Yahoo Autos 2020 Kia Telluride: Car and Driver's 10Best
The Kia Telluride is rare. Not small-batch-production, costs-as-much-as-a-mansion exotic-fasterossa rare. But rare in how ridiculously good it is. And if you’re a regular reader, you know how rarely we make such statements.
Like all breakthrough products, the Telluride upends the segment. Its arrival reminds us of when the Lexus LS400 and the Acura NSX were introduced. Like the Telluride, those cars reshaped the landscape, elevated their brands, and led to a run on Maalox from Stuttgart to Detroit.
This is the part where we admit to preaching that buyers in the three-row segment would be better off in a minivan. That was the world before the Telluride. Although minivans still offer more space, the Telluride has a luxurious and refined side that no minivan can match. There are standard luxury-car touches like acoustic windshield glass, plus optional niceties such as a microsuede headliner, acoustic front-door glass, a head-up display, heated and ventilated seats in the first and second rows, and an intuitive widescreen infotainment system. There’s comfort and quality in everything you see and touch. What would we change? Hmm. That’s not easy. The bezels around the gauges look lame, and heated armrests like those in the Mercedes-Benz S-class would be nice. What can we say? We’re spoiled.
But Kia hasn’t built this house on features and amenities alone. At 70 mph, it’s quieter than a Land Rover Range Rover and it goes down the road with the hushed, refined ride of SUVs that cost tens of thousands more. In a field of turbocharged fours, its 291-hp naturally aspirated V-6 sounds like an anachronism, but it’s not. Instant response and smoothness will never get old. If the Kia lacks the sporty dynamics and steering feel of the Mazda CX-9, we can make peace with our enthusiast side because the Telluride is controlled, willing, and tuned right. Fun is fun, but the Telluride is a better three-row SUV.
The design borrows here and there from Volvo and Land Rover, but this isn’t a copy. Every detail appears to have been carefully considered and shaped. The proportions, the gentle folds of the sheetmetal, the consistent panel gaps, the richness of the paint, and the lighting elements conspire to create the appearance of a three-row SUV from a premium brand.
An upright and boxy body delivers panoramic sightlines and leaves enough space to seat adults in all three rows. It’s the basic stuff that made folks fall in love with SUVs in the first place, and it’s all here. There’s consistent excellence in the design and packaging throughout, from the legroom of the second row to the way the seats fold and even down to the quality of the carpet.
We drive hundreds of vehicles a year and it’s easy to tell which brands are trying to give the competition headaches. This Kia shows clear awareness of the field and what a three-row SUV should be. It bears the marks of a segment studied and dissected. The only customers we can think of who might not be delighted by the Telluride are the other carmakers that will inevitably buy one to reverse engineer.
By aiming high, Kia has created a premium product at nonpremium prices. It’s what we call an LS400 moment and that’s significant. Get one before Kia realizes what it’s done and raises the price.
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