects a vehicle approaching from the rear, the system won’t unlock the rear doors to help keep rear occupants safe. Also, if the kids try and open those rear doors when there’s a bike or car coming alongside you, it sounds an alert.

Some of these safety features are also features that drive me crazy as a mum! Like the lane departure and forward collision alert or the parking sensor beeping sound. I want all the safety technology AND to be able to mute the sound when Bub’s asleep!

 

What is the 2026 Hyundai Palisade like to drive?

The Hyundai Palisade Hybrid is a really lovely car to drive. It’s really nice and smooth and quiet. I feel like it’s really cocooned from outside road noise and wind noise, which makes it really nice and comfortable for passengers.

Around town, it’s really nice and comfortable, and also out on the highway at speed. Because of all the driver assistance features, it’s really lovely and easy to drive, especially for long journeys – you don’t get so tired.

The hybrid system dedicates one motor to energy regeneration and the other to driving the wheels, which is more efficient than traditional hybrid systems. The result is fuel consumption of just 6.8L/100km – impressive for a big SUV like this and a potential big saving at the petrol station for families doing lots of driving (not to mention fewer fuel station stops when you don’t have time or have to get the kids in and out)!

Visibility is excellent in the Palisade. The side mirrors are good, you can see out of the back even with four child seats installed because there is no child seat in the central seat in either of the rows. You also have indicator cameras that come on in the driver display when you’re turning, which is really handy.

When it comes to parking, the Palisade is really lovely and easy. If you have concerns with the size of this car for parking, relax! It does fill a parking space, but the steering is light and the turning circle is really good, so it’s really lovely and easy to park.

One thing I have noticed since being a mum is I hate it when I reach a destination or get home from being out and the kids have either done really well in the car or she is screaming her head off and I have done really well to keep it together for the entire journey (usually the latter!!) and it takes 10 minutes to park the car! It can be really stressful.

One of the brilliant additions to this new 2026 Hyundai Palisade is the “Stay Mode” that brings a feature I enjoy about plug-in hybrids and electric cars. This uses the hybrid battery to power the media system, climate control and other features while parked with the engine switched off. Perfect for waiting at school pickup or at sporting events without wasting fuel or polluting the local environment!

The towing capacity is 2,000kg braked, which is adequate for small boats and trailers but lower than similar-sized SUVs if you’re planning to tow larger caravans.

 

Additional Information:

Hyundai offers a 7-year/unlimited kilometre warranty for the Palisade when all servicing is completed with Hyundai dealers, plus an 8-year/160,000km warranty on the hybrid drive battery.

The new Palisade is longer and wider, increasing interior space for passengers and their stuff but I didn’t find it harder to drive or park (apart from reaching some of the dashboard controls given I’m quite short at 162cm).

 

Compare the 2026 Hyundai Palisade:

If you are looking at the Hyundai Palisade as a seven or eight-seat hybrid SUV for your family, you may want to consider the Kia Sorento Hybrid GT-Line, which has similar hybrid technology in a slightly smaller package.

For a similar sized electric option, the Hyundai Ioniq 9 and Kia EV9 both come with either seven or eight seats with fully electric power and impressive space, family practicality and third row access.

For those open to van life, the Kia Carnival offers spades of boot and child-seat capacity but the Palisade runs it close. Sliding doors and the genius trough-like boot with the third row in use keep the Carnival ahead on pure practicality and it’s a fair bit more affordable. You can get a hybrid version too.

The Toyota Kluger Hybrid Grande is another seven-seat hybrid competitor, though with slightly less boot space than the Palisade.

For families wanting high design in their family SUV, the Mazda CX-80 and CX-90 fit that bill but you have to go for the pricey plug-in hybrid CX-80 to get similar fuel efficiency to the Palisade and there’s no hybrid CX-90.

If you’re comparing with the previous model, the previous Palisade Highlander review shows how far the new one has come, and I thought the original was a great SUV!

 

BabyDrive Verdict on the 2026 Hyundai Palisade

To sum up, the new 2026 Hyundai Palisade makes a fantastic family car! You can fit four child seats really nice and easily in the back of this seven-seat model, with excellent legroom in all three rows and with excellent third-row access. That third-row access and the system to move the second-row seat with child seats installed is fantastic – one of the best in any SUV.

The boot space is really good, fitting a twin pram even when you’re using all seven seats.

When using just two rows, you get a massive 22 shopping bags of space.

The drive is lovely – really nice and smooth – and being a hybrid saves a bit on fuel as well using just 6.8L/100km. The media system and cameras are excellent, and there are so many lovely family-friendly features throughout this new Palisade that make family life really nice and easy.

Features like Stay Mode, Passenger Talk, Quiet Mode, Sounds of Nature, and the UVC sterilising console show that Hyundai has really thought about what families need. The Safe Exit Assist adds an extra layer of safety for little ones.

Key Pros:

• Fits four child seats across second and third rows
• Excellent third-row access with child seats installed
• Hybrid powertrain delivers great fuel economy (6.8L/100km)
• Stay Mode keeps climate and entertainment running with engine off
• Full-size spare wheel
• V2L outlet for powering devices and appliances
• Sounds of Nature and Quiet Mode for sleeping children
• Passenger Talk sends voice to rear speakers
• Safe Exit Assist prevents doors opening into traffic
• Excellent boot space (22 bags with two rows)
• Rocking Bose 14-speaker sound system

Key Cons:

• No top tether anchorage in centre third-row seat
• 2,000kg towing capacity lower than similar size competitors
• Single Calligraphy version limits choice to the very expensive one
• No glasses case in ceiling