Hyundai Palisade vs GMC Yukon: which is more reliable?

The GMC Yukon is ahead of the Hyundai Palisade on the federal record, 73/100 against 68/100 — a real but narrow gap that a bad model year on either side closes.

The record, side by side

Hyundai Palisade
Hyundai Palisade · Wikimedia Commons

Hyundai Palisade

68/100 mean
  • 4 model years scored
  • 1,579 owner complaints on record
  • about 151 complaints per year on the road
  • 19 recall campaigns, 11 safety-critical
  • best year 2020 (78/100) · worst 2025 (58/100)
GMC Yukon
GMC Yukon · Wikimedia Commons

GMC Yukon

73/100 mean
  • 5 model years scored
  • 926 owner complaints on record
  • about 63 complaints per year on the road
  • 26 recall campaigns, 13 safety-critical
  • best year 2025 (83/100) · worst 2021 (60/100)

Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.

Year by year: Palisade against Yukon

The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.

YearPalisadeYukon Gap
202558 CAUTION83 BUY-25
202461 CAUTION68 CAUTION-7
2023—72 BUY—
2022—81 BUY—
202177 BUY60 CAUTION+17
202078 BUY——

What owners actually complain about

Hyundai Palisade

  • Service Brakes — 316 complaints
  • Seat Belts — 263 complaints
  • Unknown Or Other — 237 complaints

GMC Yukon

  • Engine — 569 complaints
  • Power Train — 146 complaints
  • Electrical System — 123 complaints

They do not fail the same way: the Palisade's complaints concentrate in Service Brakes, the Yukon's in Engine. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.

Years to avoid on each

Hyundai Palisade: no model year scores below 45; the strongest are 2020, 2021.

GMC Yukon: no model year scores below 45; the strongest are 2022, 2023, 2025.

A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.

What each costs today

A recent used Hyundai Palisade prices at about $63,100 and a GMC Yukon at about $63,100 — they price within $1 of each other, which at this level is the same money, and they return 21.0 against 17.0 MPG combined.

Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.

FAQ

Is the Hyundai Palisade or the GMC Yukon more reliable?

On the NHTSA record the GMC Yukon scores 73/100 against the Hyundai Palisade's 68/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The gap is small enough that the model year matters more than the badge.

Which Hyundai Palisade and GMC Yukon years should I avoid?

Hyundai Palisade: no year scores below 45. GMC Yukon: no year scores below 45. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.

What goes wrong on the Hyundai Palisade and the GMC Yukon?

The largest complaint group on the Hyundai Palisade is Service Brakes (316 complaints); on the GMC Yukon it is Engine (569).

Is the Hyundai Palisade or the GMC Yukon cheaper to own?

A recent used Hyundai Palisade prices at about $63,100 and a GMC Yukon at about $63,100, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.

More head-to-heads