Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro vs. Honda Pilot TrailSport: Which Soft-Roader Is Best?

• The 2026 Hyundai Palisade XRT Pro is a new off-road-focused version of the company's successful three-row SUV.
• We decided to put the XRT Pro, a newcomer to the off-road world, up against the more established Honda Pilot TrailSport.
• While both SUVs put in a decent performance throughout our day in the dirt, one was the better all-around choice.

Playing in the dirt

Our off-road gauntlet consists of three specific challenges to put these SUVs to the test. First up, the hill climb. We've tackled this exact mountain in the Honda Passport TrailSport, which performed well, so our hopes were high for the Pilot. Like its smaller sibling, the Pilot has Trail mode, a system that can split the engine's torque 50/50 to either rear wheel for increased traction using mechanical clutch packs. In a setting like this steep hill, it is a huge benefit for traction. Trail mode also changes the throttle mapping to make the Pilot less sensitive to inputs. This allows us to creep our way up the hill with very little drama. 

The Hyundai can also send torque to a specific wheel. When a wheel is popped into the air, the system will shuffle the power to the opposite side. To attack the hill, we put the Palisade into Sand mode (because its Mud and Snow modes don’t really apply here) and turned the traction control off. We realized soon that the Hyundai doesn't dampen throttle inputs as much, so it was harder to be smooth and keep our momentum up the hill. As the wheels started to slip, the system did shuffle the power around appropriately, but not as well as the Pilot. 

On the ziggurat of integrity — a staircase to test ground off-road angles — neither the Pilot nor the Palisade made it up the first step. This is a reminder that while these three-row SUVs can play in the dirt, they’re not designed to do serious rock crawling or articulation.

But even with two failures getting onto the steps, technically speaking the Palisade got closer before hitting its bumper, making it the winner of the second test and evening the score to one apiece.

To end the day, we took the Pilot and the Palisade through the sandy wash run — a gravel/dirt road that leads to a course filled with loose sand. The varied surfaces met with some moderate speed are probably the best representation of the kind of off-roading these three-row SUVs will do.

With the Pilot in Sand mode, we attacked the gravel, instantly appreciating the V6 engine's steady flow of power. The off-road-tuned suspension did a good job of soaking up the road's many bumps, but we still got jostled around a bit more than we would've liked. The Pilot's super-light steering meant that we couldn’t feel the road all that well, either. 

Contrast this with the Palisade XRT Pro. Driving this on the same roads right after the Pilot, we found everything about the Hyundai immediately more comfortable. Its suspension was cushier, the steering more controllable — the Palisade was more preferable on these surfaces, just like it is on everyday streets. 

Both SUVs handled this type of terrain without issue, and if you're regularly going camping off-road or doing some light trail work, then either would be a fine choice. But the Palisade's extra comfort made it the better choice in our eyes and therefore the victor.

What should you buy?

Some off-road tests are closer than others, and this one had a lot of back-and-forth. While the Pilot performed better on the hill climb with its superior traction management, the rest of the day skewed toward the Hyundai. The XRT Pro's better approach and departure angles proved themselves useful on more than one occasion, and its recovery hooks are a great thing to have. This, combined with its better driving dynamics both on and off-road, makes it our overall winner of this test.