2024 Hyundai Palisade vs 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport

The 2024 Hyundai Palisade stood out with its distinctive styling, setting it apart from the typical family-friendly SUVs. While its design might not have appealed to everyone, those who appreciated its aesthetics likely found much to admire in other aspects of the vehicle. Hyundai Canada offered the Palisade in two trims: Urban and Ultimate Calligraphy, with the latter featuring luxurious touches like an artificial suede headliner, quality upholstery, and sophisticated interior elements that elevated its appeal to resemble a luxury SUV.

In contrast, the 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport emphasized a sportier aesthetic within the Range Rover family. Its taller stance, shorter wheelbase, and athletic appearance distinguished it from the traditional Range Rover. The SV Edition Two trim, the highest-performance model, featured unique elements like 23-inch carbon-fibre wheels and a carbon-fibre hood. Despite its sporty exterior, the interior maintained a minimalist aesthetic with luxurious touches such as red leather upholstery and illuminated steering-wheel paddle shifters, creating a cockpit-like feel that was both sporty and refined.

The 2024 Hyundai Palisade was equipped with a 3.8-litre V6 engine producing 291 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque, paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission and standard all-wheel drive in Canada. It offered a maximum towing capacity of 2,268 kilograms and 20.3 centimetres of ground clearance. The Palisade featured multiple driving modes, including Eco, Comfort, Sport, Smart, and Snow, and its AWD system could be locked for off-road conditions. Despite its firm suspension, the Palisade provided a comfortable ride with excellent visibility and handling, though its real-world fuel economy was less impressive.

The 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport offered various powertrain options, all with an eight-speed automatic transmission and standard four-wheel drive. The Dynamic SE model featured a 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-six engine with 395 hp, while the plug-in hybrid variant offered 454 hp. The Autobiography trim increased output to 543 hp, and the SV Edition Two boasted a twin-turbo BMW V8 with 626 hp, achieving 0-100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. The Range Rover Sport excelled in both performance and luxury, with features like sport-tuned air suspension, four-wheel steering, and brake-based torque vectoring, providing a calm yet agile driving experience.

The 2024 Hyundai Palisade offered a spacious and comfortable interior with premium Nappa leather upholstery in the Ultimate Calligraphy trim. It featured heated and ventilated front seats, a heated steering wheel, and a dual-panel sunroof. The Palisade provided configurable storage options and ample cargo space, with 509 litres behind the third row and up to 2,447 litres with seats folded. Second-row passengers enjoyed excellent comfort, and the third row was more spacious than many competitors. The hands-free power tailgate added convenience, though it could be turned off if not needed.

The 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport, positioned between the Velar and full-size Range Rover, offered a two-row, five-seater configuration. While it lacked a third row, it provided ample headroom and legroom, with reclining rear seats and 20-way power-adjustable front seats. The Sport offered 835 litres of cargo space behind the second row and 1,860 litres with seats folded. Its maximum towing capacity was 3,500 kilograms for turbo-six and V8 models. The Sport's air suspension and power operation made loading cargo easier, though its cargo capacity was less than some competitors.

The 2024 Hyundai Palisade featured a 12.3-inch digital instrumentation panel and touchscreen infotainment system with navigation, Bluetooth, SiriusXM, and wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. The Ultimate Calligraphy trim included wireless charging and a 12-speaker Harman Kardon sound system. Hyundai's Bluelink connected services offered remote engine starting and emergency assistance. Additional technologies included a digital rearview mirror, semi-autonomous remote parking, and an excellent head-up display, though it was incompatible with polarized sunglasses.

The 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport boasted a 13.7-inch digital instrument cluster and a 13.1-inch touchscreen with wireless Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and Amazon Alexa integration. While the minimalist design was visually appealing, it required screen widgets for functions like climate control. The Pivi Pro infotainment system was responsive, with natural-language voice recognition. The SV Edition Two featured "Body and Soul Seats" with embedded transducers, offering a unique, albeit slightly gimmicky, experience. The Meridian audio system provided excellent sound quality, with up to 29 speakers available.

The 2024 Hyundai Palisade came equipped with a comprehensive suite of driving assistance systems, including forward-collision warning, automatic emergency braking, blind-spot monitoring, and lane-keep assist. Highway Driving Assist paired adaptive cruise control with lane-centring assist, offering a hands-on driving system for highway travel. The Palisade earned a Top Safety Pick rating from the IIHS, though NHTSA crash tests were incomplete at the time.

The 2025 Land Rover Range Rover Sport included standard driver-assist features such as automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, and blind-spot monitoring. A 360-degree camera system and digital rearview mirror aided parking, though parking sensors were overly sensitive. Safety ratings from the IIHS and NHTSA were not available at the time of writing.