2021 Kia Telluride Cargo Area Driveway Test | The cavernous Kia

The 2021 Kia Telluride, which company reps have taken to calling the "Sell-uride" due to its incredible popularity, is one of our favorite three-row crossovers. The Telluride may have been named for a mountain town in Colorado, but one of the key features of a large crossover is its cargo area, which in this case has more in common with another geographical feature. With the second- and third-row seats folded flat, the Telluride's cargo space is positively cavernous.

That said, it's not actually the best stuff-hauler in the segment. That nod goes to GM's three-rows, as we've demonstrated previously, followed by the Volkswagen Atlas. But not being the best doesn't automatically make something bad, and the fact of the matter is that any of these large utility vehicles can accommodate quite a bit of cargo when called upon to do so. Normally, we illustrate this with a luggage test, but since I live alone and travel light, I'm ill-equipped to replicate Autoblog's usual formula. Fortunately for you, dear reader (but definitely not for me), I've had to relocate several times over the past few years, and in the process I've amassed quite the collection of U-Haul boxes. For some more conventional context, I also grabbed a hard-sided cooler (approximately 19 1/2" x 11" x 14") and my carry-on half-duffle (24" x 11" x 9"), the latter packed with some clothes to give it some structure for the purposes of this test.

U-Haul's medium-sized moving boxes are conveniently (almost) cube-shaped at 18 1/8" x 18" x 16" (L x W x H), checking in at 3 cubic feet each per the company's description. That's a great figure to have on hand for this test, as it translates nicely to manufacturer specs. Kia says the Telluride has 21 cubic feet of cargo space behind the third row, 46 behind the second and a whopping 87 cubes with everything behind the first row folded flat.

That should translate to seven U-Haul boxes behind the third row, 15 behind the second and 29 with everything stowed, right? Well, as often happens, reality dictates otherwise, and we had to throw the whole hypothesis out the window after putting just one box behind the Telluride's third row. While it appears at first glance that at least one box will fit back here since it sits entirely in front of the liftgate sill, we can plainly see that the interior trim on the hatch protrudes too far into the cargo area for it to close.

Seven boxes behind the third row? Nope, more like zero. Of course, the cubic-feet number is one of volume, so perhaps seven boxes worth of packing peanuts or ping-pong balls would fit back there, but I didn't have any of those, either.

I did have that carry-on and cooler and they fit back there just fine, whether side-by-side or stacked. Now, once we drop the third-row seats, things start to look up. Remember, Kia says the Telluride has 46 cubic feet of cargo space behind the second row, which should theoretically accommodate 15 U-Haul boxes with room to spare. Let's see how well that translates to the real world.