The Kia Telluride plans to be way above the competition and makes a perfect and luxurious buy for those who can afford it. We'd call it a neatly-wrapped up, impressive package with more ups than downs.
Kia has not always got it right with new models, but it seems to have found a winner with the Telluride, for more reasons than it just being the mechanical twin of the Hyundai Palisade. However, it's good to be cautious with any new ride, and before you make the decision to go for any car, researching it is a good thing.
While most have great things to say about the Kia Telluride, let’s see if Kia’s latest and all-new SUV is worth all that hype, and if so, what makes it so good to have car reviews sing its praises?
Here’s all that we think you should know before buying the Kia Telluride, 2020’s surefire luxury SUV hit…
10 The Biggest From Kia Till Now
If you can’t let the 2009 Kia Borrego slide from your memory as Kia’s worst three-row crossover SUV, the Telluride is more than happy to make up for it. It's Kia’s first large-sized three-row crossover and can seat 7-8 people in comfort, even if Kia still calls it a mid-size model.
While Kia pits it against the likes of the Jeep Grand Cherokee and the Honda Passport, it's closer to the Volkswagen Atlas or the Chevrolet Traverse with more passenger room than a Chevy Tahoe.
9 More Affordable Than The Competition
The Kia Telluride starts at $32,735 plus the destination fee. This makes it compete against the Chevy Traverse, Honda Pilot, and the Subaru Ascent. The priciest trim falls below $48,000, making it much cheaper than the competition. A Ford Explorer Limited starts at $50,000 and goes up from there.
While the Kia Telluride may be cheap, it has not scrimped on the ride or drive quality and handles itself well even on mountainous roads with ease. The steering is precise while the acceleration and braking remain strong.
8 Comes With Smooth Good Looks
Many times, perfectly well-made cars do not do well in the market because they have been made too ugly. This is not the case with the Kia Telluride, since its styling looks not just classy but also very distinct and modern. For a car to be able to stand out from the crowd in today’s day, now that’s what we call smooth, good looks.
LED running lights bracket the cool tiger-nose grille while the sides are clean, and the taillights look very modern and cool. It's bold and fresh, and nothing in it looks OTT, so the Kia Telluride looks as good as it runs.
7 A Mighty Powertrain
There is only one powertrain option on the Kia Telluride, and it’s a direct-injection 3.8-liter V6 that runs on an eight-speed automatic transmission. The Telluride is mostly a front-wheel-drive but does have an AWD locking mode that sends power to all four wheels. Horsepower stands at a respectable 291 while the Telluride jets a 262 ft-lb of torque.
There could be mightier competition out there, but since the Telluride does its job well over steep roads and curves, more power may just become overkill. The Sport driving mode adds even more sass to the ride.
6 Stable & Comfortable Ride On Roads
The Telluride is a hefty vehicle and calling it a mid-size crossover does not do it justice. If you like to drive fast on curves, there will be a body roll, which is but natural in a car this size. Otherwise, the Telluride rides and handles beautifully, and the top trim boasts a self-leveling rear air suspension that can handle bumps and just on a bad road with ease.
The Telluride comes with a tow rating of 5,000-pounds, a perfectly sized family camper, and can also carry a payload of 1,300-1,500 pounds, depending on the trim level. These tow ratings make it match the competition and also exceed it.
5 Fuel Economy Helps The Wallet
Despite being a rather large vehicle, the Telluride eschews V8s in favor of the V6 that runs on an Atkinson cycle and sips gas, unlike other cars that guzzle fuel. Fuel ratings stand at 20 mpg for the city, and 26 mpg for the highway with front-wheel drive and drops to 19 and 24 with the AWD option.
Again, place it next to the competition, and it manages to stand head-to-head with all, give or take a number here or there. The Telluride has been made with care and patience, making sure to give stiff competition to all its rivals, in every aspect.
4 Superb Interiors & Quality
You’d expect a big SUV like the Telluride that is priced comfortably to have scrimped on the interior quality and materials at least. Sorry to disappoint, but the Telluride is just about perfect on the inside as well, with spacious seats that are padded just right and have great thigh support.
None of the metal or wood trims inside the top-trim are “real”, but it would take a master craftsman to discover that. Second-row captain-chairs can be folded with a button for better access to the third row, which is spacious enough for full-sized adults to sit in with comfort.
3 Tons Of Room For Everything
If you look at the dimensions and cargo size of the Telluride, you’ll know why we call it one of the biggest crossover SUVs around. The cargo room behind the third-row seats is 21 cubic feet, lesser than the bigger Chevy Traverse that comes in first with 23 cubic feet.
If you fold the third row, the cargo space doubles up and then some to 46 cubic feet. Fold both the rows and now the cargo space is 87 cubic feet, still behind the Traverse but ahead of the Pilot and Ascent. Room is never a problem with the Telluride.
2 Will Keep The Techno-Fans Somewhat Satisfied
Kia has a decent multimedia system upfront, though the instrument panel is not fully digital with analog gauges behind the steering wheel. There’s a heads-up display but if you wear polarized sunglasses, you may not be able to see it, which is a bit of a fail.
The last-row seats are manual, so there’s another fail for you right there. The Harman-Kardon music system is also not one of the best, though there are plenty of one-touch buttons for various functions in it to assist the driver well.
1 One Of The Most Safety-Conscious Vehicles
Another way the Telluride excels is that a lot of the safety equipment in it is standard on all trim levels, including the base one. Automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection, lane assist and centering, blind-spot detection with braking and steering assist as well as adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go is all standard.
According to the NHTSA, the Telluride has been given a five-on-five safety rating after crash testing on the AWD models. Frontal crash and rollover risks get four points out of five, and all the equipment in it may help in avoiding any crash in the first place.