Hyundai Palisade vs Volvo XC90

What's the difference?

The Palisade Calligraphy is a nice SUV to drive on road. It’s composed and refined, and as an eight-seater, it makes a sensible daily driver, especially for those of us with more than a couple of children.

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

It has a few niggles, but, while it’s not perfect, the Palisade Calligraphy does so many things so well that you are willing to forgive it its few quirks and AWD gives it a handy advantage over any of its 2WD rivals. 

The XC90 Recharge makes a lot of sense for a family with a couple of kids, who live and spend most of their time in the city and surrounding suburbs.

You’ll need access to a power point for charging and you’ll have to do it regularly to get the best out of this SUV, but in return you’ll get effortless and efficient driving, along with the practicality and prestige which comes with any XC90. 

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

The Calligraphy is in the top ranks of the Palisade range, so, in terms of design you'd expect it to be a bit easy on the eye and it is, especially the exterior, from the big grille all the way back.

Our test vehicle’s colour looks a lot like black to me. Hyundai calls it 'Robust Emerald' and I started to not strongly dislike it after a few days.

The interior has a real premium look and feel to it with Nappa leather accents and expanses of soft-touch surfaces adding to that prevailing overall impression.

This is a cleanly designed space – it's really quite easy on the eyes – and it's comfortable to be in. Bonus: the build quality is great, it all feels so well put together. 

This Palisade is also a prime example of a car maker effectively blending high-tech displays and controls into a cabin in a low-key way – nothing really seems out of place here and everything is easy to locate and operate.

Cars are like dogs in that a year for them ages them more than one for us. So, this current-generation XC90 which came out in 2015 is getting on in age. Still, the XC90 is a design lesson in how to defy the aging process because the styling even now it appears modern and beautiful. It’s also big, tough, and prestigious looking which is how the flagship SUV in a premium brand should be.

The Thunder Grey paint my test car wore (see the images) is an optional hue, and it suited the battleship size and personality of the XC90. The enormous 22-inch five -spoke Black Diamond Cut alloy wheels were standard and filled up those giant arches nicely.

Maybe it’s the minimalist styling which has kept the XC90 looking cutting edge, because even the interior looks like the inside of a very expensive psychiatrist’s office with those leather seats and the brushed aluminium trim.

The vertical display is still impressive even in 2021, and while fully digital instrument clusters are in everything these days the XC90’s has a prestigious look and matches the rest of the cabin in its colours and fonts.

As for the XC90’s dimensions, it’s 4953mm long, 2008mm wide with the mirrors folded and 1776mm tall to the top of its shark fin antenna.

Once you've spent any time in the Palisade Calligraphy cabin, you get to realise just how comfortable it is. 

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

There are so many handy features to the interior that if you can find something that's missing, I want to hear about it. 

There are plenty of storage spaces and cupholders* and lots of charge points, including a USBs up the front and two USB-Cs for each row’s passengers.

* Hyundai reckons there are 17 cupholders throughout the Palisade interior but I didn’t count them so we’re taking the company's word for it.

The second row is quite spacious and on the right side of comfortable and the passengers have access to sufficient controls including climate control. 

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 cupholders either side as well as sun shades 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 anchors and in the third row you have two top tethers and one ISOFIX location. 

The third row is the domain of children, or two adults if you don't like them. There's not a lot of room. I racked the second row forward just a bit to give me some much-needed knee room.

There are a couple of cupholders either side in the third row and passengers there do have access to air vents. This is sufficiently comfortable for children, but it's a no-go zone for adults. 

With all three rows in use, there is a claimed 311 litres of cargo space in the boot area, which doesn’t mean a lot until you can see what fits in there, for better or worse.

Now, normally in a Family review, you might expect to see groceries and maybe a pram in the rear cargo area as an illustrative measure of what you can or cannot fit in there. Well, that’s not my style.

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 onboard, including a set of four MaxTrax (vehicle-recovery boards, if you don’t know already), 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.

Then, with the second and third rows down you’re at 2447 litres.

Kerb weight is 2070kg and GVM is 2755kg, so you have a little bit of wiggle room in terms of how much you can pack onboard. A full-size spare sits under the body at the rear. 

Clever interior packaging means the XC90 Recharge is more practical than many large SUVs. There are flashes of utilitarian brilliance everywhere from the children’s booster seat which pops out of the centre of the second row (see the images) to the way the XC90 can crouch down like an elephant to make it easier to load stuff into the boot.

The XC90 Recharge is a seven-seater, and like all SUVs with third rows those seats in the very back only offer enough room for kids. The second row is spacious even for me at 191cm tall with plenty of leg- and headroom. Up front as you’d expect has good head-, elbow- and shoulder room.

Cabin storage is good with two cup holders in each row (the third also has containers under the armrests) and there are large door pockets, a decent sized centre console box and a net pocket in the front passenger footwell.

The cargo capacity with all seats being used is 291 litres and with the third row folded flat you’ll have 651 litres of boot space.

Storage for the charging cable could be better. The cable comes in a stylish canvas bag that sits in the boot, but other plug-in hybrids I’ve driven do a better job of providing a storage box for the cable that’s out of the way of your regular cargo.  

The gesture control tailgate works with a foot swish under the rear of the car and the proximity key means you can lock and unlock the vehicle by touching the door handle.

The cargo area is filled with hooks for bags and a lift-up divider to hold items in place.

Four-zone climate control, four USB ports (two in the front and two in the second row) dark tinted rear windows and sun blinds top off what is a very practical, family SUV.

My family is small – there’s just three of us – and so the XC90 was more than what we needed. That said, we found a way to fill it with holiday gear, shopping, even a mini trampoline.

The XC90 Recharge lists for $114,990 making it the most expensive grade in the XC90 range.

Still, the value is excellent considering the number of features which come standard.

The 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster standard, so is the nine-inch vertical centre display for media and climate control, there’s also sat nav, a Bowers and Wilkins 19-speaker stereo, wireless phone-charging, four-zone climate control, power-adjustable front seats, proximity key with auto tailgate and LED headlights.

My test car was fitted with options such as the Nappa Leather perforated and ventilated seats in Charcoal ($2950), the Climate pack which adds heated rear seats and a heated steering wheel ($600), power folding headrests in the rear ($275) and Thunder Grey metallic paint ($1900).

Even at a grand total (before on-road costs) of $120,715 I think this is still good value.

Our test vehicle has a 2.2-litre four-cylinder, common-rail, turbo-diesel engine sending 147kW (at 3800rpm) and 440Nm (at 1750-2750rpm) to all four wheel via an eight-speed automatic transmission. 

This Palisade has an AWD system called 'HTrac' (Hyundai Traction) and it operates on a similar principle to most other AWD systems in city-going SUVs, and that is it directs power to the appropriate wheels to optimise traction. 

This vehicle also has multiple drive modes – 'Comfort', 'Sport', 'Eco' and 'Smart' – for on road and 'Sand', 'Mud' and 'Snow' for when you go 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.

The XC90 Recharge (Volvo calls it this, so for simplicity let's do it, too) is an all-wheel drive SUV with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder supercharged and turbo-charged engine, producing 246kW and 440Nm, plus an electric motor which adds 65kW and 240Nm.

Shifting gears is an eight-speed automatic and acceleration is rapid at 5.5 seconds for the 0-100km/h sprint.

All XC90s have a 2400kg braked towing capacity.

The 11.6kWh lithium ion battery is located under the floor in a tunnel which runs down the centre of the car covered by the centre console and hump in the footwell of the second row.

If you didn’t realise, this is the type of hybrid you need to plug into a power source to charge the batteries. A power point is fine but a wall unit is faster.  If you don’t plug in, the battery will only get tiny whiff of charge from the regenerative braking and that won’t be enough to put a tiny dent in your fuel consumption.

Fuel consumption is listed as 7.3L/100km on a combined cycle. On this test, I recorded 9.0L/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.

Volvo says that after a combination of urban and open roads the XC 90 Recharge should use 2.1L/100km. That’s incredible - we’re talking about a five-metre long, 2.2-tonne, seven-seat SUV here.

In my testing the fuel economy varied greatly depending on how and where I drove the XC90.

There was a week where I only drove up to 15km a day doing the day care drop-offs, the shopping, popping into work in the CBD, but all within 10km of my home. With 35km of electric range I found that I only had to charge the XC90 every second day to keep it topped up to full and, according to the trip computer, after 55km of travel I was using 1.9L/100km.

I recharged using the outdoor power point in my driveway and using this method would take just less than five hours to fully charge the battery from empty. A wall unit or fast charger will top the battery up much quicker.

The charging cable is long at more than 3m, and the flap on the XC90 is located on the front left wheel guard.

If you don’t have a way of charging the XC90 regularly then fuel consumption will go up, obviously.

This happened when our family took a break down the coast and the holiday house we stayed at didn’t have a power point within reach. So, while we had been charging the car regularly in the week beforehand with a few long trips thrown in on motorways, for the four days we were away I didn’t plug it in at all.

After 598.4km I filled it back to full at the petrol pump with 46.13 litres of premium unleaded. That comes to 7.7L/100km, which is still great fuel economy given that the last 200km would have been without charging.

The lesson is the XC90 Recharge is most fuel efficient on short suburban and city trips with daily or every second-day charging.  

A larger capacity battery would add more range and make this plug-in hybrid SUV better suited to people who live further out of the city and do more motorway miles.

This is an easy driving wagon. It's nice and comfortable, it's refined, it's always composed and it's always controlled and it's just an all around nice drive from the engine and the auto, which are a really good pairing. 

As mentioned earlier, kerb weight is listed as 2070kg and this Palisade has an 11.8m turning circle, so it’s not an insubstantial vehicle to steer around.

It’s not very dynamic, not very lively, but it has a nice consistent feel to it all – and being composed and consistent is important with something that's intended as a people mover, as a family vehicle because that's what you want. 

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

There are the paddle shifters on the steering wheel if you want a little bit more input into shifting up and down in the automatic transmission, but it’s rather clever so you can just let it do its job as it does that nicely. 

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 you’re driving in. 

And while this Palisade is impressive in terms of performance and driving characteristics, there are a few niggles. 

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

Some of the driver-assist tech is often abrupt and intrusive. The traffic-sign recognition (or speed limit assist) is clunky. It detects and reacts to signs that don't apply at that time of day, say school zone signs, or it picks up on signs that don't apply to that section of road.

So, it's forever chopping and changing between speeds you should be at and 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. 

Now for some dirty talk. 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 sections was good. It's a 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; you have that extra 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 adjust throttle response, engine output, and the automatic transmission, among other things, to ensure you keep moving safely with 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).

We put more than 700km on the clock of the XC90 Recharge during the three weeks it stayed with my family, covering a lot of motorway miles, country roads and a stack of urban usage, too.

Now without sounding like one of the haters who hated on me the last time I test-drove a Volvo hybrid, you will need to charge the XC90 Recharge all the time if you want to get not only the best fuel economy, but also the best performance from the SUV, too.

There’s the extra oomph from the motor, when you have enough charge in the ‘tank’ but also the serene and smooth pleasure of driving in electric mode on city and urban trips.

That tranquil electric driving experience feels kind of at odds with a large SUV at first, but having now tested a few big family plug-in hybrids and EVs I can tell you it’s a more enjoyable one.

Movement is not only smooth, but the electric grunt provides a feeling of control with an instant response which I found reassuring in traffic and at intersections.

The transition from electric motor to petrol engine is almost seamless. Volvo and Toyota are only a couple of the few brands which seemed to have achieved this.

The XC90 is large and that presented a challenge when trying to pilot it into my narrow driveaway and in car parks, but light, accurate steering and excellent visibility with large windows and cameras galore helped there.

The auto parking feature works well even on the higgledy-piggledy streets in my neighbourhood.

Topping off an effortless driving experience is air suspension which provides a cushioned and composed ride, with great body control all while wearing those 22-inch wheels and low-profile rubber.

Volvo has for decades been a pioneer of safety systems to such an extreme that people used to make fun of the brand for being overly cautious. Well, take it from this helicopter parent: there’s no such thing as being overly cautious! Besides, these days all car brands are striving to offer advanced safety systems which the XC90 has had for years. Yep, safety is cool now. Which makes Volvo the Kanye of car brands.

Coming standard on the XC90 Recharge is AEB which works at city speeds to brake for pedestrians, cyclists, vehicles and even large animals.

There’s also lane keeping assistance, blind spot warning, cross traffic alert with braking (front and rear).

Steering support provides assistance during at evasive manoeuvre at speeds between 50 and 100km/h.

Curtain airbags cover all three rows and for child seats there are two ISOFIX mounts and three top tether anchor points in the second row. Note, there are no mounts or points for child seats in the third row.

A space-saver spare is under the boot floor.

The XC90 was given the maximum five-star ANCAP rating when it tested in 2015.  

Every Palisade is covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty and roadside assistance is complimentary for the first 12 months, renewed annually (for the life of the vehicle) 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, and pre-paid plans are available over three, four or five years.

The latter costs $2445, which equates to $489 per service. Not cheap but not outrageous. 

The XC90 is covered by a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty. Two service plans are offered: three years for $1500 and five years for $2500.