The Hyundai Palisade is a big family car that can fit a lot of people and their stuff. The new version for 2026 has some fancy upgrades that make it even nicer to ride in.
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The Land Rover Defender is a tough SUV that can handle rough terrains and is popular for outdoor adventures. It's known for its unique look and strong performance off-road.
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Lumbar adjustment is a way to change how much support your lower back gets from the car seat. It helps make long drives more comfortable by allowing you to customize the seat to fit your back better.
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Markups are when dealerships raise the price of a car above what the manufacturer suggests it should cost. This can happen if a car is very popular or hard to find.
F&I is short for finance and insurance, which is the part of the dealership where you finalize the purchase of your car and discuss any extra services you might want.
The Toyota Prius is a car that uses both gas and electricity to save on fuel. It's well-known for being good for the environment and helps people save money on gas.
A plug-in hybrid is a car that can use both electricity and gas. You can charge it at home and drive a certain distance on just electricity before it needs gas.
Financing is when you borrow money to buy a car and pay it back over time, usually with interest. How much you pay depends on your credit score and the deal you get.
LIVE
Hi and welcome to Talking Cars. I'm Jennifer Stockburger. I'm Jake Fisher. And I'm Mike
Quincy. Today we are talking about a popular three-row SUV, the redesigned 2026 Hyundai
Palisade. Just quickly, we got a calligraphy trim, 287 horsepower, 3.5 liter V6, the only
powertrain currently, 8-speed automatic, total MSRP $58,195, assembled in South Korea. And
we are going to jump right in to our best and worst features and love and hate. Let's
start. Will you just get out of it? Let's start with you.
Just got out of it. I've been driving it a few days and so I went, he's laughing. So I met up
with a friend of mine and a bunch of us, we were out running this over and he saw it and he's like,
he's like, oh, wow, you're gonna be kind of checking it out. And he's like, he's like, wow,
it's a Range Rover, but the radio works. And it's not on fire. But here's the thing, you know,
it kind of is a luxury vehicle and not just a luxury vehicle, but like a large, luxurious three
row, all the features. And it kind of makes you scratch your head when you start driving this
vehicle. And you're like, it's a Hyundai? Well, well, not so much that. I mean, like a Hyundai has
gone a couple of long break, but it's more about the other vehicles. So you start thinking about
like BMW and Mercedes and Audi and like, they have these large SUVs that have this kind of room
and that kind of quietness and luxury and features. They cost a lot. Yeah. You know, I mean,
they're like, you know, six figures, these vehicles. And you have a really hard time saying,
why is that extra cost required? Because this is absolutely luxuries. I mean, I think the thing
that really gets me is just the quietness and the ride and just, and it does all that without
being kind of like floaty and totally disconnected. So it's, I mean, overall, it's a very positive
experience. Question. Did your friend who noticed the Palisade, were they reacting to the exterior,
like the styling? Did they see it? Like they thought just how it looked. It looked upscale
and they couldn't tell that it was a Hyundai. Yeah, no, you're actually totally right. I mean,
this was before they didn't have the experience of driving it, which is just silence. You know,
you look at these 21 inch wheels and like, oh, it's going to ride bad. It doesn't. It rides smooth
and it's very low road noise and all that stuff. But yeah, that's exactly right.
I mean, I think it's a handsome SUV, but it doesn't come, the exterior to me does not,
it's not like this memorable thing where you turn around and you look at it as you walk away or
something. Not that it's ugly or anything, but I didn't think that the exterior styling would
have jazzed your friend. I think the exterior styling is kind of distinctive. I mean, again,
it's that big box. Yeah. I mean, it's really, you know, so, I mean, it kind of stands out and has
a presence and, and like, you know, whatever it does with the headlights, I mean, every car has
got these weird headlights where they're trying to hide them really. It used to be like cars had
these big kind of like eyes, you know, and now it's like they're kind of squinting or get their
eyes closed. How narrow can I make them? They have to still work. Exactly. But I think it does
look like it's got that little silver flare up at the rear. We have a beautiful color, a blue
color of ours and I think it looks really nice. I think people come to Consumer Reports to find
out what they should think about the styling of vehicles because we're known for being car
people. We know in a car is what we think is good looking. So we can't be immune to it. But,
but just remind the styling just reminds me of people reacted to the to the redesigned Santa Fe.
They thought, oh, that looks like a Land Rover Defender. So it's like the stylists at Hyundai
are looking at Land Rover like that. Is this an accident? I think not. Yeah, I think that's right.
And you, something you liked about the Palisade? I agree with Jake. The ride is fantastic. It's
very, very smooth, very comfortable, very quiet, near Lexus-like levels of quiet. I drove it for
about nine hours over the weekend. Oh, you had a lot of seat time. Going way up into the Catskill
Mountains and it is a cocoon of silence. So it is really comforting from that perspective. And
the interior, interior has beautiful finish. This calligraphy trim is super nice. Again,
you kind of bring a friend in, you put them in the interior and you say to them,
tell me what what what car company made this car? And I bet you they wouldn't guess Hyundai.
Yeah, I mean, you covered it up. You mean if you don't tell them what the badge is and and it also
makes you kind of scratch your head like, what's the point of Genesis? You know, I mean, because
right, I mean, but I just want to hold on cocoon. So so I was actually, I wasn't driving in the
Catskills or the Palisades Park, but we were told about that earlier. But no, but I was driving
actually in downtown Hartford. And, you know, it's noisy there and there's potholes and stuff.
And I'm driving along and it's just like, you're, you're in a cocoon. You're, you're,
you're seeing your shoulders just relax. You're all relaxed and you're going over these bad roads
and like, you know, there's sirens going off and you can sort of hear them. But it's just like,
you're, you're kind of seeing everything, but you're not. Yeah, you're very isolated. And speaking
of relaxing, so our calligraphy trim has massage seats. Yes. And what I noticed during a multi hour
drive is that the seats automatically turn on and give you what they call
lumbar adjustment. So like almost every hour or so, the seats kind of like, okay, we're going to
move you. Change your pressure point for a minute. And I didn't know this until I drove it for hours
an hour. Did you like it? I did. Really? I actually did. Our long trip? What? Yeah. I mean, they have
all of these kind of driver reminder systems in a lot of groups, but in the old days, Mercedes used
to pop up the little coffee cup and none of us knew what that meant. But it was a reminder. It's like,
you know, you've been driving for a while, trying to take a break. I mean, but my take on a lot of
those, those massaging things, it's like, you think it's like going to do like some, you know,
some kind of like work on your back and it's kind of like, lumber on, lumber off, lumber up, lumber
down. You can kind of customize it to kind of go to kind of, you know, do a rolling kind of thing.
Yeah. And it's not the massage chairs at the mall, you know? No, but a lot of the high end models
that you mentioned, whether it's from Mercedes or BMW, you have to go into the center screen to do
all this stuff. And on all of the controls on the on the click for seats, you just drop your hand
out and they're all right. Including the massage feature. Crazy. So it's like, why do I find this
car so relaxing? The seats are awesome. It's quiet. It's comfortable. And the controls are
super easy. And you just isolated why it's not really up at the level of Mercedes-Benz. Because
it's not complicated. Because it's not complicated. Did you have to tell, I said, I don't, I'm not
going to have to describe to my mother how to get out of the car. It's this lovely, huge brand new.
Oh, wow. Yeah, exactly. And just to, I'm sorry. No, I'm thinking, no, I dare you say, your time is
so you did. Lisa, you bring up comparisons to a lot of the high end European car makers who
have luxury SUVs. One in particular, Mercedes-Benz has those awful sliders to adjust the volume on
the steering wheel. The calligraphy has a metal thumb wheel and you could just, the song comes on
and you are just rocking it and you pop it right. You don't even have to think how easy it is to
turn up the volume for a song that you like. Well, and to throw up another brand, Genesis,
it's kind of like, do you want a Genesis or do you want a Hyundai with better controls at a lower
price? Hmm, interesting. Because yeah, Genesis controls aren't so hot either, but these are
pretty intuitive. Yeah, I think the value and you guys are touching on, on eight ways from Sunday,
you don't even have to start it. And immediately when you get in or walk around it, you're like,
oh, this is a $58,000 SUV because it's got beautiful suede-like headliners, things that you
talk about fit and finish. The cowl has this kind of oval wrap around, beautifully done. Features-wise,
I think of the three of us who have grown children or large children, no one would be happier in
power rear seats, adjustable D-rings in the second row, heated rear seats, everything that you would
be like, these guys could just so adapt. We probably should talk about it a little bit,
because we did get the calligraphy. Right. So the calligraphy is the top trim line and normally
we don't necessarily do that and get the top trim line. Right. But you know, here's what's
really interesting about this vehicle is that this is the volume seller when it comes to the
palestinates. It has been in the last generation. The plans are, again, it's that. And when we went
to buy this, I mean, we look through, we're looking at inventories, this is what they're building.
And it's really interesting because this is somewhat, it's quite a value product. If you
look at even some other other competitors, when you look at Toyota Highland or stuff like that,
you could wind up with this calligraphy, with this high trim with all these features,
kind of in the ballpark of a lot of competitors that aren't that super high trend. So I mean,
once you get into like an Alley or something, things start getting real expensive. But here is a
lot of value. And again, mid fifties and it's a luxury vehicle. It is a luxury. And it feels that way.
And just for clarification, when we go to choose what trim line for the cars that we test, we
ask the manufacturers what you think is going to be like the most popular. We talk to manufacturers,
we look at, we look at, you know, inventories of cars and we just want to get something as
representative, you know, and it's sometimes the other way around. Sometimes they're,
they're taking these high trims and they're sending it to, you know, all the car reviewers
and they're not billing anyone. Everyone's buying like out of the base one. This is the volume.
This is really what you're likely going to buy. If you're going to be looking at that,
if you're not going to be buying a Palisades, you're probably going to be buying a Santa Fe,
right, you know, which is also a lot of value. Yeah. But this is the car. I think I've shared
that my, my nephew and niece have a young child. They're looking at a captain's chair,
three row SUV for baby number two, when baby number two comes. And, you know, she's looking at higher
and I'm going to tell her, please go look at this. Sure. You know. And did we cover what you like
about the car? We don't want to leave anything you like about the car? No, I like you've been
at risk of being, you know, overlapping everything that you guys have said.
What's your login? Right. Right. Power delivery. Not just, you know, I think the V6 does,
and I, you know, I've complained. I don't like turbo lines. You like the power delivery. I do
like the power delivery and we'll get to that. And the quiet and the features. I just can put myself
in my grown kids in this car and say, if you have kids that are 12, 13, they're going to grow,
this is a great family car for them. Access is not, it's not even hard to get in and out of.
I do have a major counter. So what doesn't work for me in this car? So we'll talk about it.
But again, I think immediately you go, I got what I paid for. That's the sense this car gives.
You got even more than you paid for. Right. We've said many times, look at the high trim
of the mainstream model versus the low trim of the luxury model. This is one of those, for sure.
You don't need to do a genesis. Okay. Before we close out with what we love, you know,
anything else you want to add that you're gushing about on the Palisade? Because I have a quick
counter before I go to what we don't love. We definitely have a naughty list too. So go ahead.
The first one for me, and I was not the only one, was that, you know, I talked about the power seats
in the rear for adjustment of the passenger, but also for access to the third row. There's a power
release that clears the second row to get to the third row. It is so painfully slow.
I could have crawled over the seat and gotten back there myself. So yeah, Keith in the video,
he kind of put the timer on it and it takes a long time. And again, I could just imagine
being there in the rain while you're waiting for this thing to do its thing. And there's
not a nice mechanical. I'm just going to flip this out of the way and crawl back there painfully.
So other pain points in the Palisade. Well, cut to the chase. I would never get this car.
I mean, I'm absolutely not. And the reason is, is in this day and age of getting a car that gets
this kind of fuel economy when there is a hybrid on its way. Yeah. I mean, again, we so, I mean,
you look at the Santa Fe, right? You know, kind of like the little sister to this vehicle.
This the hybrid is so much better. You know, it gets great, much better fuel economy.
You give up nothing. In fact, it drives even better. So I mean, in this day and age,
like, like, I mean, you look at what Toyota is doing. Toyota is kind of kind of kind of
they're all I even bother having the gas one. And you know, I'm thinking about it. I'm like,
just just a little bit more. And it's kind of like you go into a restaurant,
there's two hamburgers on the menu. Okay, one is $8, one's $8.75. The one's $8.75 tastes better.
It's better for you. It's less. And you're going to make up that 75 cents in your,
you know, medical bills, you know, over the next year, you're going to get the money back.
It just almost seems like why would you not go and just wait and get the hybrid powertrain?
Just because you know, I mean, Hyundai, Toyota, so many of these manufacturers are just doing them
so well, you're giving up nothing, and you're just getting, getting, getting. So for clarity,
are you saying wait for the Palisade hybrid or go for the Santa Fe hybrid?
No, I'm saying wait, wait, wait. Don't get this palisade.
Don't get a gasoline only engine in 2025. I got to look at my watch as it would.
But I'm, your hand's not working. And I think that's worth. EPA estimates on the,
the non-hybrid Palisade 18 highway or 18 city, 24 highway, 20 combined estimates,
or what we got on the Santa Fe hybrid 34. It's a huge job. And we have said Tucson hybrid,
Santa Fe hybrid, better vehicles. I found it interesting. I'm watching opening week football
games. And there's Hyundai Palisade commercials. It's not for this car. It's for the hybrid.
It's not on sale quite yet. Very soon. But they're, they've got everything in, you know,
I'm watching Chief's Chargers and it's not Palisade hybrid, not Palisade. So I thought it
very interesting. A corporate Hyundai is like, we just need to get a big three-year-old SUV out
there. The hybrid isn't ready. It's just whatever. Yeah. I agree with you. I wait.
Yeah. I would, I would not buy this vehicle either. Not just because of the powertrain issue,
but because I have no need in my life for a three-row SUV. Sure. My kids aren't small. And so
hauling a bunch of adults around. I'm almost never utilizing a three-row vehicle that we might have
in our test fleet. Were your kids on your road trip? Oh, sorry. No, no, no. I had a blissfully
silent solo nine-hour day. And I never, I never get any alone. It was, it was fantastic. I loved it.
All alone in the cocoon. But, but so, so not only does our Palisade not have the hybrid powertrain.
Yeah. See, I'm going to sharply disagree with you about the smooth power delivery. Okay. I think
this drivetrain is awful. I wrote in my notes, God awful. Oh, GA, absolutely. Deal breaker for me.
Okay. Merging on the highway, you're basically, you know, asking the engine in the transmission,
would you pretty please deliver a little bit of power? So underpowered. It just, it isn't responsive.
It doesn't feel like it's in any hurry. I looked in the digital logbook, a bunch of other
we work with are saying the same word. It's lazy. Yeah. Lazy, lazy, lazy. It's like, you ask the
engine, you know, can we, can we, you know, accelerate in the highway? And then the engine's
like, I don't know, maybe, maybe by lunchtime. I'm not sure. I'm a little busy right now.
I found that this, this powertrain, awful, lazy, just terrible. So to wrap that around,
hybrid may remedy some of that. Absolutely. Yeah. Which, you know,
based on what they've been doing, what you're saying, just, just, just hold out for the hybrid
and, and, and don't, and don't bother with me. I agree with the 20 miles per gallon.
When you can get a decent sized vehicle, a hybrid, it gets much better fuel economy. Again,
deal breaker for me 100%. And the other, the outside of it too is the, the M word,
minivan. Yeah. You really want to bring a bunch of people and stuff. There are minivans. Yes.
And they're roomier and fuel efficient and all the carnival hybrid, the Toyota Sienna.
They're all hybrids. Right. And much better fuel economy. Much more road shorter than I am.
The, the, the like 600 mile cruising range of the Toyota Sienna. That's amazing. That's the way to
go. Yeah. I have a deal breaker too. And it's very different in that it's driving position.
So maybe it's my wee little legs. I'm trying to get very close to the saddle.
St. Patrick's diversion of tone. My wee little legs. So when I pull up to my wee little legs,
and I'm a person who very much likes upright bus driver type of driving position, I found myself
having to get closer than I wanted to the wheel, even though everything adjusts.
And even then, I don't know if you've ever, you probably haven't experienced this, but I felt
like the only engagement I had on the accelerator in the break was like my big toe. It's like the
angle and the placement of the pedals. I felt there was not that confident full foot, full foot.
I couldn't find it. I went searching, I think back to Suburbans and Tahoe's and Silverhouse,
for an adjustable pedal that could have helped me out. Interesting. Yeah. And there wasn't one.
And I Googled those. The Hyundai Palisade have adjustable pedals. It does not, but if there's
an appeal, it could benefit. I think I'm not sure. And I think this is an awesome vehicle for
more petite stature of people who have a family. Check it out. Drive it a little bit. I just couldn't
get the right engagement. Well, this is part of the reason why, you know, when we go test the
cars, not like, you know, one person go drives it around and says, this is good. We have a jury
of people. And everyone's a little bit different, like sit a little bit differently. So, you know,
again, your mileage may vary. Get in the car, try it out, make sure. The consumer reports advice
is make sure it fits you. I mean, if it fits me, fine. It doesn't fit you. If it might fit you.
Although I did see a little bit of the top of the driver instrument panel was cut off by the
steering wheel. I couldn't quite see. Were you sat? Yeah. But that was my only issue with the
driving position, per se. Yeah. But, you know, definitely, people just think because we like
a car, we recommend a car that it's going to be perfect for them. And you can't, you have to get
in and find out for yourself. You do. Absolutely. It has to be a fit, particularly a 58 grand. You
know, you have to make it yours. And for me, that would have been, it was enough when I had it for a
couple of days when I was like, I can't fix this for myself. Yeah. Despite all the tailor ability
that this car had, it couldn't make it work. No forward equity. Yeah. No. But there were some
ones. Sorry. There were vehicles that there's no work around. Like some of the Hondas that we've
tested recently, the seats were just terrible. There's no work around there. For you, the driving
position, you can't fix it. You can't make the drive train. You can't work around. You know,
you've got to go with it. So there is our goods and bads and uglies. We love it. We love it. Well,
we would not buy it. Yeah. Right. Very interesting. To summarize. But for most, I think they would be
certainly feeling value in this car, regardless of if it's this one or the hybrid one. But wait,
wait, wait. All of us would wait. This vehicle is going to be perfect for some people. Yes,
it's going to be perfect for some people and many people, I think. So we will have full test results
of the 2026 Hyundai Palisade. The Hyundai Palisade Hybrid is coming very soon. We're assured fall
2025, which we'll look at Jake's watch 2025. It is coming soon. We will certainly be buying a hybrid
and testing it as well. So look back for test results. Probably we will talk about it on this
podcast at some point. But yeah, look to cr.org for all of the Palisade news. Moving on to audience
questions. As always, keep them coming. cr.org slash talking cars. If we use your question on
the podcast, you'll get a fancy schmancy, you know, auto test t-shirt sent your way, as well as our
tremendous appreciation because we do love the questions. The first question today comes from
Darren. I've been an average follower of CR since I was a kid, kind of like yourself. And I use it
for many purchases. But I wondered whether your readers tend to give Toyota's consistently high
praise in the survey because they know CR gives Toyota good reviews. In other words, could it be
self reinforcing? Might people who read CR be Toyota people and rate them highly because they
believe Toyota's are better? Could you could it be biased? Do Dodge people read CR? So I'm going to
go to you, who has the greatest insight on the survey. And don't dodge the question. Oh my god.
I'm just going to stop right here. I'm done. No, it's a great question. But what's interesting
is in the premise is like, why are our readers, our members, are they Toyota people and do they
love Toyota's? That's kind of like the idea. And what's interesting is we ask people, do you love
your car? Do you love your car? So we have owner satisfaction ratings. Now, I mean, just to be
clear, I mean, our reliability does come from our members. And we have, you know, 300,000 some odd,
you know, cars in our survey. And that's how we determine that. But we also ask about your
satisfaction with your car. Do you love that car? It's really mouth that. And you could go on our
site and you could take a look at the most loved brands and Toyota is on that list. And where is
it? Where is it on the list? It's about mid-pack. Yeah. So if you really ask our members, do they
love their car? It trails manufacturers like Chevrolet. They like the car. They like the car.
They like Chevrolet and they like Ford's better. And in fact, at the top of the list
is a brand called Rivian, which by the way, we don't recommend any one of their vehicles.
So, so in terms of what they love, it's not necessarily dictated by what we're recommending.
They do tell us about their problems with the Rivians. They do tell us
every year that Toyota's tend to be much more problem free than other vehicles.
And they don't tell us. And the Rivians had a lot of problems. They did get, you know, that's
one of the reasons we don't recommend them because the reliability was the bottom of the barrel.
Yes. But there's often a dichotomy between, there can be a dichotomy between reliability
and owner satisfaction. My favorite example is the Jeep Wrangler. Right. We have CR members
that buy a lot of jeeps that buy Wranglers. They love them. They love them. But their reliability.
And they tell us? Absolutely. And they tell us that, too. So I think that's exactly it. So when
we rate vehicles, we have an overall score on, we look at things like owner satisfaction, we look
at reliability, we're weighing reliability a lot more than we are owner satisfaction. Because
just because someone might like their Jeep Wrangler doesn't mean that you're going to like a Jeep
Wrangler to whatever you need to do with it. So we do look at that, but reliability and how it
does in our tests, that's, that's actually much more. And I think we give people the tools,
I hope we give people the tools of, hey, this isn't going to be reliable, be it Jeep Wrangler
or anything else. And they say, well, I love it. I'm getting it anyway. But at least they know what
they're up in for. And the other thing, you know, a lot of people ask questions like, why do you guys
hate Jeep Wranglers? And we're like, we don't. Well, we have one. The whole, this is being driven all
the time. We don't hate them. We are just reporting that the people who own them tell us that there's
a lot of rums. That's what we're saying. I've had a number of people that also work in automotive
journalism say those kinds of things. Why don't you like fill in the blank? Right. Right. And I,
and I have to always say them, it isn't whether we'd like them or don't like them. You know, we
test them. We have all of these tests. We have all the survey information and the numbers fall
where they fall. It doesn't do with whether we like them or not. It's not a popularity conference.
It's not that we choose our recommended models. But one of the, one of the, we talk about
owner satisfaction reliability. One of the, one of the true bright parts of, for me in the last
survey was the Ford Mustang GT. It was redesigned. It did really well in our testing. Aces for
reliability. Aces for owner satisfaction. And when we did that year end wrap up of the cars of the
year, like, oh Mustang GT. So I was like, yeah, I was, I was, I was right about that. It was everyone's,
and we loved it. We loved it. But I think again, first world problem, can you have,
would it be the car they drive every day? Well, yeah, that's, that's a thing. Sucks. Maybe not
the right tool. We're lucky to try them all. So thank you, Darren. Excellent question. Hopefully
that makes some sense. Yes. Hopefully not self-reinforcing. But anyway, the second question
comes from Pratik. I hope I'm pronouncing that correctly. I think I am from Grapevine, Texas.
Have you guys experienced what I call advertised bait and switch teaser rates and online tools
on manufacturers or dealers websites to create your own deal and then take it to the dealer?
Recently, I looked into leasing a Kia Nero EV. Kia's online available inventory page had a tool
called Easy Buy, which gave various buying options, including leasing, based on my estimated credit
score and down payment for stock already on the dealer's lots, which they love. Based on that,
I got a deal that pretty much matched what was advertised by Kia. I was skeptical, but I went
to see the dealer. After some back and forth, the salesperson came back saying they could not
honor it because of the additional cost for the dealership that was not listed in the deal.
To me, that just seemed like the dealer was holding out for someone desperate enough
to pay more. Do you have any recommendations on how to navigate a situation like this?
So when it comes to car buying, we often defer to our expert Keith Berry, who writes a lot of
our car buying content. And that was what we did in this case. But listen to what Keith has to say
about Pratik's question. I am so glad you asked this question. Now, I don't know what happened
in your exact situation, but this is not uncommon. What we're finding in talking to dealers and people
who used to work at dealerships and buying cars ourselves is that very often dealerships are
trying to get people in the door. That's the most important thing for them to do is to get someone
in the door because when you're there, they know you'll spend money. And one of the ways they're
doing that is they're anticipating folks who search by price. So what a lot of dealers are doing is
they're advertising a very low price and then making up for it with as many fees, extras, add-ons,
markups as they possibly can in the end. Now, you mentioned this happened with a salesperson going
back and forth. So the deal fell apart before it could go too far. But often what happens is you
go to the dealership, you negotiate a good price with a salesperson, maybe you've even negotiated
online before. But then in the end, you're feeling good about the car. Oh, we just have to bring you
back to the office to have you sign some paperwork. That's called the finance and insurance office or
the F&I office. And at a good dealer, the F&I manager can squeeze an extra $1,500 to $2,000
of profit on a car. And the way they do that is you've already fallen in love with a car,
you think you're just going to be signing some paperwork, you think you already negotiated
the price, so you let your guard down a little bit. And that's when they hit you with, well,
there's this mandatory fee. Oh, well, you definitely want to put on the wheel and tire
protection. Everyone does that. Or they'll even tell you that a fee is non-negotiable when it
actually is. So that's why you want to start by negotiating directly with the dealership.
And you want to start by asking for that out-the-door price. To me, it doesn't matter
how they get you to a good deal. It doesn't matter if it's through extra fees or add-ons and things.
As long as it beats the deal at another dealership. But personally, I would say that at any dealer that
tries to pull this kind of thing, I would stay away from. I wouldn't reward them with my business
because what they're trying to do is wear you down, get you excited about the car, and then come in
with that predatory sales tactic. So good job walking away from this dealer. If another dealer
tries this in the future, unfortunately, it's going to be some time out of your life. But start by
directly emailing the dealership and walk out the second they say, oh, you have to pay this,
you have to pay that over what is listed in that out-the-door price. So it would be safe to say
that Keith gets passionate about this car buying thing and this type of behavior,
be it from manufacturers, dealers, gets him fired up. So any elaboration on Keith's answer,
particularly in the, do you have any recommendations on how to navigate this type of situation?
I mean, I think Keith said it all. I mean, he's our own Andy Runeen. He really summed it up.
He did. I mean, the first sentence of the question was, if we've ever experienced teaser
rates, and the short answer is actually no, because we're not leasing, we're not financing any of our
vehicles. So we have not experienced that per se. But as Keith reiterated, and Keith writes the
stories, I'm one of the ones that buys a lot of cars, so I've seen this on the ground level,
always be ready to walk away. This is good general consumer reports advice. And the thing is,
you have a lot of alternatives. The question focused on one particular car.
And I think back in the 1980s or so, when the Toyotas were decent and Hanas were decent,
everything also was kind of garbage, then you didn't have it many choices. But in today's car
market, there are so many good vehicles out there that if you're not getting the love from the
dealer, go to a different brand, which is something that Keith mentioned. And maybe we could give
some advice on other ones to check out. I mean, check out the Hyundai Kona EV, the Honda Civic
Hybrid or the Toyota Prius, if you're thinking about that. And again, to help you to buy the right
car, the question might be how many miles to you drive. So if you're thinking about an EV,
maybe you might consider a plug-in hybrid to get a certain amount of all electric miles. So the
answer is likely, consider a different car. And I'm sorry, one other thing that I had is Keith
said something about they give you these rates to get you into the dealer. You're saying what I was
so when after you buy a car, you might also be enticed with free lifetime oil changes,
free winter tire changeover, that gets you back into the dealer, which gives them an opportunity
to sell you something or trade in that one for a new one and stuff like that. So that's the same
kind of thing. Keep the foot traffic going into the dealerships. No better service model than the
car that's already up on the lift. Hey, we noticed you need this and this and this. I will say too
that this just highlights the general advice and you said it. I thought you were going to say it
about they're going to advertise their best deal. That's what's going to bring you in. And this
idea that you need to know where your credit score falls, et cetera. I just bought that ridgeline.
I got great financing, 0.99, which I did finance, but that was very clear. It was tied to the credit
score. So depending on where you fall, that 0.99 that they might have advertised all over,
may not be the rate you're eligible for. So there's a lot of pre-homework, at least you
should know before or it's in the fine print of that ad if you look closely.
It would be nice if the stores and the manufacturers kind of got on the same page about some of this
stuff. It is. Even Nero EV, I would say go to a different dealer. If your heart's set on that,
go to a different dealer, get a different salesperson. Sometimes that's all it takes
just to make that change. So one thing that Keith says about is kind of this FNI,
they play good cop and bad cop, because the dealer is actually being really nice to you,
the sales guy, and then he's like, go in there and then they're like, yeah, you need this package
and that package and all these things. Here's my advice. Go to consumerreports.org and we have
volumes of information that tells you what you should get on the car and what you should not.
A lot of the stuff is just extra money for the dealership. Some of the stuff is legitimate.
It's hard to figure that out. Check it out on consumerreports.org.
Or non-negotiable anyway. Exactly right.
But yeah, great question. Why car buying still has to be such a pain point? I don't know, but it is.
That's the billion dollar question. It is. So that will do it for this episode,
as always. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. Send your questions,
cr.org, slash talking cars. Thank you and we'll see you next time.
About this episode
The redesigned 2026 Hyundai Palisade is a standout three-row SUV that offers luxury features at a competitive price. The hosts discuss its powerful V6 engine, comfortable ride, and high-quality interior, which rivals more expensive brands like BMW and Mercedes. They highlight the impressive quietness and ease of use of controls, including massage seats. However, concerns are raised about the lack of a hybrid option and the slow power seat adjustments. Overall, while the Palisade impresses, the hosts recommend waiting for the upcoming hybrid version for better fuel efficiency.
On this episode, we discuss the 2026 Hyundai Palisade. The redesigned three-row SUV excels in nearly every area. From its stylish design to its intuitive controls, our experts found few flaws with the Palisade, aside from one major issue. Additionally, we answer audience questions about CR's Reliability and Owner Satisfaction surveys and offer tips to avoid deceptive sales tactics at the dealership.
