2020 Hyundai Palisade: Long-term road-trip expert

Meet Roadshow's long-term 2020 Hyundai Palisade Limited. It just returned from a road trip to New Orleans.

Friendly locals welcomed us with open arms.

Our Palisade has proven to be an excellent long-distance machine, with excellent seat comfort, ample space and enough power.

For a 6+ week trip to The Big Easy, we borrowed a roof box for extra supplies. The Yakima RocketBox Pro 14 added as many cubic feet of extra space as its name suggests. That's nearly the same amount of space as you'll find in both trunks of a Tesla Model 3.

NOLA's graffiti and street art scene is amazing.

We couldn't resist going Dutch on this angle, just once.

The lozenge-shaped roof box opens from both sides and locks for safekeeping.

With a clever clamping mechanism and large plastic twist handles, the Yakima didn't require tools to put on our Palisade.

Awkwardly large but relatively light at 40 pounds, one person can mount and dismount the RocketBox 14 on a tall SUV, but two people make the job easier.

Even with its svelte design, we still absolutely noticed a fuel-economy hit when the crossbars and box were fitted to our Palisade.

Our dip in observed mileage may also have something to do with the fact that we loaded this three-row up right to the headliner with stuff so we didn't have to go out for supplies as often during the pandemic.

Taking it to warmer and sunnier Southern climes greatly improved our spirits.

Unfortunately, perhaps thanks to the additional sunload and warmer temps, we also noticed an unpleasant interior aroma that has plagued some other Palisade Limited and Calligraphy owners.

Hyundai has developed a fix for this aromatic issue, which is being blamed on a supplier defect related to the faux leather coverings on these vehicles' headrests. It's not too bothersome in our long-term vehicle, so we'll revisit it during our next scheduled service.

With the roof box, we recorded a test-low fuel-economy run of 19.7 mpg, which actually isn't that bad considering our elevated speeds and fully packed vehicle.

Before our trip to New Orleans, our Hyundai Palisade went to Suburban in search of an oil change and a replacement windshield. It left with new fluids, but the same glass.

Our long-term Palisade hanging out with our editor's NB Miata. Wouldn't be a bad two-car garage, to be honest.

Roadshow's long-termer stopped in DC for a meet n' greet with a family member's Acura-MDX-replacing Palisade Limited.

Here's a closeup of the windshield crack sustained near home after an otherwise flawless epic road trip.

Our road trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and back resulted in great fuel economy that could've easily been better with a more charitable driving style.

Thus far, the Palisade has delivered a nice blend of three-row SUV practicality with a dollop of luxury.

The cockpit is full of impressive materials from microfiber suede, high-quality plastics and Nappa leather upholstery.

Shift-by-wire tech cleans up the center stack area and leaves a push-button shifter in place.

Lovely touches to the interior seen here on the door panels.

Ambient lighting makes this look like a far more expensive cabin.

We dig the front fascia, but it's certainly a love-it-or-hate it design.

The rear's a tad more anonymous.

Keep scrolling or clicking to see more of our long-term Palisade Limited.