2026 Hyundai Palisade Vs. 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe: 5 Major Differences
These SUVs have a large pricing overlap, so it can be tricky for Hyundai fans to decide which one is the better buy. To help you make that decision, we've outlined five major differences between the 2026 Palisade and 2026 Santa Fe.
Related: Every 2026 Hyundai Model Year Update You Need To Know
Both SUVs come with gas and hybrid powertrains, but the Palisade has more grunt in both configurations.
In the Santa Fe, a 2.5-liter four-cylinder turbocharged engine makes 277 horsepower and 311 lb-ft of torque, paired with a newly standard eight-speed automatic and front- or all-wheel drive. By comparison, the standard Palisade has a 3.5-liter V6 with 287 hp and 260 lb-ft of torque; it has the same drivetrain choices as the Santa Fe.
Moving on to the hybrids, the Santa Fe Hybrid's 1.6-liter four-pot hybrid makes 231 hp and 271 lb-ft combined. The transmission is a six-speed automatic, and it also has FWD or AWD. The hybrid equivalent of the Palisade uses a 2.5-liter four-pot instead, and it makes 329 hp and 339 lb-ft combined, easily more than the Santa Fe Hybrid. FWD is standard and AWD optional.
While the gap between the gas-only models is smaller, many may prefer the smoothness of the Palisade's V6.
Related: 2025 Hyundai Santa Fe: 5 reasons to love it, 2 reasons to think twice
There's no contest here. The base Santa Fe returns 20/29/24 mpg city/highway/combined with FWD, or 20/28/23 mpg with AWD. The much larger V6 in the Palisade gets 19/25/21 mpg with FWD or 18/24/20 mpg with AWD. On paper, then, the Santa Fe's standard engine looks like the winner, as it's not far behind on power, has more torque, and is much more efficient.
The Santa Fe Hybrid manages up to 37/36/36 mpg with FWD and 35/34/34 mpg with AWD. Hyundai has only said that the Palisade Hybrid is expected to get over 30 mpg and has a range of up to 619 miles. In the Santa Fe Hybrid, you can cover up to 637 miles on a full tank.
Both these SUVs have slick, airy interiors. Materials are of a high quality and there's no shortage of screen real estate and tech to keep the whole family connected. The larger Palisade has an advantage in terms of accommodating passengers, though.
Depending on the trim, the Santa Fe can only seat seven or six occupants. All Palisades can seat at least seven occupants, and if you go for the base SE or the Hybrid SEL Premium, it's possible to seat up to eight people.
While both vehicles have generous space in the first two rows, the Santa Fe is more cramped in its third row, where it has 37.7 inches of headroom and 30 inches of legroom. In the Palisade's third row, you'll find 37.8 inches of headroom and 32.1 inches of legroom, so this is the better choice if you ever need to put older teens or adults in the back row.
The Santa Fe lineup begins at $34,800 for the SE with FWD and goes all the way up to $50,250 for the Santa Fe Calligraphy Hybrid with AWD. For the base Palisade, expect to pay $38,935 for the SE with FWD and as much as $58,280 for the Hybrid Calligraphy.
There are some big gaps in pricing between comparable trims. For instance, the Santa Fe Calligraphy costs $47,350, but the Palisade Calligraphy goes for $54,060, which is $6,710 more. Both these trims have classy Nappa leather, the highway driving assist system, and a camera-based rearview mirror. You do get more luxurious accommodations in the Palisade, though, such as third-row heated seats and even power-adjustable second-row seats.
If you don't need a bigger third row with all the extras, you can save a lot by going for the Santa Fe.
If their spacious cargo areas aren't enough, you may want to consider how much these crossovers can tow. The Santa Fe can manage 4,500 pounds in XRT guise or up to 2,000 lbs with the hybrid. The Palisade can handle up to 5,000 lbs, or as much as 4,000 lbs for the hybrid.
All Santa Fe and Palisade models come with standard trailer sway control.
If you absolutely need a V6, more power, or a lot of third-row space, go for the Palisade. But if you want an efficient, high-value three-row SUV, the Santa Fe is better.
Between these two extremes, choosing between the Santa Fe and Palisade becomes more complicated, and could come down to comparing specification sheets and individual trim prices. The new Santa Fe is a vast improvement over the outgoing model, so has moved closer in overall capability to the more premium Palisade.
Either way, you can't go wrong. These are two highly competitive products that reside at or near the top of the class.
Related: 2026 Toyota RAV4 Vs. 2026 Honda CR-V: 5 Major Differences
Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
PlusAI Reveals Key Performance Indicators For Commercial Readiness
PlusAI, an artificial intelligence company commercializing AI-based virtual driver software for factory-built autonomous commercial trucks, has released a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) designed to track progress towards commercial readiness of their SuperDrive autonomous driving system. PlusAI is headquartered in Silicon Valley with operations in the United States and Europe. PlusAi is working with partners including TRATON GROUP's Scania, MAN, and International brands, Hyundai Motor Company, Iveco Group, Bosch, and DSV as they move towards deployment of next-generation autonomous trucks. PlusAI has deployed autonomous driving technology across over five million miles of driving in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. These real-world operations have generated a proprietary dataset that fuels PlusAI's technology development. Leveraging this data and advanced generative AI models, PlusAI has built a generalizable "driving intelligence" platform using auto-labeling, model distillation, and highly optimized in-vehicle neural networks. Key Performance Indicators for Commercial Launch The KPIs just announced are Safety Case Readiness (SCR), Autonomous Miles Percentage (AMP), and Remote Assistance Free Trips (RAFT). For safety assurance, PlusAI uses a safety case approach that is best practice in safety-critical industries including aviation, nuclear, automotive, and oil and gas. The PlusAI Safety Case Readiness metric measures how mature and complete its underlying Safety Case Framework is for SuperDrive to operate safely. The SCF is built on a multi-tiered structure of safety claims, sub-claims, and supporting evidence, organized around five core pillars that cover underlying architecture, processes, performance, and maintenance needed for safe operations. Specifically: According to PlusAI, the Safety Case Framework supports transparency and accountability by sharing key elements of the framework with stakeholders and by aligning with industry standards and best practices, such as UL4600 and ISO26262, in automated vehicle safety assurance. The Framework provides the basis for PlusAI's risk-based approach to safety validation and helps inform regulatory engagement, operational readiness, and product maturity. The chart below shows the evolution of the SCR factors since 2024, aiming for commercial launch. Autonomous Miles Percentage To assess the performance of its autonomous system, PlusAI uses the Autonomous Miles Percentage metric. This is defined as the percentage of total distance driven by SuperDrive on a specified route that is completed under full autonomous control, without intervention from a remote operator or onboard safety driver. AMP reflects SuperDrive's ability to sustain autonomous operation across varying conditions along a commercial corridor. AMP is a route-specific measure that quantifies the extent and reliability of SuperDrive in real-world operations. It complements PlusAI's Remote Assistance Free Trips metric by providing a continuous measure of autonomous engagement across distance traveled and supports readiness assessments, regulatory engagement, and system maturity evaluation. Remote Assistance Free Trips PlusAI's Remote Assistance Free Trips (RAFT) measure captures the percentage of autonomous trips completed without any intervention from a remote operator or an onboard safety driver on a specified commercial route. A trip is considered RAFT-compliant if SuperDrive maintains full control from departure to arrival—without any human assistance to control the vehicle. PlusAI notes that, while remote assistance will always be available if needed, this metric highlights SuperDrive's operational independence, technical maturity, and readiness for scaled deployment. Looking at the set of charts, in the first half of 2025, PlusAI achieved significant advancements in autonomous performance metrics, reaching 86% Safety Case Readiness (SCR), 98% Autonomous Miles Percentage (AMP), and 76% Remote Assistance Free Trips (RAFT), up from 75%, 97%, and 69% respectively in the second half of 2024. Commercial Launch Threshold For commercial launch, PlusAI is targeting 100% Safety Case Readiness, and more than 90% Remote Assistance-Free Trips. The company says that achieving these milestones will demonstrate that SuperDrive has the safety, performance, and operational efficiency required for real-world commercial deployment, enabling trucking fleet operators to complete entire routes without human intervention. PlusAI is currently conducting public road testing in Texas and Sweden with customer fleet trials scheduled for fall of 2025. "We have a clear roadmap to the commercial launch of SuperDrive," said David Liu, CEO and Co-Founder of PlusAI. "By publicly sharing these performance metrics on a regular basis, we're demonstrating our unwavering commitment to the safe and scalable deployment of factory-built autonomous trucks. We believe it's essential for partners, customers, regulators, and all road users to have visibility into our safety-driven progress and our disciplined approach toward commercializing autonomous driving technology." "Our AV 2.0 architecture marks a major shift in how we design and deliver autonomous driving systems. By replacing hand-written components with end-to-end AI models, we've simplified the overall system and accelerated performance improvements. This approach ensures we'll be ready for broad deployment as soon as our factory-built autonomous trucks begin production in 2027. We're excited to be at the forefront of autonomous driving technology," said Tim Daly, Chief Architect at PlusAI. Looking Forward PlusAI announced in June 2025 that it plans to go public via a merger with Churchill Capital Corp IX, with timing set for Q4 this year. As PlusAI transitions to a public company, it intends to report these KPIs regularly to provide transparency on its path to commercial launch in Texas in 2027. PlusAI's go-to-market partner in the U.S. is truck-maker International. Per the press release, PlusAI is demonstrating steady progress toward commercial launch of factory-built autonomous trucks in 2027. Initial launch is expected to be in the Texas Triangle, later expanding to other freight corridors in the U.S. and Europe. Last week, Aurora Innovation announced they have expanded their operational design domain to include nighttime operations. Aurora is running driverless trucks in Arizona and Texas. The company said they are close to also accommodating operations in heavy rain. For scaling up, Aurora has go-to-market partnerships with PACCAR and Volvo Group. Another autonomous truck developer, Kodiak Robotics plans to go public via a SPAC sometime during the second half of 2025. The company provides commercial driverless trucking in an off-road setting. Autonomous truck developers Bot Auto and Waabi have announced plans to begin commercial driverless operations later this year. While autonomous trucks are generally allowed in the U.S. due to the lack of any specific vehicle regulations, the full rollout will be accelerated by effective federal regulations. The Autonomous Vehicles Industry Association (AVIA) has been advocating this for some time. Now the political winds are blowing favorably. Last month, California Congressman Vince Fong introduced the AMERICA DRIVES Act, an acronym for 'Autonomous Mobility Ensuring Regulation, Innovation, Commerce, and Advancement Driving Reliability in Vehicle Efficiency and Safety' Act. Industry appears to be in support of the provisions in the Act. Legacy truck OEMs own the supply chain, the factories, the support network, and the customer relationships. Thus, OEMs are critical to commercialization when it comes to scaling truck autonomy. For AV truck players who don't have such a partnership, the road ahead is challenging. All in all, the tech is working 'in the wild' and steadily getting better. In the wilds of Congress, we're seeing the most momentum yet in setting a Federal Safety Framework for truck autonomy. Driverless trucking is showing promise. Across multiple players, the truck autonomy space is moving steadily into the commercialization phase. Disclosure: Richard Bishop is an Advisor to and/or an equity holder in the following companies mentioned in this article: Aurora, Plus.
Washington Post
13 hours ago
- Washington Post
Owners of cargo ship that crashed into Baltimore bridge sue company that built vessel
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The owners of the cargo ship that crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge are suing the company that built the vessel, alleging negligence in the design of a critical switchboard on the ship. Grace Ocean Private and Synergy Marine PTE Ltd, the owners of the Dali, filed the lawsuit last week against Hyundai Heavy Industries in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Yahoo
16 hours ago
- Yahoo
Toyota Might Bring a New Truck to the U.S. That Would Defy All the Odds
Currently, just two trucks exist in the compact pickup market — Toyota is prepared to get in on the action. Led by historically low fuel prices, regulatory loopholes and changing consumer preferences, a variety of factors have contributed to the ever-growing size of vehicles in the United States. Ultimately, though, there's no getting around the fact that it's spawned something of an arms race wherein drivers are determined to be behind the wheel of the biggest thing on the road — often more out of a feeling of self-preservation than any real need for the size. However, some automakers (Ford and Hyundai) have heeded the call to downsize their offerings and demonstrated a clear demand for compact pickups. With the Maverick and the Santa Cruz being the only two trucks of their kind on the US market, it seems that Toyota now has its eye on a piece of the pie. Compact competition Since introducing the Maverick in late 2021, Ford has improved on the model's sales performance with each passing year. So, even though some 74,370 buyers lined up for a Maverick in the first full year that it was on the market, that number climbed to 94,058 units in 2023 and then again to 131,142 units in 2024. And here's the thing — despite a tumultuous first half of 2025 plagued by tariffs and other political uncertainties, Ford has managed to keep the momentum going. With 98,078 Mavericks moved to date, the Blue Oval has posted an 8.9 percent improvement compared to 2024. Now, it's worth noting that Hyundai hasn't enjoyed the same kind of success in the compact truck segment with the Santa Cruz. Though the brand managed to grow its pickup sales to 36,675 units in 2023, that number fell to 32,033 in 2024. Hyundai is also down 20 percent on the year at just 16,532 trucks sold. In any case, Ford is showing that an established brand reputation in the compact truck segment can make for big gains, while Hyundai is having better luck with its efforts to attract new EV buyers. Given that Toyota's data projects that it could sell 100,000 to 150,000 compact trucks per year in the U.S. alone, there's still plenty of untapped potential for an automaker known for bestsellers like the mid-size Tacoma and the full-size Tundra. Toyota intentions Toyota recognizes as much. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Mark Templin, COO of Toyota America, stated the brand was 'looking at it' when discussing the possibility of entering the small truck market. By contrast, Cooper Ericksen, head of planning and strategy for Toyota North America, proved far more forthcoming in his talks with MotorTrend. Along with confirming that 'decisions have been made' and that 'we're committed to it,' he also revealed that the pickup will be a unibody truck based on the existing TNGA platform. Moreover, in speaking to the outlet, Ericksen acknowledged that 'full-size trucks and midsize trucks have really gotten expensive.' While the added cost is warranted for those who demand the capability, not everyone wants something that can take them into parts unknown. Consider the Slate EV, for instance. In just two weeks, the electric truck managed to rack up more than 100,000 reservations, marketed for affordability and customization potential rather than typical pickup considerations like payload or towing capacity. Regardless of the powertrain, it's clear that 'small' is in style. A matter of time In speaking to MotorTrend, Ericksen also confirmed that 'it's not a matter of 'if,' at this point' but rather 'how to make it work.' At the time, Toyota was primarily focused on bolstering its all-electric lineup, and the development of such vehicles was proving to be far too taxing to justify work on a compact truck simultaneously. After all, the brand had previously announced a plan to introduce 24 new or updated models through a revised mixed-energy initiative. However, circumstances have since changed. From the phasing out of federal tax incentives to the increasingly bipartisan anti-EV sentiments, electric cars aren't likely to be at the top of Toyota's agenda. If the brand wants to capitalize on the success of Ford's Maverick, it's only a matter of time before its own small truck hits the market.
