Telluride is a picturesque former mining town nestled among a box canyon in Colorado’s San Juan mountains, designed to carry the thousands of skiers who descend there every winter to enjoy snowy sports.
Kia’s Telluride is a box as well, designed at Kia’s California design studio for the U.S. market to carry six or seven people to those mountains, or a beach, high school soccer game, or just a diner date.
Along with the Hyundai Palisade, they are the South Korean corporate cousins first shot at a big SUV that share the same V-6 and wheelbase. Classified as a mid-size, and built just one state away from me in Georgia, the Telluride came out of the gate strong with about 75,000 sold its first year. It’s done very well, with 115,500 sold last year, and 85,000-plus so far this year.
Kia Telluride Updated For 2025
The Telluride gets a facelift atop a 114.2-inch wheelbase that leaves its original 196.9-inch length unchanged, five years after its introduction. The grille retains its pinched “tiger grille” shape akin to most Kias, but with faceted gloss black accents inside. The lower grille also goes gloss black with inset LED fog lights, an aggressive chin that juts out to look SUV-macho. The large outer corner LED headlights retain dual rows of stacked projector LED units with amber strips at the corners, each under clear plastic over faux lower corner slit intakes that join black lower cladding that carries around sills and wheel openings.
To accentuate its off-road image, the deeper treaded rubber wraps around faceted 10-spoke gloss black alloy wheels. The combo neatly fills those black-rimmed wheel wells. The Telluride’s flanks remain the same as in 2020’s intro model, gently carved in lower down with front fender lines sliding aft to intersect 90-degree curved LED taillights that slide into the tailgate.
The roofline is gently rounded with black cargo rails and a small spoiler/shade over the big rear window atop a wide tailgate. The bumper also has all-black accents for 2025 with quad exhaust tips in silver.
All in all it has a nice balanced stance with enough hints of serious SUV. It doesn’t look overly long for a 3-row crossover. There’s not a lot of difference in looks for its fifth year makeover. Its Midnight Lake Blue paint job makes its nuances fade. A metallic paint might make this SUV stand out more.
2025 Kia Telluride’s Interior Offers Plenty of Tech
Step inside, and there’s change aplenty, starting with the sweeping 30-inch-wide digital display that includes gauges and infotainment cluster, joining previously separate driver and central screens. The screen lives atop some nice buff gray wood-like plastic in front of the neatly stitched gray padded vinyl on the dash top, and accent lighting on doors and passenger dash-front.
That buff gray wood is joined by satin silver dashboard accents, last year’s climate control panel remaining below with real volume and tuning knobs under main screen menu buttons for map, navigation, radio and media. But in the daylight, their incised labelling is hard to see.
The gauge screen now blends into the center display, but keeps last year’s font design with clean, concise 160-mph speedometer and 8,000-rpm tach, color digital info screen in between. It shows drive mode, trip meter, navigation, stereo – and side camera images of the left or right blind spots when turn signals are activated via the tach or speedo. Changing drive modes also changes dashboard color accents on our 4,600-mile-old test SUV.
The dash center has a smooth color touchscreen that offers wide-screen navigation, with the ability to slide in a view of audio, weather or other functions into its right side, or move those to the main display with a side of navigation. It also shows a rear view and 360-degree parking camera. It also accesses a very nice 630-watt, 10-speaker Harman/Kardon audio system. I liked the “Passenger talk” feature to speak to the back seat kids via headliner-mounted speakers, and a wide head-up display shows speed and navigation turns, plus animated icons displaying cars ahead or passing alongside.
Seating accommodations are very nice – Nappa leather bucket seats with quilted detailing, plus heating and cooling. They were firmly comfortable and very supportive, with dual memory presets for the driver. A fat stitched leather rim (heated) lives on a manual tilt/telescoping wheel with stereo, smart cruise, phone and voice command buttons.
A hint that this Telluride wants you to hit the hills are grab handles over each door, and more on the wide center console, with seat heat/cool switches neatly integrated into their design. An inductive phone charger is up front, with twin USB ports and a 12-volt plug. The gearshift shares space with drive mode knob, parking brake, parking sensors, 360- degree camera and auto-stop and auto-engine off buttons. A wide center armrest has lots of space underneath, plus a 12-volt port. Overhead there’s a nice faux suede and a long moonroof.
Back seat access is easy, with two heated/cooled second-row captain’s chairs that recline and slide, offering great head and leg room as well as manual side sunshades and 12-volt and 115-volt AC outlets. USB ports and hooks are on the backs of the front buckets. There’s ceiling-mounted climate control and overhead vents. You can slip between the second row seats to access a third- row bench that actually handle adult head and leg space for short trips, especially if the second row slides an inch or so forward. There’s room for two – three would be a squeeze. They also recline, with USB ports in cabin walls.
There’s decent storage room behind the third row, with storage underneath and second-row seat fold controls to expand cargo space.
There’s HD radio, which is nice to use to hear additional stations not available on the old analog FM dial, plus multi-Bluetooth wireless connectivity for two phones to connect simultaneously for audio streaming. But Apple CarPlay and Android Auto offer no wireless hookup.
Power to the people comes from a 3.8-liter direct-injection V-6 with a decent 291 hp and 262 lb.-ft. of torque at 5,200 rpm, hooked to an 8-speed automatic transmission with manual shift capability. There’s also Eco, Smart, Comfort, Sport and Snow modes. The X-Pro also gets a 5,500-pound towing capacity, up from 5,000 pounds.
2025 Kia Telluride Offers 4-Inches Of Lift When Going Gets Rough
The all-wheel-drive system is mostly front-biased, but will send torque aft depending on conditions and driver input, as we witnessed via a gauge panel display. Using electro-hydraulic AWD coupling to activate a multi-plate clutch plate, we had 50/50 power distribution on heavier acceleration as well as in corners. Eco and Comfort modes sent 20 to 35 percent power to aft as needed, while Sport, Smart and Snow modes sent up to 50 percent back there.
Set in Eco, the 2-ton Kia got off the line moderately to hit 60 mph in 7 seconds. Passing power was OK, a bit slow to respond, but then there’s decent oomph. In Sport, the Telluride moved off the line quicker en route to 60 mph in 6.9 seconds, downshifting quicker with a nice exhaust note as it went. It also passed faster, with fast downshifts. Overall, we saw as high was an indicated 22 mpg after driving in Eco and Smart modes with some fun zips in Sport.
Although it doesn’t habe paddle shifters, the auto-box can still be manually shifted, and responds quickly as well. The auto-engine off did restart the V-6 noticeably at a stop sign. The transmission held onto gears longer to let the engine sing, but the snarl wasn’t obtrusive.
Compare that to a 13,000-mile-old version we tested in 2022 for a now defunct website, hitting 60 mph in 7.3 seconds in Eco mode, and 6.9 seconds in Sport, averaging 24 mpg.
Under that steel body lies a four-wheel independent suspension with coil springs up front and a full multi-link rear axle, self-leveling in the rear, ride height calibrated depending on vehicle load. The ride over asphalt is very comfortable, absorbing bumps quickly with buffered rebound and a feel of solidity. Wrinkled pavement and potholes saw the Kia SUV just roll unruffled with no shudder. The body rigid and tight with only a slight noise from the passenger-side B-pillar over bumps.
For its size, the Telluride was tidy in corners. All four tires grabbed with a hint of understeer when we pushed, with just a bit of body roll. Push it hard on our skidpad and there was gradual understeer that was easy to rein in with the throttle, a 50/50 front/rear power split.
The steering is nice and direct, with lesser assistance in Eco mode and a bit more feel in Sport, loading up nicely in a turn. Our 4,482-lb. SUV had 13.4-inch front/12-inch rear disc brakes had a decent bite high on the pedal, and progressive control with solid stopping power. There was minimal nose dive at full halt and no real fade after repeated hard use.
The X-Pro has some goodies needed for off-road, including all-wheel-drive, locking center differential, knobby P245/60R18-inch Continental TerrainContact A/T tires, hill-descent control and a .4-inch lift to 8.4 inches. With heavy rains, we didn’t go too deep, limiting our rides to sandy, wet grass fields, pockmarked dirt and some gravel. It easily handled light off-roading, and could probably do more, the suspension comfortable and not harsh, traction just fine over slippery stuff. And for fun, the all-wheel-drive does let you power slide the tail a bit in dirt, but stay in control.
I liked the auto-hold brake at stoplights. But the auto-engine off system was a bit abrupt when it refired as I was beginning to hit the gas pedal from a stop.
For safety, downhill brake control, hill-start assist control, blind spot and rear cross-traffic collision-avoidance assist, and a serious lane following assist that gently but firmly keeps this Kia between the lines. It’s almost autonomous, but demands hands on wheel if you take them away after a few seconds. There’s also blind spot collision-avoidance assist, and new for 2025 – second-row side airbags and Highway Driving Assist 1.5.
Smart cruise control maintains speed and distance to a stop, holds it, then resumes with a pedal or button tap.
A base front-wheel-drive Kia Telluride LX starts at $38,390; our top-line Telluride SX Prestige X-Pro started at $53,685 with everything standard bar $495 blue paint job, $295 interior colors, $and $350 for some carpet goodies – total was $56,240.
Bottom line – Looks and drives very nicely, with plenty of power, poise and precision for a big crossover/SUV. And FYI – the all-new 2027 Telluride debuts on Nov. 20 at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
2025 Kia Telluride SX-Prestige X-Pro V-6 AWD Specifications
Vehicle type – mid-size 6-passenger all-wheel-drive SUV
Base price – $53,685 ($56,240as tested)
Engine type – DOHC Dual CVVT direct-injected
aluminum V-6
Displacement – 3.8-liter
Horsepower (net) – 291 @ 6,000 rpm
Torque (lb-ft) – 262 @ 5,200 rpm
Transmission – 8-speed automatic with manual shift
Wheelbase – 114.2 inches
Overall length – 196.9 inches
Overall width – 78.3 inches
Height – 68.9 inches w/out roof rails
Front headroom – 40.9 inches
Front legroom – 41.4 inches
Middle headroom – 40.2 inches
Middle legroom – 42.4 inches
Rear headroom – 38.1 inches
Rear legroom – 31.4 inches
Cargo capacity 21 cu. ft./46 w/3rd row folded/87
w/all rows folded
Towing capacity – up to 5,500 lbs.
Curb weight – 4,927 lbs.
Fuel capacity – 18.8 gallons
Mileage rating – 18 mpg city/ 23 mpg highway