Compare the2024 Hyundai PalisadeVS 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander

Both the Palisade and Grand Highlander have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Palisade has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Grand Highlander’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Palisade are reminded to check the back seat if they opened the rear door before starting out. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Palisade has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning with Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist, systems which detect vehicles approaching from the sides and can automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. Only the Grand Highlander Limited/Platinum offers Parking Support Brake.

Both the Palisade and the Grand Highlander have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Hyundai Palisade is safer than the Grand Highlander:

The Hyundai Palisade achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The Grand Highlander is not a “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.

The Palisade comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Grand Highlander’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Hyundai’s powertrain warranty covers the Palisade 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Toyota covers the Grand Highlander. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Grand Highlander ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

The Palisade’s corrosion warranty is 2 years longer than the Grand Highlander’s (7 vs. 5 years).

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Palisade for 1 year and 11000 miles longer than Toyota pays for maintenance for the Grand Highlander (3/36,000 vs. 2/25000).

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2023 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are better in initial quality than Toyota vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai above average in initial quality. With 6 more problems per 100 vehicles, Toyota is rated below average.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than Toyota vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai third in reliability, above the industry average. With 10 more problems per 100 vehicles, Toyota is ranked fifth.

The Palisade has more powerful engines than the Grand Highlander:

As tested in Motor Trend the Hyundai Palisade is faster than the Toyota Grand Highlander:

In heavy traffic or at stoplights the Palisade’s engine automatically turns off when the vehicle is stopped, saving fuel and reducing pollution. The engine is automatically restarted when the driver gets ready to move again. If the conditions warrant or the driver wishes, the system can be manually disabled at any time for the duration of a trip with its optional disable switch. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer an automatic engine start/stop system.

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Hyundai Palisade uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Grand Highlander Hybrid Max requires premium, which can cost on average about 82.8 cents more per gallon.

The Palisade has 1.6 gallons more fuel capacity than the Grand Highlander Hybrid’s standard fuel tank (18.8 vs. 17.2 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups. The Palisade has a gallon more fuel capacity than the Grand Highlander’s standard fuel tank (18.8 vs. 17.8 gallons).

The Palisade stops much shorter than the Grand Highlander:

The Palisade’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 60 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Grand Highlander XLE’s 65 series tires. The Palisade’s optional tires have a lower 50 series profile than the Grand Highlander Limited/Platinum’s 55 series tires.

The Palisade offers an optional automatic rear load leveling suspension to keep ride height level with a heavy load or when towing. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer a load leveling suspension.

For better handling and stability, the track (width between the wheels) on the Palisade is 1.9 inches wider in the front and 2.2 inches wider in the rear than on the Grand Highlander.

The Palisade Limited HTRAC handles at .81 G’s, while the Grand Highlander Platinum AWD pulls only .80 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

The Palisade Calligraphy HTRAC executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.6 seconds quicker than the Grand Highlander XLE AWD (27 seconds @ .63 average G’s vs. 28.6 seconds @ .58 average G’s).

The Palisade is 4.7 inches shorter than the Grand Highlander, making the Palisade easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Palisade has 2.4 inches more front legroom, 1.6 inches more front hip room, 1 inch more front shoulder room, 2.9 inches more rear legroom, .7 inches more rear hip room, 2 inches more rear shoulder room and .6 inches more third row headroom than the Grand Highlander.

Pressing a button automatically lowers the Palisade’s second row seats and pressing a button automatically lowers or raises the Palisade Limited/Calligraphy’s third row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

While the Grand Highlander Hybrid can only tow 3500, any Palisade can tow a minimum of 5000 pounds.

The Palisade uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Grand Highlander uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The Palisade (except SE)’s optional Easy Access Seat glides the driver’s seat back when the door is unlocked or the ignition is switched off, making it easier for the driver to get in and out. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer an easy entry system.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts detailed tests on headlights for their range both straight ahead and in curves and to be certain they don’t exceed acceptable amounts of glare to oncoming drivers. The Palisade’s headlights were rated “Good” by the IIHS, while the Grand Highlander’s headlights are rated “Acceptable.”

The Palisade’s standard rear and side view mirrors have an automatic dimming feature. These mirrors can be set to automatically darken quickly when headlights shine on them, keeping following vehicles from blinding or distracting the driver. The Grand Highlander has an automatic rear view mirror, but its side mirrors don’t dim.

The Palisade SEL/XRT/Limited/Calligraphy has standard heated front seats and second and third row heated seats also available, which keep the driver and passengers extremely comfortable in the winter. Toyota doesn’t offer heated seats in the third row of the Grand Highlander.

The Palisade Calligraphy has standard massaging front seats in order to maximize comfort and eliminate fatigue on long trips. Massaging seats aren’t available in the Grand Highlander.

The Palisade Calligraphy’s Remote Smart Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. Remote Smart Parking Assist will park and retrieve your car remotely: press a button and watch it park itself. This is ideal for tight locations. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Hyundai Palisade and the Toyota Grand Highlander, based on reliability, safety and performance.

The Hyundai Palisade outsold the Toyota Grand Highlander by 86% during 2023.