REMOTE DIAL UP

SEVEN DRIVE MODES; HOW MANY WILL YOU USE?

- ASH WESTERMAN

HYUNDAI PALISADE HIGHLANDER

Price as tested $75,000

This month 324km @ 10.0L/100km

Total 2798km @ 10.5L/100km

MY no-longer-teenage daughter jumped in the front passenger seat of the Palisade the other day, and cast her eye around the vast cabin as she paired her phone to the multimedia system with the ruthless, intuitive efficiency only a Gen Z can.

Once I’d convinced her to play some old-school hip-hop instead of her nu-school computer-generated ear floss, we settled in for the short drive to lunch.

In a rare moment of lifting her eyes from her phone, she spotted the drive mode selector and asked a reasonable question: “Hey dad, what does this thing do?”

I sensed this was my big moment to impress her with my extensive knowledge of the Palisade’s seven different drive modes, and go into excruciating detail as to how each one is tailored for specific conditions, and how there are seven wondrously unique blends of throttle mapping, transmission calibration, EPAS assistance, and front-to-rear torque splits to enhance traction in even the most challenging conditions.

I didn’t, of course, because I would have bored her so rigid I would have had to carry her out of the car like a fence post. So I kept it simple: “Not as much as you may expect, honey.”