TFL Car Chat Feb 2, 2026

Hands On With The Three Most Popular Three-Row SUVs! | Ep. 322

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58:50

Car

Hyundai Palisade

The Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro is a special version of the Palisade SUV that is designed for outdoor adventures. It has features that make it good for rough roads and camping.

Car

Lexus TX

The Lexus TX is a fancier version of the Toyota Grand Highlander, with more luxurious features. It's aimed at people who want a stylish and comfortable SUV.

Car

Toyota Highlander

The Toyota Highlander is a popular family SUV that has a lot of space for passengers and luggage, making it great for road trips.

Term

chrome

Chrome is a shiny metal finish that makes parts of the car look nice. It's often used on things like the grille and trim to make the car look fancier.

Term

platinum spec

'Platinum spec' means it's a fancy version of the car with more features and nicer materials than the basic models. It's like getting a luxury upgrade.

Term

exhaust tips

Exhaust tips are the parts at the back of the car where the exhaust comes out. They can look different and make the car sound cooler.

Car

Toyota Supra

The Toyota Supra is a sports car that is famous for being fast and is often modified for even better performance.

Term

Hybrid Max Power Train

The Hybrid Max Power Train is a system that uses both a gas engine and electric motors to make cars more powerful and save fuel.

Term

E-all-wheel drive

E-all-wheel drive means that the car uses electric motors to power all four wheels instead of a mechanical driveshaft. This can help improve the car's efficiency and performance.

Term

CVT means Continuously Variable Transmission, which is a type of automatic transmission that can change gears smoothly without fixed steps. Some people don't like them because they can feel different from regular automatic transmissions.

Term

planetary gear set

A planetary gear set is a system of gears that helps cars change speeds smoothly. It has a central gear with smaller gears around it, allowing for different gear ratios.

Term

fuel economy

Fuel economy is how far a car can go on a certain amount of gas. If a car has good fuel economy, it means you'll spend less money on gas because it uses less fuel to go the same distance.

Car

Ford Explorer

Term

three-liter turbo

A three-liter turbo engine is a type of car engine that is three liters in size and has a turbocharger. The turbocharger helps the engine produce more power without using more fuel, making it more efficient.

Term

horsepower

Horsepower is a way to measure how powerful a car's engine is. More horsepower usually means the car can go faster and accelerate better.

Term

space saver spare tire

A space saver spare tire is a smaller spare tire that takes up less room in your car. You use it when you have a flat tire, but it's only meant to be a temporary solution.

Term

USB-C ports

USB-C ports are the new kind of charging and data cables that can connect to many devices, making it easier to charge your phone or laptop.

Term

1500 watts of charging

1500 watts is a measure of how much power you can use to charge things. It's a lot, so you can charge several devices at once or even run small appliances.

Car

Honda Prelude

The Honda Prelude is a two-door car that Honda made for many years. It's known for being fun to drive and has a sporty design.

Car

Honda 42000 Honda

Term

paddle shifters

Paddle shifters are buttons or levers on the steering wheel that let you change gears in a car with an automatic transmission. They make it easier to drive more sportily without using a clutch pedal.

Term

blind spot monitoring

Blind spot monitoring is a system that helps you see cars that are in areas you can't easily see, like the sides of your car. It warns you if there's a vehicle in your blind spot when you're changing lanes.

Term

lane centering

Lane centering is a feature that helps your car stay in the middle of its lane while driving. It uses cameras to see the lane lines and can gently steer the car to keep it centered.

Term

adaptive cruise control

Adaptive cruise control is a feature that helps your car maintain a set speed while also keeping a safe distance from the car ahead. If the car in front slows down, your car will slow down too, and then speed up again when it's safe.

Term

heated seats

Heated seats are seats in a car that can warm up, making them cozy to sit in during cold weather. You can usually adjust how warm they get.

Term

heated steering wheel

A heated steering wheel is a steering wheel that warms up, so your hands stay warm when it's cold outside. It's a nice feature for comfort during winter driving.

Term

ventilated seats

Ventilated seats are car seats that have air vents to keep you cool. They blow air through the seat to help you feel comfortable on hot days.

Term

heated wiper panel

A heated wiper panel is a part of the car that keeps the area where the windshield wipers sit warm. This helps stop ice and snow from building up, so the wipers can work better in winter.

Term

heads-up display

A heads-up display is a screen that shows important information right on your windshield, so you can see things like your speed without looking down at the dashboard. It helps you stay focused on driving.

Car

Ford Ecosport

Car

Toyota Tundra

Car

Toyota Tacoma

Car

Mercedes-Benz Sclass

Car

Rivian R1S

The Rivian R1S is an electric SUV that can drive on different types of roads. It has a lot of room inside and comes with modern technology, making it a popular choice among electric cars.

Car

Audi Quattro

Car

Subaru WRX

Car

Ford Bronco

Car

Jeep Grand Cherokee

Car

Ford F150

Car

Tesla Model

Car

Tesla Model X

Car

Land Rover Range Rover

Car

Dodge Challenger

Car

Saab 900

LIVE

Hey, Tom, we've got a really fun show today because we have three of the most popular

three-row SUVs in America.

That's right.

And two of these have a little bit of flair to them, and one of them has got a lot of

luxury.

So what we're looking at here is the 2026 Toyota Grand Highlander in the Platinum configuration.

Next to that is the Ford Explorer Tremor, which is all new for 2026.

And next to that is another new car, the Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro.

Yeah, the great thing is, in this video slash podcast, we're going to go hands-on.

We're going to kind of crawl through them.

We're going to describe what we're seeing, and then we're going to take them for a ride

and see how they drive.

So if you're there looking for a three-row, or if you're just three-row curious, this

is the show.

Yeah, now look, two of these cars are the off-road trims.

One of them is not, but we're not doing any off-road in a day.

We're talking about what these things are like on the road and what they're like to

live with.

Plus, Toyota doesn't do a woodland variant of the Grand Highlander.

So if you want an off-road one currently, there's no way to get that in the Grand Highlander.

But the reason we're focusing on the Grand Highlander and not the normal one is, the

normal one is ancient.

We believe it's about to be phased out or replaced.

And the Grand Highlander is a huge seller for Toyota.

This thing has been a massive hit in the three-row crossover segment.

Yeah, so let's start with it.

Why don't we start with it?

I think this is an interesting vehicle.

Of course, Toyota also makes a Lexus version of it called the TX.

And I first got my hands on this a couple of years ago with Andre back in Hawaii, and

I was impressed.

Yeah.

It's a really popular vehicle because it's somewhat affordable and it's kind of the size

everybody wants.

Absolutely.

And what you're going to find, especially when we take a peek in the trunk, is the sheer

amount of space that the Grand Highlander offers that in some way dwarfs the other two.

So this really is an American-sized three-row SUV.

Now, what do you think of this color, Dad?

This ruby-flare red.

Well, I thought it was the Soul Crystal Metallic that Mazda does on their Toyota.

It's very civil.

Yeah.

But I have a bone to pick with this car, Tommy.

I have a bone.

What's that?

I think it's confusing because the Grand Highlander and the Highlander are, in fact, two different

cars.

And yet, because they have the same name, people get them confused.

Well, one of them is Grand.

Yes, I get it.

It's the bigger one.

One of the three-row.

But they're actually very...

Yeah.

But they're very different.

They're in different chassis.

They don't share a lot of components.

Sure.

But this is the Grand one, right?

It's not the normal one.

It's Grand.

Now, one thing I think you're going to notice across multiple of these vehicles...

The price is Grand, too.

It's actually pretty good value.

How much?

We'll talk about it near the end of this.

Okay.

But one of the things you're going to notice is that the mustache is in.

So, see, multiple of these cars come equipped with the mustache.

So here in the Toyota, it's chrome.

On the Ford, it's yellow.

But this seems to be like a new design trend.

Our people putting mustaches in between the headlights of their new cars.

How about on the Hyundai?

No, the Hyundai is mustache less.

So there's no mustache on that.

But of course, the Toyota has the huge front grille, which is so prevalent these days.

And then this car's got a lot of chrome on it.

So this is the platinum spec.

This is like the very fancy ones.

You see chrome along the front.

You see chrome in the belt line.

You see some bright work up here on the roof.

But I think as a whole, it's a pretty attractive car.

My favorite part about this is actually out back where unlike the other two, this has got the big and bold exhaust tips.

You see that?

Yeah, I see that.

I would say, Tommy, the chrome is out though.

Toyota is kind of, you know, very conservative.

So they're still doing a lot of bright work.

But if you look on the other two, there is no chrome anywhere.

That's true.

And I do like the exhaust.

Yeah, those are the off-road versions.

So, you know, for some reason, off-road and chrome are incompatible.

But it gets dirty.

But certainly on the nice ones like this platinum spec, the chrome is everywhere.

But let's pop the hood and talk about the engine.

So there's a couple of different powertrains available in the Grand Highlander.

There's the Corpse Grand Highlander Hybrid, which uses what I believe is a 2.5 NA.

Did you know every Toyota can be had as a hybrid now?

Tommy?

Yeah, that is interesting.

Well, not every Toyota.

Every Toyota.

This is 2026.

You're missing two.

Not the sports Toyotas.

Well, those are Toyotas.

The 86, of course, can't be a hybrid.

And the Supra.

But outside of that, every passenger Toyota that's not a sports car comes as a hybrid.

Sorry.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

So this is the Hybrid Max Power Train.

So this is a 2.4-liter turbo mated to the hybrid system with the E-all-wheel drive, which means

there's no driveshaft.

362 horsepower.

I think it's like 400 pound-feet of torque.

So it's a ton of torque in this.

But what's cool about this, hybrid but no CVT.

This retains a six-speed torque converter automatic, which is great to see.

Yeah, you know, there's a, Jason just did a good video from Engineering Explained, where

he basically showed people what a planetary gear set is.

Because CVTs, thanks to Nissan in part, have gotten a bad reputation because they had that,

you know, a couple years, more than a couple years, where the CVTs failed.

And as an enthusiast, we don't like CVTs because they kind of drone on.

Sure.

And so the manufacturers are now going to planetary gear sets.

But not this one.

But Jason, this good video explaining what it was and how it's different.

Yeah.

But I'm of the thought that if it quacks like a duck, and if it swims like a duck, whether

it's a planetary gear set or a pulley, it's a duck.

In other words, it's a CVT.

And I don't love them because they still end up droning on.

And so I'm happy that Toyota didn't go that route with this car.

Except one duck costs a huge amount of money after 80,000 miles to replace.

And the other duck doesn't cost money.

So it may be a similar duck, but they're not the same in terms of maintenance costs.

No, they're very different.

I agree.

Now, if you get the standard Grand Highlander, I do believe it has that planetary gear set.

Yes.

But this one is a conventional, like I said, six-speed auto.

And this is really the primary buying factor in this car.

It's a fuel economy at 27, which doesn't seem that high until you realize that Explorer

is 19 MPG combined.

And that's a huge difference in the cabin.

Well, it's got a three-liter turbo, though, too, six-cylinder.

Yeah, but this is still 362 horsepower.

Yeah.

I mean, it's still a powerful vehicle.

It's only down 38 horsepower over the Ford.

So it's still pretty powerful.

It makes me want to drag race some, Tommy, to find out just how powerful it is.

Well, the Hyundai would lose, because that's got 287 horsepower.

Yes, it would.

But I want to show the trunk space in this car.

Yeah.

I mean, let's face it.

These are the most utilitarian vehicles outside of pickup trucks in the car world, where it's

all about space.

What about minivans?

I always forget minivans.

There's too many of you out there, I suspect.

So what's great about this car is it's got by far the biggest trunk of the three, up

to 98 cubic feet, when all three rows are folded down.

And it's got some pretty clever little features back here.

For example, this blue view blocker, which I can.

It does something very clever.

I'm sure I won't be able to demonstrate it now that the camera's rolling.

Oh, I can.

Check this out.

So it's got these little feet on both ends that collapse into each other, which I think

is quite handy, because that means that there's now a cubby underneath the floor to store this

bad boy.

I haven't done it properly.

What the heck?

Well, you just got to believe me.

But if I was smarter, and the camera wasn't rolling, it does clip in a place there.

And this car, even though it's a hybrid, does come with a space saver spare tire.

So that's a great feature as well.

Where's the tire at?

It's underneath the cubby.

Yeah.

Underneath the cubby.

You can see the jack for it right there.

OK.

And then it lives underneath here.

And then three rows.

What I also like about this is these are still manual, which is the best way to move a seat.

So they come up and down really easily, and they even have some recline.

Dad, you want to crawl back there?

Is that my job?

Yeah, I was going to crawl back here.

Actually, the second row really easily moves out of the way.

This is always a challenge in three rows, right?

How hard or easy is it to get at the three row?

And this basically just with one clip just slides out of the way like that.

And then it has this pretty wide opening for the third row.

Now the downside of third rows, especially in hybrids, is that the battery lives underneath

the floor here often.

Uh-huh.

And so your knees come up into your face.

Yeah.

But this one's not too bad.

I mean, they're not in my face, but they're not exactly uncomfortable.

Let's move this back.

Let's see if I can actually fit back here.

Yeah, it's not bad, dude.

Yeah.

It's not too bad.

The bedroom isn't horrible either.

Yeah.

Even if you're like 6'2".

Look at that.

Yeah, you got a pretty good handle.

And I've got a really weird torso.

It's really long.

Yeah.

So I'm kind of the worst example.

And this one, being platinum, has these really nice brown seats, which look very cool.

Captain's chair is back here with the fold down armrests.

And then this whole center console lifts out of the way if you want even more accessibility

to the back.

Plus, check this out.

Heated and ventilated second row seats, USB-C ports.

And then this is awesome.

1500 watts of charging.

So when we check out that Ford in a sec, you're going to find that's 150 watts in that car

versus 1500.

So if you're looking for like a camping rig, this might not be a bad option.

So there are some nice features back here.

I have vents, which is nice.

I have four cup holders.

Nice.

And I have two USB-C ports, which is also nice.

So, you know, if I'm going to be a kiddo and I'm going to be playing with my, well,

I would say Angry Birds, but that's probably long out, isn't it, Tommy?

That's probably not what kids are doing these days.

Anyway, if I've got my iPad or phone and I need some power, power and, and juice drinks,

holders galore.

How about heated seats up there?

I see Tommy.

That's pretty cool too.

Yeah.

And third row climate and ventilation.

I actually just downloaded Angry Birds again.

Did you?

Yeah, they've ruined it.

Oh, no.

Yeah.

It's like an ad cesspool now.

You can't go more than a level without a blasting like a minute of ads and you can't play it

when offline.

It's just ruined.

I think that's what killed websites.

Have you ever tried going to like a news website and you get 1500 pop-ups for like

extension cords because you haven't mentioned to your wife that you need an extension cord?

I'm really mad at the Angry Bird people because Angry Birds was the greatest app ever to exist.

Do you remember that app?

I was just reading about it.

Which one?

The one that was the I Am Rich app.

Do you remember this?

No.

It came out in 2008 and it was only on for like a couple months before the app store moved

it.

But it was $999 and all it did is you opened it and it did nothing.

It just was like you bought it to prove you could afford a $900 app and then Apple thought

that was dumb and moved it.

Those were the days.

I think that's like those vanity phones that people buy just to show them that they can

afford a more expensive phone than an Android or an iPhone.

Alright, should we hop in and check out the inside?

Let's look at the business side of this.

The first row.

Yep.

I'm a big sucker fan for these like cappuccino interiors.

It's a nice color.

Yep.

For sure.

And you're talking about the price earlier.

I actually don't think this is very bad value coming in at $61,000.

So yeah, it's a lot of money, but when you consider, you know, really nice seven-seater,

heated ventilated second row, sunshades, three-row climate control, 1500-watt on-board power

and a hybrid for $61.

But my understanding is it's not too bad.

Well, considering I just reviewed a $42,000 Honda Prelude, which barely had four seats,

really two and a half, then you get seven seats for $61.

If you're doing the math by how many seats you get per dollar, then this certainly is

a lot of value.

And manufactured in Indiana.

Alright, let me turn it out of the sun here so Cole's not shooting into the sun.

Yeah.

A big pan of sunroof in this model.

You can see, there we go, one touch operation.

It's going to glide on open.

And then here, let me put it.

I like these rubberized knobs for the climate control.

I think that's a really nice touch.

Yeah, it's pretty good, right?

Yeah, heated and cooled seats, which is also nice.

Real vents, Tommy Wahoo.

And I also think you'll like this.

This kind of bronze finish that they put across the finishes, I think looks really, really nice.

It's not just normal silver.

So there's some good things.

Look, you have your own USB-C over there.

Yeah, I'm not sure you put it out of the sun.

I think I've done a little bit of a better job.

You could do better than that because there's a big, there you go.

There you go.

Now it's out of the sun.

Now you can see the dashboard.

So yeah, leather wrapped steering wheel, paddle shifters for that six-speed automatic.

Of course, the latest and greatest in Toyota safety systems, adaptive cruise, lane centering,

blind spot monitoring, that kind of thing.

Heated steering wheel, heated seats, ventilated seats.

Heated wiper panel, which is great.

Heads up display.

This is, I think, a 15 and a bit inch screen, which is massive.

You said heated wiper panel.

Isn't that just the front defroster?

No, it's got these little things built into where the wipers rest.

Oh, so it warms up the wipers.

Now, we do have different drive modes, if you noticed.

Yep.

So even though this is not an off-road spec vehicle, there is mud and sand, rock and dirt mode,

along with normal EcoSport and snow.

And there's even a hill descent control built in here.

So if you want to go tackle your trails, you probably shouldn't, but you could.

360-degree camera looks nice and crispy in there.

Bunch of different angles that you can use and see as well.

So they've done a really good job with this.

Yeah, a couple years ago, Ford updated their infotainment, and it's, I mean, Ford,

thinking of the Explorer already, to update it to their infotainment.

And it's much better.

I think it's much more intuitive.

It doesn't look like something from an old navigation system from the 1990s.

Yeah, they've done a really good job.

Yeah, they did a good job.

I'm not sure I love the steering wheel with all the buttons.

Why not?

It's a little confusing.

But they're physical.

They are physical.

Which is great.

They're not haptic stuff.

Yeah, wonderful.

Yeah, so that's really good.

And these are physical buttons, too.

Look at all these buttons over here for climate control and that kind of thing.

There you go.

Yeah, good.

So they've done a really nice job, I think, with the interior on this Highlander.

And that's really the highlight for me is just the comfort that this car provides.

And for those of you who are big key fans, I kind of don't like the key.

It feels like, it feels kind of budget.

Yeah.

So it's this little plastic-y kind of fobby thing.

Back here it's a little nicer because it's got the Grand Highlander inscribed.

But the front is very much a basic Toyota.

Whether you get this or a Tundra or a Tacoma, you're going to get the same key.

And I kind of like having a nice key.

Right.

It's really good, though.

You feel these were on this bumpy dirt road here, soaking up the bumps really well with

that independent suspension all around.

Well, you're going to have a long wheelbase, which is always going to, you know, that's

why school buses are so comfortable.

I don't think school buses is exactly that.

All right.

Tour buses.

There you go.

Tour buses.

I mean, none of them are comfortable because all the seats are crap.

But in terms of ride, they do glide across the pavement.

Well, I don't think a school bus is the height of luxury.

I said tour bus, okay?

Tour bus.

Is a tour bus the height of luxury?

No, but it's the height of, like, long wheelbase comfortable ride quality.

Why didn't you say an S-Class?

Why did you have to say a bus?

Because it's a good example of a long wheelbase, Tommy.

Yeah, but the ride is bad in a bus.

No, it's not.

The ride is incredible in a bus.

Like, you feel one, if you feel a bump, you'll feel it on the front wheels.

And then 20 minutes, you'll feel it on the back because it takes a long board to actually

get back there.

I don't know if I've ever been in a tour bus.

So I'm not sure I can.

You've been in a tour bus.

Comment on the ride quality of your Led Zeppelin tour bus.

Didn't you go to semester seed?

Didn't you guys?

Well, that was a ship, which is fundamentally different.

Sailing around the world and hanging on tour buses and going to Vietnam or Japan or where

the hell you went.

There was no tour busing.

A rickshaw.

We did rickshaws.

That was popular.

The boat had a good ride.

The rickshaw would be the exact opposite.

If you wanted to do an analogy for a very bad ride, then a rickshaw would be it because

I don't think it has suspension, does it?

I'm not very well versed on the ins and outs of rickshaw suspension.

But this is better than a rickshaw, but not as good as a ship.

So there's our ride comparison.

Well, that's the entertainment portion of your video slash podcast.

Let's get back to the review part.

Look, I do have one issue with this.

It's just boring.

Well, yeah, but that's what people want.

Yeah, I know, right?

But there's not a lot of like fizz in here.

Well, you haven't dialed it in the sport mode.

Oh, is that going to make it fizzier?

Okay, we'll do a quick acceleration test up here.

You go see how quick it is.

Yeah, so we'll do three people.

We're going uphill a little bit, but let's go see what this thing accelerates like.

See if there's any fizz in this pop.

Oh, there's some fizz.

All right.

Here comes the fizz.

Are you ready?

I'm ready for the fizz.

Okay.

Brake torque.

Pretty fizzy.

No.

Look at the power.

It's not fizzy.

It's fizzy.

That's 60.

The only fizzy thing was that thing you couldn't put it away.

I know.

Wow.

It's silly.

Behind the third row.

So maybe I'm asking too much, but you know, you look at like a Rivian R1S, right?

That's pretty fricking fizzy.

Yeah, but it's double the price.

Well, it's $30,000 more.

And like twice to three times horsepower.

Yeah, and it's electric.

So if you want something with a little bit of like, you know, like Nathan would say,

let in the pencil, that might be the way to go.

People, let's face it, Tommy, if you've got this many kids, you probably should have a

minivan.

It's much more practical.

Sure.

In a lot of ways.

It's much more utilitarian.

The sliding doors are much easier, especially in tight parking spaces.

And space wise, even though this has oodles of space, a minivan will still crush it.

Yeah, but this is turbo max power.

You can't get that in a Sienna.

Turbo max.

And then the other thing I think we should talk about is what has become of all-wheel

drive.

So when I was a kid, the difference between four-wheel drive and all-wheel drive was kind

of, didn't have a low range, but then all-wheel drive became synonymous with luxury.

So what the manufacturers did was if you had a luxury car like a BMW or an AMC Eagle,

no, not an AMC Eagle or a Mercedes, right, you needed all-wheel drive.

And the way they did that was they kind of followed Audi's road map where they took

the torque and distributed it through, you know, two drive shafts to all four wheels.

And so it was not only all-wheel drive in the kind of the Subaru sense, symmetric all-wheel

drive, but it also provided equal amounts of torque to all four wheels.

Obviously there were diffs, but for the most part, let's keep it simple.

What all-wheel drive has now morphed into is this, which is there is no drive shaft

between the engine and the rear, right?

The drive shaft in the back has gone away replaced by a motor, but what this does basically

is it makes you less likely to get stuck in snow or on slippery conditions.

So it's a way to get the car going, but I don't think it does a lot once the car is

going.

I don't think it adds a lot of handling or capability or weight, right?

But it's mainly meant for the way that most people need all-wheel drive, which is, let's

say, going up bail-pass in the snowstorm.

Yeah, which is what you need it for.

I mean, yeah, it's not torque vectoring, it's not an off-road machine, but what I will

say is like...

It's not a rally car, which is probably right.

It's a three-row crossover, it doesn't have to be a rally car.

Right, but it's, you know, to me, all-wheel drive like the Audi Quattro system was always

about performance, and I think people still think that, but these latest versions of it

are basically just a way to get you not stuck.

Which is grand, which is what?

Grand Highlander.

Yeah, I think that's fine.

I mean, if I wanted a WRX, I'd get a WRX, right?

Right.

I think that...

And the other thing I will say about the all-wheel drive systems is they started out as kind of

like an all-wheel drive assist, they're pretty wimpy.

Because they would cut out at like 30 miles an hour.

Yeah, but these new ones are so good.

And to find out more about that, check out TFL Car this weekend, because I've got the

slip test, and you'll see exactly how the all-wheel drive systems perform.

But the Turbo Max stuff that I've tested specifically has actually been really, really good.

Well, that's why I brought it up, because I wanted to let people know that they can see

how these perform when you put them on rollers, and see if it actually does get you unstuck.

And this is one of the reasons you do the slip test, which is such a great test.

All right, well, we're going to cut here.

And if you want fizz, I think you'll find our next car quite a bit fizzier.

You think it's fizzier?

Is that the Explorer?

Is that its claim to fame?

Yeah, it's quite a bit fizzier.

How's the steering?

You didn't talk about that.

It's a crossover.

It's fine.

Yeah, it works like a crossover.

What do you want it to do?

It steers the car.

That's what it needs to do.

Okay.

Yeah, got you.

All right, well, let's jump in the next one.

I have a question for you, Tommy.

Will anybody ever take an Explorer off-road?

Well, probably not.

But you just did.

But I did, yeah.

So if we go over to TFL off-road, I was actually on a four-trip with this thing out in Death

Valley, and they took us on a pretty gnarly little trail for a three-row crossover.

So check out that video.

We got to use the skid plates, and we got to try the other drive system, and there was

some good stuff in that video.

I think it's fair to say if you want an off-roader and you're actually going to go off-road,

this is the one to get.

Well, the only other one that might be more capable.

Out of the three here.

Over the three here, yeah, probably.

It's got the most skid plates.

It's got the most off-road-y tires.

Sure.

Yeah, I agree.

I'll give you that.

No, I mean, I think the Explorer Tremor is interesting.

So the history behind this is Ford had a model called the Timberline, which was kind of their

first dabbling into the off-road trims.

But they decided to bring it within the Tremor lineup, so now you've got an elevated version.

So you actually get real 31 and a half inch dual or AT offer tires.

You get three skid plates.

You get front recovery points.

You get a torsion limited slip rear diff.

So it's not a Bronco Sasquatch, but in this category of vehicle, this is about as good

as you can expect.

Other than maybe like the Grand Cherokee with the low range, it's about as good as you

can get.

If you're listening to this as a podcast, you're going to miss this marsh gray color,

which kind of looks like muddy water, but I really like it, Tommy.

Yeah, it's almost got like an olive drab effect to it, depending on how the sun hits it, but

it's definitely cool.

And then what makes the Explorer stand out in the Tremor configuration are the orange

accents everywhere.

So you see them here in the grille, you see them in the tow hooks, you see them on the

wheels.

Do you like the orange?

I do.

I especially like them.

We have a long-term Tremor F-150 in that space white metallic color, and I especially like

it in that.

I like it better in that than in this because it really pops in the space white.

Now you might be wondering, what's the difference between like white on that barn over there

and space whites?

Space white has a little bit of like almost blue tint to it.

It's a really cool color.

We're about ready to sell that, and I'm really bummed because I really like that truck.

What do you guys think of the one-spoke colored?

I like that too.

I think it's interesting.

I think it lets people know that this is the Tremor Explorer, and I think Ford has done

really well with their off-road marketing, right?

They had this like moonshot Raptor, now there's four of them, and of course, you know, that

is a very expensive vehicle.

It's usually $20,000, $30,000 above whatever the regular one is, and so the Tremor kind

of fills that space nicely.

Well, this is supposed to be...

Between the regular and the off-roading king of the road.

Functional here because if you look, this is actually the spoke where the Schrader valves

comes out of.

So they say if your wheels are filthy, you also know where to air up based on the color

of that.

That's clever.

I don't know if that's true.

But it's clever, you know?

I mean, it's like engineers thinking outside of the box.

Integrated roof rails on this one, as you mentioned, kind of at the beginning, it's all very

blacked out here, so you're not going to find any chrome on the Tremor's configuration.

And then out back, you get the big Tremor badging, and then the Tremor, like every other Explorer,

is rated to tow 5,000 pounds, which I think is the same as the other two.

But yeah, I mean, this is the most...

The question I have, does that have a brake controller?

No, it does not.

Then it can tow 5,000.

Well...

I've got a big argument with a PR guy once about that, and the reason for that, in case

you're wondering, is if it doesn't have a brake controller in most states, you're not

allowed to tow more than 3,000 pounds without a brake controller, and what a brake controller

does is it allows you to brake your load, in other words, a trailer, so that it doesn't

run away from you.

So you're not pushing 5,000 pounds into the truck.

But if your trailer has surge brakes, then you're good to tow.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But those are usually boats.

Yeah, or U-Hauls.

So yeah, I think that this is the most kind of masculine looking of the three, definitely.

And it's also the only one here...

With the turbo?

No.

Not this one.

Oh.

Not the Hyundai.

But it's the only one here...

With six cylinders?

Nope.

Okay.

No, that's also got six cylinders.

Yeah.

Let me keep guessing.

So it's the only one here with a manual, I know, a regular automatic?

Nope.

Oh gosh, I'm really...

It doesn't have a way to open the hood?

No.

All right.

Without a hood?

Without an engine cover?

Well, that's true.

It does look hideous.

It's the only car here with the North-South engine configuration.

Oh, wow, I got it.

I was completely wrong on all those.

So whereas the Hyundai and the Toyota and also the Honda in this class and also the

GMC, right?

Are horizontal.

Transverse front-wheel drive bias.

This is North-South longitudinal rear-wheel drive bias.

So if you want that kind of rear-wheel drive push effect all the time, this is going to

be the car for you.

Are there such things as a vertical engine?

Is there anything you ever build a car like this, Tommy?

I don't think there's been one on its...

Like this?

I mean, there's like this, you know?

There's sideways, right?

Slant.

Slant, but there's no vertical.

Yeah.

See, I came up with something for you engineers, so if you want to be different, it might be

hard to keep the oil in it.

So this car has a twin-turbo V6 as configured, three-liters twin-turbo V6, this is the nano

and family of engines, 400 horsepower though, so huge, huge power in this.

Basically, the same engine that you get in the Explorer ST.

So what they've done is they put the ST engine in the tremor.

The other option you can get is you can still get the tremor with the normal 2.3 four-cylinder

if you want to save some money, and save a lot of money actually.

So you can get a tremor with the smaller engine, interesting.

So this has got the 10-speed auto, it's got 355-axle ratios, it also has a torsion-limited

slip rear diff, which is very cool.

But no locker and no low-range.

No locker, no low-range, yep, that's right.

But let's check out the trunk area and then we'll go to the back seat again.

The biggest issue I have with this Explorer is, especially compared to the Toyota, it's

pretty small inside, there's a little button.

So we're looking at about 16 cubic feet with the seats up.

Nice cubby hole.

Yep, and it does have a space saver underneath, yep.

Not a full-size spare?

Not a full-size spare yet, that's a problem.

That's a problem on an off-roader.

And the reason that's a problem on an off-roader is because if you get a flat off-roading,

a regular space saver is not going to get you back home.

They also have power-fold on this one, which you can see there.

Now, fully equipped for cargo, it's got about 85.8 cubic feet of space.

So significantly less than the Toyota.

Yeah, a lot less than Toyota, it's also power-folding.

I would not expect the power-folding, it just has a pain in the butt.

It's very quick power-folding though.

For power-folding it's not bad.

Yeah, usually they're much slower.

But why don't you hop back there?

How come the old man has to always go in the third row?

Oh, you volunteered earlier.

Alright, alright, I'm in for a dime, in for a dollar.

So, one touch operation again?

Definitely less room here, Tommy.

Yeah, it's a lot smaller.

Well, you're getting back here, but...

I'm stuck already.

But, a little bit lower floor, so my knees aren't quite as high.

True.

But are you sure?

Your knees look pretty high.

I think they're just a little bit lower.

You know what the problem is?

I think that the bench is on the ground.

The bench is too low.

Yeah, the bench is very low.

Because this is a very lean, mean machine.

I do have my own vents back here.

I have somewhat good headroom.

This is a very, very firm bench.

Two cup holders versus four.

And only one USB-C over here versus two.

So, the kiddos are going to have to fight over it,

especially if there's feedback here.

So, I would rate this as a worse place to spend time

if you're an adult than the Grand Highlander.

Why don't you hop on out there, and we'll check out...

I'll hop into the second row.

So, one issue I'm also finding is that Toyota had a

three-a-breast seating in the third row.

Yes.

This is only two, and the tremor you can only get

with captain's chairs, as they understand.

So, really, this is only a six-seater,

which does limit some of its usability for bigger families.

Rear-seat room is okay, and then it does have heated seats

but no ventilation, like the Toyota had.

And there is a third zone of climate control back here,

but it is manual, so it's a little bit more basic

than what we found in that Grand Highlander.

And if you have size 12 shoes, getting in the back is not good.

Well, yeah.

You'll probably want to leave that for the kiddos, for sure.

But not a terrible second row.

Definitely a more compromised third row, though.

I'm sure we jump in the first row.

Yeah, let's do it.

Let's see what we got going on here.

This little tray is nice.

I've got the Minroni right here, so let's talk about fuel economy.

19.

Yeah, significantly worse.

Not great.

And MSRP.

Don't point it right at my seatbelt on yet.

I've got to poke it this way so we can...

I see the instrument panel.

So, 64,405.

I believe this is the most expensive of the three.

Yes, but you can get the tremor.

You want to put your seatbelt on?

Yeah, destination is actually not bad.

It's only $1,700, which nowadays is good.

You can get the tremor in a more basic version for about 50 grand.

So you can see starting is 48,465, plus $14,000 in options.

And most of that is the ultimate package, which is the big sunroof,

the B&O 14 speaker, some of the power stuff for the seat folding,

18-inch spare wheel, you can see in there.

So the total price of this one is 64, so it is a lot of money.

I like this B&O speaker that's built into the dashboard here.

It's very slick.

Yeah, the one thing, which are two things, which are a bummer on this car,

they got rid of the power openings under for 2026.

So this does slide back, but it doesn't open.

Okay, so it's fixed.

It's fixed roof, and more annoyingly, they also got rid of the wireless charger.

There's nothing under here?

No, I guess they had a lot of complaints from people saying their wireless charger

weren't very good.

They're looking for a new supplier, no wireless charger.

So here's my little grumpy man thing that Ford does right and Toyota does wrong.

So having spent a lot of time driving electric cars,

I love the fact that when you pull up to a stop sign and you're in drive,

you can do what you're doing, which is not have your foot on the brake.

So auto hold.

Yeah.

And in the Ford system, if you turn it on, once it's on, it stays on.

In the Toyota system, there's a button here called auto hold.

And every time you turn the vehicle on and off, it defaults back to being off.

And so every time you want to turn it on, you have to start the vehicle, hit the button.

Otherwise, you know, you're always creeping.

And I love not creeping, especially since I got used to that driving electric cars.

It's a nice feature, not to have your foot on the brake.

Yeah, it's cool.

Yeah, I mean, everything is done through the screen in this car.

Too much.

The only thing that's here, at least you have a volume knob.

Yeah.

But you don't have a tuning knob.

You do have your cameras right here.

Yeah, but you don't have track adjustment.

You don't have any climate control.

All of that's done in the screen.

Yeah, I don't love that.

And then you got to do like little pull-ups.

And then if the camera's open, for some reason you can't adjust the climate control fully.

So there's some weird things about the screen.

I actually do like it generally more than the Toyota.

I like this kind of app-based system, which is just always there and easy to use.

Speaking of screens, did you know that this week's news was that Audi recently came out,

the designer, or maybe as a CEO, he said that people don't like having large screens,

that it's not a luxurious...

Sure.

I think we're living in a very strange time where the manufacturers, for whatever reason,

have stopped listening to the customers.

Yeah, maybe.

Maybe that's from like the tech bro guys who like, you know, take Steve Jobs' statement

that people don't know what they want until you give them to them at heart.

But listen to your customers.

People love real events.

People hate everything in the screen.

It's just a pain in the butt.

People love real handles on cars.

So in an emergency, you can get out and not die because, you know, the car's not blocking you.

And yet, manufacturers keep making that same mistake over and over again.

And I think at this point, it's clear what people want.

And yet, unbeknownst to the manufacturers, they'll just keep doing, you know,

handles that don't actually work.

Well, an example of that that I saw in the comments on my review is,

to turn on the off-road lights, you have to go into a menu here.

I hate that.

And then you have to click your high beams on.

And then it's just a, it's not super intuitive.

There's no knob to turn the lights on.

Not the off-road ones.

Nope.

Regular ones you can.

Yeah, regular ones you do have a knob.

Yeah, because GM got rid of their regular ones as well.

Yeah, that was really silly.

But.

And GM got rid of CarPlay and Android Auto, which is also, you know, line boggling.

Yeah, this still has wireless CarPlay and Android Auto, which is great.

I mean, I think that it's a pretty nice interior for the most part.

I like the orange stitching.

It doesn't have quite the same dynamic contrast that the Toyota has.

How about drive modes?

A bunch of them.

Toe haul, sport, eco, normal, slippery.

And then the trimmer also has an off-road setting here.

So you took this off-road.

My question would be, how does it do without a low-range?

Is there a granny gear that simulates a low-range?

Well, it's not as good as a full low-range.

Oh, I'm sure Cole's buckled.

You ready, Cole?

That's our videographer.

I can hold that, Cole, if you want.

I know it's hard to put your seatbelt down when you're holding a camera.

I would say almost impossible, Tommy.

I think something's going on with this.

He's in the middle seat.

There's no middle seat.

Oh, there's no middle seat.

No, it's just the captain's shirt back there.

I wish there was for families.

Well, it's very hard to buckle a middle seat when there isn't one.

Yeah.

No, I actually did really surprisingly well for what it is.

I know there's no low-range, and it's not something I would regularly use for trail use.

But it has 10 speeds, so that means it can make first pretty short.

And with those 355 axle ratio, it's actually not too bad.

Plus, not a ton of ground clearance.

I think it's right at 8.7, but it's got three skid plates.

Engine, trans, I think transfer case, and in the back as well, which is ace.

So for the category of vehicles, it's definitely one of the most off-road capable.

Like I said, I'm not loving these seats.

They're all too firm.

The back seats were way too firm.

These are still more firm.

Let me help you out.

How about some massage?

I hate massage.

Why do you hate massage?

I hate massage because it feels like somebody's poking me in the back or butt.

Doing that like massage.

Feel free to turn that off.

That just makes it worse.

Well, it does have massage, driver, and passenger.

And if I recall, I think the Hyundai's only driver.

So that is a nice feature in this form.

I don't know.

Every automotive journalist is like, oh my god, it's got massaging seats.

And I have yet to ever use a vehicle, and I've sat in a lot of them with massaging seats

that I thought to myself, this is great.

I love this.

The only time I've ever found them useful is on a very long road trip.

When your legs start to fall asleep, then the massage function is kind of useful.

But as something that's luxurious, heck no.

You know, I'm kind of with you.

I don't like massaging cars, but everybody I know that has it adores it.

It's weird.

People love it.

Yes.

So I think we're just the odd ones out in that case.

Yeah.

I don't know.

Maybe a guy thing.

I don't want to be sexist, but I don't like regular massage, let alone automated massage.

Yeah, but a lot of my friends are guys like massage too.

It's a really big thing.

So the best part about this car from an off-road standpoint, and we're feeling it now,

is the ride quality is really good.

It's a little bit soft, but that means that when you're out in your Michigan pothole roads,

it's not going to beat you up.

And when you combine that with the fact we have 18-inch wheels with the big sidewall

on these 31-inch tires, it's got a very good ride quality.

So that's excellent.

Yeah, I do love the look of the thing, Tommy.

It feels and looks the most rugged, probably because it is the most rugged.

And I think, like I said, Ford has done a great job with the tremor and making it almost

as lust-worthy as a Raptor, but yet making it somewhat affordable.

Yeah.

Well, this one's not.

No, this one.

You put the smaller engine.

But if you get the small engine, it's pretty good value.

You know, we've got that Broncoiner long-term fleet.

Yeah.

And that has a smaller four-cylinder, and I don't ever miss the six-cylinder.

But then you don't get the massage.

Oh my God.

Are you going to floor it when you get on the pavement here?

Yeah.

Show me how quick this thing is.

I'm going to let this car behind me go by.

OK.

And then we'll give it a go here.

Over here.

But why do you think of that little sound when you make the turn signal?

I kind of like that.

Yeah, it's good.

Yeah.

It's a very distinct Ford sound.

I think for sure.

Also, one other cool feature, when you put it in off-road mode, the cameras come up right

away.

So you can see where you're going off-road.

I think that's very smart.

Nice.

So we'll put it in a sport mode here, sport mode engaged, and then here I'll come to a

stop.

We'll give this 10 speed a little bit of a brake torque.

I would brake torque it nowadays.

I think that actually slows it down.

Oh, not that time.

Yeah.

It's really, really quick.

I mean, there's 60 already.

I think 0 to 60, somewhere around five seconds.

This is a really quick SUV.

I also think that's augmented sound that's being pumped in here.

Sure, I probably is.

But it doesn't matter when you go blow past all of the other families in the drive-through.

Except for the ones who are in the electric ones.

What electric?

Like Ionic 9 is going to be 20 grand more than this.

Rivian's going to be more.

Yeah, so right.

I mean, I know they're out there, but that's properly quick for a three-row.

That's a really fast one.

Yeah, that augmented engine kind of bugs me a little bit.

Well, here.

Go into normal mode.

You won't have to listen to it.

Let's see if it gets rid of it.

Still there.

Not as growly, but still there.

I actually don't mind it, though, because it kind of sounds cool.

You like it, huh?

No, yeah.

I feel like you're in a race car.

What I don't like is the fuel economy.

19 is pretty bad, and you're going to be using that a lot.

Well, you go or boost, Tommy.

Pick one.

I know, that's right.

But the other big thing, the biggest selling point probably on this Explorer is Blue Cruise 1.5.

So unlike the Toyota, this is a full hands-off system when you're on premapped highways.

Something like 90 plus percent of highways in the US are premapped.

And now with 1.5, it'll even do lane changes for you.

Yeah, wow.

I would have been very impressed by that.

Maybe until the end of last year where we purchased the Tesla Model Y with full self-driving

supervised.

And we've been doing this video series over at alltfl.com, where the car is driving us

for hands-free for 2,000 miles.

And it's hard to be impressed by a car that does lane changes, where you can now go into

it and tell the AI, take me to wherever, and the thing does it 99.9 percent of the time

without any fuss or bother.

So I feel like once again, we're at a moment where Tesla is very far ahead of the rest

of the competition.

And a lot of the public is saying, well, I don't trust Tesla, which is understandable.

Sure.

But the reality of the fact is that the newest version of FSD supervised could be level three

without the level three distinction that would bring the liability onto Tesla.

And I agree with that.

But you can't get a Tesla in this category.

So what do you do?

Model X is $100,000.

I think you can get a third row in a Model Y now.

Yeah, but have you seen it?

It's like pathetic.

No, I haven't seen it.

You couldn't put a shitsuit in the back of a Model Y and haven't been happy.

Be careful with that word.

It's a real dog.

Look it up.

My point is like, you know, it's great to say Tesla's better, but you can't get a Tesla

in this category.

No, I agree.

I agree.

But I'm just saying, I'm no longer impressed by a car that does automated lane changes

when a car can take you wherever you want in the kind of the US without ever touching

a steering wheel.

But if you're cross shopping the Ford of the Hyundai, I think it's important to realize

the Ford can do it and the Hyundai can't.

Well, speaking of the Hyundai, I think it's time we jumped in there.

Let's do it.

Tommy, this Hyundai XRT has a distinction that is pretty important.

It's the cheapest of the bunch by quite a bit.

But let's get to that in a second.

Let me tell you something from my Chicago background.

When I was in Chicago, my favorite radio station was WXRT.

And I can't help but get that out of my head when I see the new XRT here.

Nice.

Well, this is not only XRT, it's XRT Pro.

And what they've done is it really boosted the capability of this vehicle over previous

XRT Hyundai.

So not only do we have some appearance differences, but we also have rugged tires.

We also have a little bit of underbody protection in this one along with front and rear recovery

points.

The only car here with back tow hooks, which is great to see.

I think we need to take a big step back.

I think Hyundai with the Palisade and Kia with the Telluride really redefined what the market

for these three rows is because they came in and gave you, I'll give you my experience.

I was driving an X7 across country when I got into the Telluride.

And in terms of quality of interior, in terms of kind of the construction, the value was

just out of this world.

It was such an incredible car for the money that you spent.

And I think we're back to that again, value.

Yeah, and what the Palisade has done in the new generation, and they've really, I think,

ruggedized the looks and made it even more premium looking than the old ones.

So the Telluride was always beautiful.

I thought the old Palisade was kind of strange looking.

This new one though is really interesting.

And they're built in the same chassis.

They're basically, you know, it's like GM has different brands, right?

Cadillac and Chevy, Hyundai and Kia are the same company and they share chassis, they

share powertrains, just different branding.

Although they've separated them a little in this newest generation because this is a naturally

aspirated V6 and the Telluride has a turbo four.

So actually it's a slightly different powertrain than the Kia and then they both are available

in hybrids as well now, which is more or less similar.

But yeah, I think that they've done, they've really changed around the styling of this

Palisade.

I don't love the front end as much as the rear.

So the front end has the world's largest turn signal.

I mean, there's got to be two square feet worth of turn signal area here.

It's unbelievably big.

Everybody in the world will know you're about to make a right hand turn when you use that.

And then of course it has ubiquitous red tow hooks showing you that this is indeed an off-roader.

Yeah, I do like the tow hooks a lot.

And I also do like this kind of old school rectangular graded grille.

It's not quite as big in your face as a Toyota and I like how it's kind of this two-tone finish.

So I think that comes across pretty cool.

All right.

I think there was a big sea change when it came to off-roaders and that was brought by

Jerry McGovern over at Land Rover with the new Defender.

Yeah.

Right.

Everything became, instead of rolly-poly, it became square jot and boxy.

And you see that here.

You also see that in the Santa Fe, you see that in a lot of off-roaders.

Just like the new Defender, these are now much more manly.

And the rear end is very Range Rover.

Also a big turn signal.

McGovern, yeah.

But this tail light design, the way that kind of wraps around the quarter panel here and

this smoothness but yet square jot design is very similar to the L405 Range Rover.

And then the new Kia has slightly thinner tail lights back here.

I like how they hide the exhaust so you don't know if it's electric or gas.

They do.

They do hide them.

Yeah, but I like the Toyota where it's boldly proud that it's turbo powered.

Now, back here, we've got our third row of seats.

This one does have the manual lift, which I do like.

That pops up quite easily.

Same thing over here.

Just pop that up.

Easy to use.

And we never really talked about this, but we should explain that the XRT Pro is the

off-road version of the Palisade.

Yeah.

We mentioned that at the beginning.

Yeah.

It's like the Tremor.

Yeah, for sure.

Yeah, exactly right.

This is the Tremor for Hyundai.

So not a ton of space.

There's no space behind the third row.

That's being very generous.

Yeah.

You can get a couple of rollerboards back here.

It is pretty cozy.

But when you have all two rows folded down, I think it's got 87 cubic feet worth of space.

So it's not too bad.

How about a spare tire?

Yep.

I think we do have a spare.

Yep.

Space saver, donut spare.

So at least, you know, not a full size, but we do have some spare.

So it feels like they all benchmark each other, right?

Yeah.

Very similar.

Yeah.

Except for engines, which we talk about in a second.

But do you want to hop in the third row when we're back here?

Yes, I will hop in the third row.

Thank you.

Hopefully I won't.

Can you unlock it, please?

Yep.

I'm on it.

I don't like the egg key at all.

They keep using this egg style key.

I can tell because you can't unlock it.

No, I can.

I just think it looks cheap and then it gets scratched.

Now this has a button instead of a lever.

Yep.

Or a lever, as a British say.

Oh, that's nice.

Look at that.

That opens up.

This is actually the easiest to get in and out of on.

Tommy, by far better than the other two.

How's it feeling back there?

All right.

Well, let me see here.

Let me put this back.

Knees are, oh, this is a little tighter knee-wise.

Knees are also my nose.

Four cup holders, auxiliary vents here and two USB ports.

So, yeah.

Look, the back of these things is always a penalty box.

Unless you're into suburban land, right?

And I can't help but feel that we always make the excuse that this is only for kiddos.

But sometimes, you know, adults get back here and I, as an adult, as a tall adult,

I certainly wouldn't want to spend any time back here.

All right.

Well, is it the worst of the three?

Yeah, because the seat, I mean, if you...

Here, I'll help you.

Yeah, I can't tell right now because you've got to push that seat forward, but I can't do it.

So I'm kind of screwed.

Here you go.

I'd say it's about on par with the Explorer.

Okay, but the Toyota is definitely the winner in terms of...

The Toyota is a winner.

This is second because the Explorer seats are very firm and the Explorer is last.

It just feels like that's, you know, the tightest.

This wins in terms of egress and entry, much easier to get in and out.

So I would say this is the easiest if you have to get back here.

All right.

Let me get out of here and then you can move the seat back.

There you go.

So I would say in terms of second row space, very impressive.

I'd say more than the Ford in terms of second row space.

Pretty good headroom as well back here.

This was a little bit more basic than the other two.

So it is actually possible to spec this car with not only third, second row climate,

second row heated and ventilation, but you can even spec a Palsade with third row heated and ventilation.

This one, however, doesn't have any of that.

It's just got a little 150 watt plug.

You're missing it, Tommy.

Oh, I am missing it.

Duh.

I was like, where did they put it?

That's why both of us do this.

We make a good team.

Yeah, good job.

You do have third row climate, but no heated or ventilated second row in this particular.

I like the kind of mountainy pattern here in the seat.

Yeah, that's cool.

I like that a lot.

It's kind of cool, yeah.

Yeah, then you get a big storage cubby back here.

And then you do have cup holders in the doors.

And then this one also has little privacy shades.

And this is kind of a nice feature.

You got this little light here that tells you if there's traffic coming.

You know, we forgot to show what's under the hood.

Yeah, I know.

Let's do it.

Yeah, let's show them what's under the hood of this bad boy.

So this is a little different than the other two.

The other two are forced inducted.

This one is naturally aspirated.

So if you like your NA engines.

Boom.

Oh, and it also has struts instead of a stick.

So this is a V6, three and a half liter worth of V6, actually.

By far the lowest in power.

We're only looking at 287 horsepower, which is actually a little bit less than the old

passing.

Yeah, they went down in power.

That's very unusual.

Look at this engine mount.

Cole, check this out.

I'm pointing to an engine mount that looks like something out of a 1900 steam engine.

What do you mean?

It just looks very old.

It's an engine mount.

What do you expect from it?

I don't know.

It just looks very like.

It only has one job.

It just needs to hold the engine.

It looks very steam punky.

Okay.

Whatever you say, they're dead.

It does.

Usually you don't see engine mounts like that.

So eight speed automatic in this car.

Fuel economy rated.

I like the regular automatic.

That's nice.

Yeah, it's rated at 20 combined.

So one bed in the Ford, but still far off the Toyota.

However, the power train to really get is the turbo hybrid, which is very cool in the

new Palisade.

But if you get that, you can't get the XRT.

I'm going to put you on the spot, Tommy, because you've been so good at facts.

Yep.

How much is the tow?

I think it's 5,000.

Like the rest?

Yeah.

So it's pretty similar.

All right.

But let's hop inside.

Yep.

And see what we got going on in here.

This is another complaint I have with the XRT is they don't give you the option to get

the really nice colors.

So for example, we're about to get a calligraphy at the office, which is this beautiful.

But I bet you this lights up.

It does.

That's cool.

But you can get it with this really nice, like light brown tan, cool dashboard.

This one, you're kind of stuck with black.

All right.

This is where the tire hits a pavement because TBD, but we know how much this cost because

we looked at it.

So how much is this?

52 as configured.

Wow.

So it's actually pretty good value.

They also give you a full fuel tank of gasoline.

Wow.

A luxury.

But oh, look at that.

19.

How is 20?

So actually fuel economy is pretty poor on this one too.

Yeah.

And this is built in Korea, dude.

Yep.

And yeah.

So you get about the same economy as the Explorer, but you get a lot less power.

Oh, put your seatbelt on.

We're going to spin it around.

I think it's built in Korea.

I shouldn't say that.

Is it?

Okay.

Yeah.

All right.

Put it on.

Yep.

I do like the big chunky controls here.

I'm never a fan of these haptic controls.

Yeah.

But at least they give you a menu that's always here on like the Ford that disappears.

So that could be worse.

And you do also all these physical controls here for track, for setup, for tune, physical

vents.

Yeah.

So that's all really good to see.

And the screen I find pretty straightforward and easy to use.

You want to put it out of the sun so we can show them?

Yeah, sure.

This also has the more traditional sunroof.

Yep.

Small one.

Yeah.

Like I said, you know, if you want the luxury one, you got to get that calligraphy.

And then you also get a lot more color in here.

This is on.

Not one, not two, but three USB-C ports.

So these are two charging ports.

A ton of watts.

Quite a lot.

This one right there is just for media, so you can connect your phone for media.

NFC wireless charger here.

Your phone is key, I think, on this car as well.

But what's really cool, which we don't get in the U.S., is to see how this kind of looks

like a seat.

Yeah.

In Korea, this whole thing folds up.

So you can have a bench in the front down there.

Do you like the shifting stock?

I don't love the shifting stock.

They once again reinvented it as every manufacturer has decided to do so in the last 10 years.

I do like how it vibrates now when you go to reverse.

It's kind of a nice improvement.

And I do like the 360 camera.

It's probably the best camera in the industry.

Look how clear that is.

You know what I'm going to complain about right there?

What?

Our car is in white.

You might be able to change that.

It's one line of code.

But when you load the software, the car should know what color it is.

Yeah, that's true.

You know who does that?

Tesla does that all the time.

So here we've got our different tiles to access Apple CarPlay.

You get your trailer set up here.

It's pretty easy.

You also get off-road pages.

Two big-ass screens, actually.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think these are a 12.3 screen.

But you can see pitch roll, oil pressure, temperatures, trans temperature.

That's a big one.

They give you all the information you need to know right here.

You also have your camera set up.

So that's actually pretty decent.

I have to thank Hyundai because they actually lent us this for a long-term loan.

So we're going to have this for a couple months to get to know it much better.

So thank you, Hyundai.

That was very nice of you.

What do you think of these four little dots on the steering wheel?

Yeah, this is the new pixelized Hyundai H-Pattern.

They actually change.

I don't know if it's very hard to see in this light, but you get blue for my drive.

You get green for eco, white for normal, red for sport.

So they actually kind of key in with the car.

That's supposed to be...

Horse code for H.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, that's cool.

I mean, I think that, you know, they've done a really good job of this car combining.

What's amazing is this is $10,000 cheaper than the Toyota.

$10,000, Tommy.

That's a big number.

But you can get a cheaper Toyota.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, but still, I mean, apples to apples, that's...

This is pretty apples to apples.

No, apples to apples would really be the calligraphy that we're getting next week.

But that would be even much more upscale in terms of its interior and surplus materials.

And that one's priced about the same as a Toyota.

Is it?

That's about 61, yeah, for the top of the line calligraphy.

So you're not really saving a lot much on the top end.

But I think this XRT is very well equipped.

Heated, ventilated seats, heated steering wheel.

But no, massaging seats.

Oh my, what am I going to do?

It's got a lumbar.

No, what Hyundai does is on their top trims, they give you a driver side massage, but no passenger.

I love when they do that.

That doesn't make the company a little cheaper, Petty.

Yeah, that's kind of silly.

But the car drives quite nice.

It's a little firmer than the Ford, but no squeaks and rattles.

I think it's a pretty well assembled car.

It feels nice and tight as you go down the road.

What is this about?

Why are there blue and red lines?

Frame lines.

So you know if you're going picture, if you're rolling.

OG.

Yeah.

Look, you have tire pressure here, which is really good.

I kind of thought maybe Hyundai tagged itself.

No, no.

But they've done a good job on this on the screen.

I think it's pretty cool from an off-road standpoint.

It doesn't have nearly the skid plates though that the Ford has.

The one thing I would say about this is the seating position is much more inside the car.

And then on top of it?

And then on top of it.

I'm not, I don't love that for an off-roader.

There's the old palisade.

Yeah, I kind of feel like I'm sitting inside an egg as opposed to on top of an egg.

It's okay.

Sure.

I sit there because there's a lot of brownness in here.

Yeah, fair enough.

No, it's got the latest in Hyundai driver Sistu.

So it's got lane centering, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, all of that.

It works pretty well.

It's not quite as advanced as the Ford, but it's pretty good.

I mean, look at the amount of space above my head.

Well, you can jack your seat up a little too.

Yeah, that's true.

That helps a little bit.

I never jack my seat up.

This is weird.

I always lower it.

I know.

Well, you can kind of choose in this car.

That's better.

Yeah, putting my seat up, now I feel like I'm sitting on top of the car.

Yeah.

But still, look at all the headroom.

I know, it's got a ton of space in here.

Yeah, it's very roomy.

So the only lackluster part about this car is the engine.

Well, let's accelerate.

Let's see what that means.

I know there's some dot hard guys that love their NA engines, which granted this and the

pilot are kind of your last two options.

I bet you none of them live at 5,000 feet above sea level.

That's true.

Okay, 287 horsepower.

So you get a big burst, then it kind of just like falls off.

It's much quicker.

Yeah, much quicker.

We're still not at 60.

So by my butthole meter, I would say this is the slowest.

Yeah, for sure.

By a country mile.

And then, you know, the two is quicker and then the four is the rocket compared to the

other two.

The problem is, like, I'm okay with being slow if the fuel economy is a benefit.

But it's slow and the fuel economy is pretty bad.

So the powertrain in this, the one to get really is a hybrid.

Well, you know where that is, right?

Because sometimes you would think that a smaller engine would give you more and better fuel

economy, but what ends up happening is it ends up working a lot harder to, you know, move

a much heavier car.

And so even though it's smaller, it uses more fuel because it's higher in the rev band.

But it's bigger.

This is the biggest engine of the three by a huge margin.

Yeah, but at least horsepower.

Yeah, I mean.

So a bit more displacement, but less power.

2.4 in the Toyota, 3.0 in the Ford, 3.5 in the Hyundai.

You remember that Hellcat we had?

Yeah.

The Challenger?

Uh-huh.

That thing got, like, 31 on the highway because it had 600, 700 horsepower, 707 horsepower,

you know, supercharged V8.

Hemi was turning over at, like, 1,300 RPM on the highway.

Yeah.

But once again, this is the biggest engine.

So by displacement it should be...

I know.

Let's see what I'm saying.

Yes, but there's more to power than just displacement.

Right.

But I think there's this perception that turbos give you bad economy because it's a high...

It's a forced inductment.

Well, and the other thing that happens is this technology is always changing.

And so what...

And this is the problem.

People today still think of turbos as when Saab put them in the 900.

Sure.

And, you know, those were two seconds of turbo lag when Porsche did it.

And then horrendous fuel economy and then horrendous reliability.

And that first impression is hard to shake.

So there's all these old guys who are like, I don't like turbos because, you know, they

blow up and they're thirsty.

So I want the NA.

But here you have a car that's NA and yet it's the same fuel efficiency as the Ford

and yet much slower.

I put it in sport mode.

Let's see if that makes a difference.

A little bit.

Maybe a little.

A little sharper throttle response.

Yeah, sharper throttle response.

But the whole power aside, very comfortable car.

Good ride, too.

Yeah, maybe even the quietest of the three.

It's really well insulated in here.

And it offers a lot of space and value.

Like of the three is the best value.

So which of the three is your favorite?

Well, let me tell you one thing first.

The thing that would drive me crazy.

Right here, it's kind of a really cool dash design, but there's this little flat part

of the dash and it's already full of dust.

Yes.

And all I would be doing is just wiping it off.

Same thing with this.

Yeah.

This display.

It's already dusty.

Luckily there's no piano black.

Yeah, that's true.

So I like that.

Which is my favorite.

So for my money.

We're wrapping it up, yeah.

Oh, gosh, I'm debating my off road.

Here's what I'm debating.

I love the off roading that these two can potentially do.

But then I am really thinking to myself, is this the right tool for the right job?

And the answer I'm getting is no, this is the wrong tool because you're not going to

take this off road.

So in this case, the off roadiness of both the Explorer and the Palisade doesn't give

me a lot of like, you know, up value.

Okay.

So I got to say, I think I'd go with the Toyota if I had a family and I wanted practicality

because the fuel economy is what's going to sway me.

Yeah, I think that's very, very valid.

I think that the, you know, and the performance of the Toyota is not far off of the Ford in

terms of real world performance.

Now, if I lived on a dirt road and, you know, I was doing a lot of, you know, dirt work,

then it might be either the Ford or this one.

I'm not sure yet.

I haven't really spent much time besides, you know, you actually spent more time behind

the Ford, the other wheel of the Ford.

Andre drove this back from Arizona.

So this is my first exposure to it.

So I don't want to make a decision between the two yet.

I guess if it was serious off roading, I would definitely go for the Ford because that one's

going to be usable off road.

If it was just a dirt road and I wanted to save some money, it'd be this guy.

Yeah.

I think the winner for me is this one because I like the style.

I like the blended style usability and comfort.

I think it kind of manages those three very, very well.

The powertrain is by far the weakest and this is the fuel economy's disappointing, but I

think the value is definitely there for what you get.

Plus you get the 10 year warranty, which is a pretty big deal within owning these cars.

So for me, I think the Hyundai is the winner, but all three, you can't really go wrong.

And if you want to see my slip test, we get all three of these on the rollers to see really

what is the best AWD system that's coming soon.

Head on over to altff.com.

Hey guys, thank you for joining us for another wonderful, I think, I hope, interesting video

where we get hands on with three direct competitors and see which one is what.

And we'll see you in the next one.

Ciao.

About this episode

A hands-on comparison of three popular three-row SUVs: the 2026 Toyota Grand Highlander Platinum, Ford Explorer Tremor, and Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro. The hosts dive into the features, driving experiences, and design elements of each vehicle. Key highlights include the Grand Highlander's spacious trunk, hybrid powertrain options, and the differences between the Grand Highlander and the standard Highlander. The discussion also touches on the off-road capabilities of the Explorer and Palisade, as well as the latest design trends like the 'mustache' grille. This episode is packed with insights for anyone considering a three-row SUV.

1500 watts of charging adaptive cruise control blind spot monitoring chrome CVT E-all-wheel drive exhaust tips fuel economy heads up display heated seats

Original notes

( https://www.alltfl.com/ ) Check out our new spot to find ALL our content, from news to videos and our podcasts! Which three-row SUV actually gets it right? On this episode of TFL Car Chat, Roman and Tommy go hands-on with three of the hottest family haulers on the market: the Ford Explorer Tremor, Hyundai Palisade XRT, and Toyota Grand Highlander. Each promises space, comfort, and capability—but which one truly delivers when it matters most?

The guys break down interior space, tech, powertrains, driving feel, and real-world usability, while also digging into what makes each SUV stand out (or fall short). From light off-road credibility to road-trip comfort and everyday practicality, this is a head-to-head comparison you won’t want to miss if you’re shopping for a three-row SUV in 2025.

( http://www.patreon.com/tflcar ) Visit our Patreon page to support the TFL team!

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