2027 Kia Telluride Extends Its Reign As The Best Three-row Suv

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When Kia revealed nan Telluride conception astatine nan 2016 Detroit car show, astir group (myself included) thought it looked awesome, but that surely nan accumulation exemplary wouldn't beryllium that cool, and it astir apt wouldn't beryllium a peculiarly breathtaking merchandise either. This was aft Kia's first mates generations of genuinely bully cars pinch absorbing designs, but Hyundai Motor Group hadn't yet reached its existent world-dominating heights, and nan three-row crossover abstraction is notoriously reliable to break into and really beryllium successful in, truthful everyone was justifiably skeptical.

Well, 3 years later the accumulation Telluride debuted, and not only did it look astir arsenic awesome arsenic nan concept, it was a genuinely fantabulous vehicle. The Telluride became an contiguous smash deed for Kia some critically and commercially, pinch customers lining up astatine dealerships for illustration that yodeling woman banging connected nan autobus door. Sales person accrued 108% since nan Telluride's first year, pinch Kia moving 123,281 of nan things past year, and its marketplace stock has surged from 3.5% successful 2019 to 8% successful 2025.

Seven years and much than 670,000 income later, the second-generation Telluride is here, and it's difficult to deliberation of a caller mainstream automotive follow-up that's had this overmuch to unrecorded up to. While there's a chance nan caller Telluride's much outrageous styling whitethorn move disconnected immoderate traditionalists, I don't deliberation that will matter much, and Kia doesn't deliberation truthful either — nan automaker says its mill successful Georgia is expanding accumulation capacity by 50% for nan caller model. That'll beryllium necessary, arsenic nan 2027 Kia Telluride is fantabulous connected fundamentally each level, keeping its spot atop nan acme of Three-Row SUV Mountain.

Full disclosure: Kia invited maine to thrust up to Santa Barbara, wherever it put maine up astatine nan Ritz and fed maine for 2 nights truthful I could thrust nan 2027 Telluride.

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The second-generation Telluride is larger and much spacious, has a brace of wholly caller powertrains, offers much luxurious features, is much tin off-road and amended to thrust on-road, and is still a damn bully deal. Those and much are logic capable to speak effusively astir nan Telluride, but what I support coming backmost to is its styling. I went beautiful agelong connected nan caller Telluride's creation erstwhile it was first revealed backmost successful November, but I had yet to spot it successful person. Now that I have, I emotion it moreover more. This point conscionable looks truthful f**king cool. Judging from nan guidance successful my DMs, it's a full emotion it aliases dislike it design, which I would ever alternatively person than thing normal and boring.

I for illustration nan front-end styling of nan modular Tellurides versus nan much blacked-out X-Line and X-Pro (below is an X-Line connected nan near and an X-Pro connected nan right), though nan blocky grille and chunky bumper of those off-roady models do look good. But it's nan alien nan amended for me, truthful I for illustration nan vertical motif of nan normal front, particularly connected hybrid models wherever nan grille inserts and nan sheet betwixt nan moving lights are color-matched. The amber DRLs look moreover much chopped than nan outgoing Telluride's, and there's 4 different unlock animations to take from. (Annoyingly, it was almost intolerable to correctly seizure nan DRLs pinch my iPhone.) The existent headlights are mini rectangle units successful nan grille conscionable inboard of nan moving lights, giving it a fascinating ray signature astatine night. The dual-line taillights, likewise shaped to nan DRLs while besides an improvement of nan aged model's, beryllium flush connected nan rear extremity and are greyed retired erstwhile nan car is off.

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The caller Telluride is 2.3 inches longer and astir half an inch taller than nan aged one, but contempt nan accrued size and blockier stance, Kia says it's almost 10% much aerodynamic. Pop-out doorway handles and chopped surfaces surely thief pinch that. I emotion nan triangular style of nan fender flares, nan unusual notches and concentric lines connected nan instrumentality arches, nan subtle chamfering and surfacing of each nan assemblage panels. The broadside windows are little absorbing than earlier but nan D-pillar is much so, and nan blockier tail extremity is simply a bully improvement of nan aged Telluride. While stepping astir nan SUV I was moreover remarking really overmuch I bask nan curen of nan licence sheet situation and nan creation of nan broadside mirrors.

Sadly each nan Tellurides that Kia brought to Santa Barbara were nan aforesaid spec, painted successful Ivory Silver, a colour that does astatine slightest person immoderate bully champagne sparkle to it. But while overmuch of nan Telluride's colour palette is boring, location are immoderate existent bangers connected offer. Depending connected trim level, you tin get a saccharine denim blue, emerald green, and a awesome soil beige, nan past of which comes successful either gloss aliases matte finishes. There's a matte grey connected offer, too. Kia besides continues to termination nan instrumentality creation game, pinch each trim level having four-spoke wheels that are up to 21 inches successful size. Too bad they're each mostly conscionable black.

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Even if you don't for illustration really nan Telluride looks connected nan outside, you'll emotion really it drives. Where the aged Telluride had a people aspirated 3.8-liter V6 appealing to classical SUV fans, nether nan hood of nan 2027 Telluride is simply a turbocharged 2.5-liter inline-4 pinch 274 horsepower and 311 pound-feet of torque, sent to nan beforehand wheels or, optionally, each 4 wheels done an 8-speed automatic. That's down 18 hp but up 49 lb-ft complete nan V6, and while nan caller Telluride is astir half a 2nd slower to 60 mph than nan aged 1 successful Car and Driver's testing, it's plentifulness speedy enough, signaling a 7.4-second 0-to-60 time. (That's quicker than nan Telluride's twin, the Hyundai Palisade, which still uses a people aspirated V6.) Weighing successful astatine 4,381 pounds successful guidelines FWD shape and 4,744 pounds successful astir feature-filled AWD trim, nan caller Telluride is simply a fewer 100 pounds heavier than nan SUV it replaces, which decidedly contributes to nan acceleration deficit.

I only drove nan nonhybrid exemplary successful X-Pro trim while off-roading, truthful astir of my driving impressions are of nan hybrid Telluride, but that's good — it's decidedly nan powertrain you want. Kia adds 2 electrical motors to nan turbo four, bringing full output to 329 hp and 339 lb-ft, and nan hybrid's 0-to-60 clip should beryllium successful nan low-6-second range. The hybrid system's cognition is very smooth; nan move betwixt state and electrical powerfulness is seamless, there's hardly immoderate audible drone aliases drivetrain roughness from nan engine, powerfulness transportation is linear, and brake consciousness is good. There are 2 less gears successful nan hybrid's automatic transmission, and that's wholly fine, arsenic its cognition isn't really noticeable.

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There are only 3 thrust modes — Eco, Sport and a My Drive customizable mode — and switching betwixt Eco and Sport doesn't alteration excessively overmuch speech from powertrain responsiveness. The steering is rather heavy, which I like; nan powerfulness steering centrifugal has been moved from nan file to nan rack, improving precision. The suspension is highly well-damped, capable that you don't request to interest astir a thrust value punishment if you spell for a higher-end trim pinch 20- aliases 21-inch wheels, and it's composed capable to consciousness unchangeable alternatively of sloppy successful tight corners. Perhaps nan Telluride's champion move property is really damn quiet it is inside. It legitimately seems arsenic quiet arsenic a Mercedes-Benz S-Class, which further adds to nan Telluride's wide emotion of solidity. The aged Telluride already had a much premium driving acquisition than its value tag suggested, and nan caller 1 takes that up a notch.

Oh, and substance system is beautiful good. The regular Telluride will return 22 mpg combined, 20 mpg metropolis and 26 mpg road successful front-wheel-drive shape (the aforesaid arsenic nan aged V6), aliases 20/18/24 pinch AWD (1 mpg amended connected nan road than nan V6). Go for nan hybrid, though, and nan FWD Telluride will get 35 mpg combined, 34 mpg metropolis and 36 mpg highway; each of those figures drops by 4 mpg for nan AWD model. That makes it somewhat much businesslike than the Palisade hybrid that shares nan aforesaid powertrain, and nan Telluride is only an mpg aliases 2 down nan Toyota Grand Highlander. Over nan people of my time successful nan Telluride, I saw astir 28 mpg, and that's including a batch of spirited back-road driving. The hybrids boast a 637-mile driving range, much than 200 miles beyond nan modular engine.

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Our luncheon extremity was a 7,000-acre ranch that's been successful nan aforesaid family since nan 1890s, wherever we sewage to acquisition nan Telluride X-Pro successful its earthy habitat: connected a bunch of off-road trails, surrounded by 600 cows and beautiful scenery. The automaker introduced a Telluride X-Pro pinch nan previous-gen's facelift, but speech from all-terrain tires, much crushed clearance and immoderate styling tweaks, it wasn't a compelling prime for group who really do nature-y things. The caller X-Pro is simply a different story. In summation to 18-inch wheels pinch Continental CrossContact all-terrains, it has 9.1 inches of crushed clearance (0.7 inch much than nan past one) and specially tuned suspension, an physics limited-slip differential, 3 Terrain thrust modes (Mud, Sand and Snow), off-road camera views, and moreover much chopped styling cues that see functional betterment hooks. And that's connected apical of what you get successful nan SX Prestige, nan otherwise-top trim level.

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Kia only offers nan X-Pro pinch nan nonhybrid engine, apparently because engineers couldn't get nan capacity and towing capacity they wanted from nan hybrid; nan electrified Tellurides tow 500 pounds fewer, truthful only 4,500 pounds. That seems for illustration a load of BS to me. The other oomph, instant electrical torque and wide quietness would each beryllium beneficial erstwhile off-roading, and I can't ideate that 500 pounds will really make a quality to each X-Pro buyers. I'd expect an X-Pro hybrid to beryllium introduced successful a twelvemonth aliases two. But nan turbo 4 did a good occupation powering nan X-Pros on nan substance of paved roads, ungraded trails, rocky creeks and muddy hills we drove them on, and it sounded kinda bully too.

You tin bring up a information surface that shows a three-dimensional exemplary of nan Telluride surrounded by accusation astir tyre pressure, nan magnitude of load being put connected each wheel, transportation and rotation angles, and a bunch much powertrain stuff. It's really good done, but I wish nan gauge cluster was capable to show graphics for illustration it arsenic well. What's not arsenic good done is nan surround-view camera system. The cameras themselves are already reasonably low-res for 2026, and while nan off-road views are helpful, for illustration nan underhood view, nan camera feeds move disconnected if you transcend 6 mph, which I did many, galore times successful nan hr I was off-roading.

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Most dudes who emotion driving connected trails will say, "Pssh, you don't request wimpy camera views anyway, conscionable look retired nan windows for illustration a existent man." I cull toxic off-roader masculinity, and want tons of bully cameras connected immoderate car I drive, but I will admit that visibility is beautiful bully successful nan Telluride, and it didn't consciousness excessively large aliases unwieldy, moreover erstwhile driving astir a rocky curve astatine a 27-degree angle. Its shockingly tight turning radius decidedly helps. The X-Pro felt wholly sure-footed connected each benignant of obstacle we tackled, pinch capabilities intelligibly beyond thing we were doing. Other than 1 X-Pro pinch a banged-up skidplate, nan Tellurides survived nan time unscathed.

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Spending hours successful these 2 top-end Telluride trims gave maine a batch of clip to admit nan interior, which is simply a large upgrade from nan aged one. Don't get maine wrong, nan outgoing Telluride is bully inside, but it decidedly feels outdated against different caller Kia offerings, particularly nan EV9. Its layout and creation is for illustration a operation of EV9 and nan aged Telluride, retaining nan first-gen's salient halfway console pinch a drawback grip connected each side. The dashboard wraps astir onto nan doorway panels, which looks fab and creates two-tone colour splits, and configurable ambient lighting is utilized to awesome effect.

Like astir different Kias location is simply a 12.3-inch gauge cluster show (4.2 inches connected low-end trims) and 12.3-inch touchscreen sandwiching a 5-inch touchscreen for nan ambiance controls, which tin beryllium annoying to usage while driving. The remainder of nan infotainment strategy is great, though, and has wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. There are 7 USB-C ports passim nan interior, positive 2 wireless chargers successful nan halfway console pinch rubbery pads that will really clasp your telephone successful spot beautiful well. An 8-speaker sound strategy is standard, but you tin get a 14-speaker Meridian surround-sound strategy that would consciousness correct astatine location successful a existent luxury car.

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Depending connected trim level nan Telluride has nary sunroof, a single-pane powerfulness sunroof supra nan first statement of seats, aliases a ample dual-pane panoramic roof, nan beforehand pane of which opens. If you get nan large one, which my trial cars had, nan caller Telluride has much headroom successful each 3 rows of seats than nan outgoing model. Shoulder room is amended for second-row passengers, and there's complete half an inch much limb room successful some nan 2nd and 3rd rows. Kia says third-row ingress has been improved by 2.3 inches, and it does look easier to get successful and retired with, either pinch nan disposable powered second-row captain's chairs aliases nan manually adjustable ones. Both are beautiful easy to use, and while unnecessary, nan powerfulness ones look to amended move retired of nan way. (According to a Kia spokesperson, nan Telluride is unaffected by the Palisade's power-seat-related recall.)

In SUVs for illustration this cargo abstraction is conscionable arsenic important arsenic rider space, truthful nan Telluride has much of it, too. With nan 3rd statement up there's 22.3 cubic feet of abstraction including nan spot of room nether nan luggage tray cover, 1.3 cubes much than nan aged Telluride. Folding nan 3rd statement expands that to 48.7 cubic feet, 2.7 much than before, and if you besides fold nan 2nd statement level (doable pinch buttons successful nan cargo area) there's a full of 89.3 cubic feet, an summation of 2.3 cubes. Going for nan hybrid only takes distant 1 cubic ft from each of those measurements, which is really not bad. The halfway console retention is expansive, arsenic are nan doorway pockets.

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An often-overlooked characteristic of a car are nan overhead lights, but you'll beryllium happy to cognize Kia did immoderate innovating pinch nan 1 successful nan Telluride X-Pro's tailgate. Not only is nan brightness adjustable — and it gets very agleam — you tin besides set nan hue of nan ray from normal to cool aliases warm. There's besides exterior crushed lighting that illuminates each 4 sides of nan vehicle.

The Tellurides astatine nan thrust each had Kia's carpeted level mat accessory package, which includes a mat that covers nan cargo area and nan backmost of nan 3rd row, velcroing on. They looked good pinch nan 3rd statement folded flat, but nan mat weirdly bunched up erstwhile nan seats were successful place. That could conscionable beryllium because it was caller and stiff, but level mat lovers beware. See? That's nan benignant of nitpicky worldly you travel to Jalopnik for.

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The magic of nan Telluride's interior is successful nan specifications and materials. You get what Kia calls "engineered wood" (it doesn't really explicate what that means) that looks and feels very nice, and you'd ne'er conjecture that nan SynTex synthetic leather isn't existent cattle hide. It's paired nicely pinch suede connected nan precocious sections of nan seats and nan headliner connected nan SX Prestige and X-Pro models. Major touchpoints and surfaces, arsenic good arsenic immoderate insignificant ones, are well-padded, but moreover nan difficult integrative pieces look and consciousness higher-end. All of nan buttons, switches and knobs consciousness awesome to property and use, arsenic do nan aerial vents that person a cool action to adjusting airflow. The doorway handles are a vertically oriented propulsion tab pinch a metal-like extremity headdress that person a awesome action, for illustration a lever successful a Star Wars ship.

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What really pushes nan Telluride's compartment into show-stopping territory is nan usage of colour inside. Now, this is thing that Hyundai Motor Group excels astatine successful general, ever since cars for illustration nan Hyundai Venue Denim and earliest Genesis GV80s came out. Some trim levels are disposable pinch Butter Brown aliases Saddle Brown upholstery that look bully if reasonably plain, aliases green-ish Millstone utilized sparingly on pinch black. For afloat drama, spell for 1 of nan SX Prestige trims, which tin beryllium had pinch nan fantabulous operation of Deep Navy and Tuscan Umber — or, only successful nan hybrid SX Prestige pinch a mates of nan overgarment options, nan Blackberry and Sand Beige you spot here.

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When you spell for 1 of those 2 schemes, each azygous point you spot wrong nan car is color-matched. The doorway sill guards and integrative situation successful nan cargo area, each nan mini integrative pieces connected nan dashboard and doorway cards, nan shrouds for nan spot bases, each nan hooks and clips and fasteners, nan seatbelt outlets and seatbelts themselves, nan headliner, nan rubber doorway pouch liners... It's each color-matched to beige and purple. The only bits of achromatic wrong are nan carpets and nan steering instrumentality stalks. It's difficult to moreover picture nan emotion I get erstwhile gazing upon this level of color-matching, which is thing not moreover Rolls-Royce and Bentley do. Have you ever been to a Beyoncé performance and felt nan aerial vibrate and nan stadium level shingle from nan crowd's power arsenic her silhouette appears connected stage? That's what it's for illustration to announcement different purple constituent successful nan Telluride.

This awesome colour strategy requires nan $1,200 SX Prestige Executive package, which gets you 6-way powered second-row seats pinch a relaxation mode, heated outboard third-row seats, and 10-way powerfulness beforehand seats pinch adjustable lumbar, a 2-way powerfulness limb hold and "premium relaxation comfortableness settings." They really are comfortable seats, though it sucks that nan massage usability is only for nan driver.

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The cheapest 2027 Telluride is nan LX trim level, starting astatine $40,735 including destination, an summation of $2,800 complete nan aged one. It's a very guidelines model, pinch cloth seats that are manually adjustable and a tailgate you person to manually unfastened — nan horror! At nan very least, you'll want to jump up to nan $2,900-pricier S trim, arsenic it adds a powerfulness driver's seat, tile rails, a powerfulness tailgate, a sunroof, 20-inch wheels, heated beforehand seats and second-row captain's chairs. Then there's nan EX trim that conscionable cracks nan $45,000 mark, putting nan second-row chair backmost successful and giving you ventilated powerfulness beforehand seats, SynTex upholstery, and a fewer different niceties; walk different $3,500 and you get nan X-Line EX, which is chiefly astir nan styling. The LX is FWD-only, while AWD is simply a $2,000 action connected nan S and EX, and modular connected each different Telluride.

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Kia says much group are buying higher trims of its vehicles, which is astir apt why each nan really bully worldly comes erstwhile you get to nan SX ($50,335), X-Line SX ($53,335), SX Prestige ($55,435), and X-Line SX Prestige ($56,435) travel in. Without getting into excessively overmuch of nan minutiae, present are immoderate features that are disposable connected nan 2027 Telluride: integer cardinal capability, a 12-inch head-up display, heated and ventilated second-row seats, a heated steering wheel, blind-spot cameras, projector fog lights, and second-row sunshades. Nearly each active-safety strategy comes arsenic standard, and SX trims and supra get nan Highway Driving Assistant 2.0 strategy pinch automated lane changes and a mates different information systems pinch much functionality. Tri-zone automatic ambiance power is besides standard, and location are ceiling-mounted aerial vents for nan 3rd row. Everything from SX and up only gets captain's chairs for nan 2nd row.

The value building and characteristic readiness for nan hybrid is intimately aligned pinch nan regular Telluride, which surely makes my occupation a small easier. The cheapest hybrid Telluride is nan $48,035 front-wheel-drive EX, $2,700 much costly than nan nonhybrid EX; AWD is besides $2,000, and modular connected each different hybrid trim. The balanced hybrid is an upcharge of only $2,700 connected nan remainder of nan trim levels, too. To me, that's a no-brainer decision. A afloat loaded Telluride Hybrid SX Prestige will travel successful astatine conscionable complete $60,000. That makes nan base-spec $91,600 Mercedes-Benz GLS450 look beautiful silly.

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There are a batch of bully three-row crossovers connected sale, and moreover a fewer really awesome ones. It's 1 of nan astir celebrated and important segments successful nan U.S., truthful automakers (usually) put a batch of effort in, and nan section is simply a batch much competitory than it was erstwhile nan Telluride first came retired successful 2019. But I deliberation nan second-gen Kia Telluride is coming retired swinging, poised to sound retired everyone else.

The only different SUV that comes adjacent is, of course, its likewise priced Hyundai Palisade stablemate. The Palisade's exterior creation is arsenic retired there, but its lounge-like interior is much absorbing to look astatine and much luxurious and plush. For now, nan Telluride's turbo 4 has a limb up complete nan Palisade's V6, but nan Hyundai is astir apt getting nan four-cylinder adjacent year, and nan 2 cars' hybrid powertrains are identical.

Like truthful overmuch successful this world — and successful nan circumstantial world of ample mainstream crossovers — it'll each travel down to individual preference. Not everyone will vibe pinch nan Telluride, but I really do, and I deliberation throngs of customers will too, astir apt much than ever before. Sure, I want group to bargain awesome cars that suit their needs, but chiefly I dream nan 2027 Kia Telluride is simply a large occurrence truthful I tin support seeing tons of these wonderfully weird-looking SUVs connected nan roads for years to come.