Manual says you should as you would with a conventional gearshift, but appears if you do not, the car automatically shifts to park when turn off the ignition.
So appears you don't need to.
If so, residual purpose would be to press P when stopped but not intending to turn off the engine..
Anyone have definitive info on this ?
Did you mean needing to press "P" for park before turning off the engine? I'm still getting accustomed to the electronic gearshift, and on one occasion I forgot to press "P" and just turned off the engine. Like you said, the vehicle smartly shifts to park before shutting the engine down. Is that wise? Any possible long-term problems that could result?
It probably isn't a big deal if it happens once in a while.
I have a Kia Stinger and turn it off all the time without pressing "P: first. Am trying to find out if it is OK to do the same with the Palisade as standard practice, despite what the manual says.