Auto review: What's old is new in the all-new 2020 Hyundai Palisade

Times change, but great ideas never do.

Consider portable music, which is far from a new idea. In 1924, Zenith introduced the first portable radio, although few today would consider it that today. In subsequent decades came the pocket size transistor radio, the Sony Walkman and the iPod. Now most people carry around their music on a smartphone.

Basic ideas rarely change. What does is the technology or design that completes the idea.

Consider our current fascination with SUVs and crossovers, family-friendly transportation that counts seven-passenger sedans, stations wagons and minivans as predecessors. They all offer three rows of seating, two of which fold flat for cargo hauling, contained in a cargo-friendly box-like shape. Dull but dependable, they are essential for the mundane tasks of daily life. What they lack in glamour they make up for in usefulness, like the 2020 Hyundai Palisade.

OK, maybe that’s unfair, for the Palisade has presence, if merely from its size, bold grille and interlocking light design. Crisply chiseled, it looks confident while retaining the scent of civility and a dollop of wackiness; just check out the bright work that accents the side windows.

And while it effectively updates the Santa Fe XL it replaces, it also employs a new old idea: the Atkinson Cycle engine. Invented by Englishman James Atkinson in 1882, it uses fuel more efficiently than a conventional engine but generates less power as a result. (This is why it’s commonly used on modern gas-electric hybrid vehicles, where the electric motors can make up for an power deficit.)

The Palisade’s 3.8-liter V-6 switches between Atkinson and Otto cycles to improve fuel efficiency or provide more power. For instance, highway cruising may find it in in the former mode, while towing would require the latter. Rated at 291-horsepower, it’s mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission that funnels its power to the front wheels or all four.

Acceleration is more than adequate for the task at hand, although the smooth-shifting transmission seems reluctant to downshift most of the time. Hyundai provides a number of driving modes, with the Sport driving mode enhancing the fun-to-drive factor, but this is not what you’d call the driving enthusiast’s choice. It is, perhaps, the family commuter’s choice. It’s an easy vehicle to drive smoothly, and the interior is exceptionally quiet — more so than most vehicles of any kind.

The Palisade is loaded with little conveniences meant to outdo its competition. Some you might expect, like the second-row seats fitted with heat and ventilation, the power-folding third-row seats or standard Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Others are unexpected. There’s a one-touch button that moves the second-row seat to allow third-row access. Then there’s the Qi wireless charging pad, and the in-car intercom system that allows the driver to speak directly to the second or third rows through the audio system speakers.

Although the driver’s seat felt firm, flat and uncomfortable, it was otherwise difficult to not be impressed.

Certainly the 2020 Hyundai Palisade checks all the boxes in a way the Santa Fe XL couldn’t. 

It’s very much the exceptional, eager student. Hard working and eager to please, what it lacks in personality it more than makes up in its ability to serve — an idea as old as humanity.