ON THE GNARLY, GRAINY,
CHATTERY, CHUNKY SURFACES
OF OUR 28-MILE TEST LOOP, THE
BIG KIA REALLY IMPRESSED US.
adults will fit, and smartly located seat-
fold buttons and grab handles to get in
and out of the rear doors offer better
functionality than the comparably sized
Mercedes and BMW SUVs. Then there’s
the detail stuff, like both the second and
third rows getting their own USB ports
to keep all the family’s devices happily
charged and functioning.
“Kia shames many luxury automakers
offering vehicles costing twice as much,”
Seabaugh said. “Fit and finish are superb,
materials are excellent, and the color
mixture is wonderful.”
ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE
The Telluride shares its platform and
mechanicals with the new Hyundai
Palisade, but carrying far different states
of tune. There’s only one powertrain
offered—the 291-hp 3.8-liter V-6 with an
eight-speed automatic—but buyers can
upgrade from the standard front-drive to
all-wheel drive on all four available trims.
It’s a $2,000 option.
Although the V-6 engine could use a
little more than its 262 lb-ft of torque
in the 4,460-pound SX AWD model, the
fully loaded Telluride is still quicker to
60 mph and over the quarter mile than
an entry-level Mercedes-Benz GLE 350
4Matic, which costs $10,000 more without
options. The Telluride also comfortably
punches above its price point in terms of
ride, refinement, and low noise levels.
And while most behemoth SUVs
must sacrifice steering and handling for
comfort, “It drives so much smaller than
it is,” Seabaugh said. “It feels like a good
two-row crossover, with crisp turn-in
and feel, excellent ride quality, and great
body control.” Its suspension is just a tad
bouncy, but gusting crosswinds hardly
fazed the Telluride when driving at 100
mph on our high-speed oval.
But it was on the gnarly, grainy, chattery,
chunky surfaces of our 28-mile test loop
outside Tehachapi where the big Kia really
impressed the judges. Editor-in-chief Ed
Loh praised its “exceptional quietness and
smoothness,” and de Nysschen noted that
“suspension compliance and ride comfort
are its strengths.”
A rotary controller on the center
console—which allows drivers to switch
between Eco, Comfort, Sport, and Smart
modes, the latter of which lets the onboard
computers figure out the best combination
of efficiency and response— also has
a Snow mode, which adjusts throttle,
transmission, and traction control settings
to suit low-friction surfaces.
A button in the center of the controller
locks the center differential for ultimate
traction in challenging conditions. Driven
with due regard to its 8.0 inches of ground
clearance, 17.0-degree approach and 20.9-
degree departure angles, and 114.2-inch
wheelbase, the Telluride will comfortably
cope with bad roads and worse weather.EFFICIENCY
Even with a standard eight-speed
automatic, a large three-row SUV with
a 3.8-liter V-6 engine under the hood
will never be a paragon of fuel efficiency.The Telluride’s EPA fuel consumption
numbers—20/26/23 mpg city/highway/
combined for front-wheel-drive models
and 19/24/21 mpg city/highway/combined
for all-wheel-drive models—are right on
average for the segment.
Kia engineers have worked to control
the Telluride’s overall weight, without
resorting to expensive lightweight
materials. The loaded SX AWD weighs 196
pounds more than the two-row Honda
Passport Elite and 265 pounds less than
the Cadillac XT6 Sport AWD 400.SAFETY
All Telluride models come with an
impressive complement of passive and
active safety features, with technology
such as active cruise control, lane keeping
assist, rear cross-traffic alert, a forward
collision alert system that also recognizes
pedestrians, and torque vectoring by
brake standard even on the base LX.
The SX comes equipped with Kia’s
camera-based blind-spot monitor, which
shows a high-def, wide-angle image of
the appropriate side of the vehicle on the
digital instrument panel when the turn
signal is activated. It’s a great feature for
a quick extra check when changing lanes
on the freeway and invaluable in crowded
cities where cyclists can suddenly
materialize alongside while you’re making
a right-hand turn.40 MOTORTREND.COM JANUARY 2020
SUV OF THE YEAR