2021 Kia Telluride Review: Living Up to the Hype

In this job, you try to avoid hearing others’ thoughts on new models.

It can color your own eventual review, after all. There are times when it’s simply impossible to pull off though, and for me, driving the Kia Telluride is one of those times. Since Kia’s larger three-row SUV dropped for the 2020 model year, every corner of the automotive world has heaped praise on the Telluride. It even won North American crossover of the year. There wasn’t a rock big enough to hide from all that.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Telluride lives up to the hype. For its second model year, the 2021 Telluride is largely the same great package. A few tweaks here and there only serve to broaden its appeal, and in doing so, secure its position as one of the very best three-row crossovers out there.

For 2021, a new Nightfall option—known as Nightsky in Canada, which this tester is—does the whole blacked-out exterior thing. The grille, the window surround, the badging, the headlights, the roof rails—it’s all darkened here. With the Dark Moss paint, it gives the Telluride an urban toughness without venturing into try-hard territory.

In America, the Nightfall get-up is available on both the EX and SX trims, though you’ll have to spec the EX Premium package as well on the former. Meanwhile in Canada, the Telluride SX Limited Nightsky Edition, to give it its full name, is a whole separate trim, right at the top of the pile. Americans also get the option of a dark brown leather interior; in Canada, it’s the same as all those exterior trim pieces.

No matter which side of the border it’s found, the Nightfall/Nightsky is only available with all-wheel-drive.

The Telluride remains a great value this year, too. It starts from $33,415 with destination, making it one of the most affordable three-rows you can buy. Canada starts much higher at $48,090 CAD, on account of added features and standard AWD. Our tester runs richer, but is still reasonable at $49,210 ($57,840 CAD).

Kia already has one three-row crossover in the shape of the very good Sorento ( read our review here). So why graduate to the Telluride? At 196.9 inches (5,000 mm) long, the Telluride has an extra 7.9 inches (200 mm) over its sibling, and a wheelbase 3.3 inches (85 mm) longer. The stretch almost exclusively goes to second- and third-row space, making the latter in particular much more palatable for average-sized adults. You’re not going to want to head cross-country back there, but the 31.4 inches (798 mm) of leg room is at least near the front of the class.

The second row is the place to be in the Telluride. Heated and ventilated leather captain’s chairs are comfortable and supportive, with excellent amounts of head- and leg room. Helpfully, tri-zone automatic climate control is standard, too. A second-row entertainment system is available as a dealer-installed option, if you’re into that sort of thing. Press a button and the seats tilt and slide to make access to the way-back easier.

Up front, the driver and passenger also get heating and ventilation in the seats. They’re plenty comfy as well, adjusting in all sorts of directions to accommodate folks of all sizes. From behind the wheel, the view out is commanding without being too imposing. The tailgate looks far away in the rearview, but the Telluride’s blocky shape makes it easy to minimize mirror blind spots. The dashboard design is clean and ergonomically sound, with a dedicated section for climate controls featuring physical buttons. Above that are redundant menu buttons for the 10.25-inch central touchscreen. The system itself is as easy to learn as the rest of the cockpit layout, and accepts both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay mirroring. I first got into the Telluride in the pitch black of night, and never once struggled to find the settings I needed.

In America, the $2,300 SX Prestige package includes the Nappa leather, head-up display, second-row seat temperature controls, 110V power inverter, and rain-sensing wipers found here.

With all seats spoken for, the Telluride offers 21.2 cubic feet (601 L) of trunk storage. Drop the rear-most row and you’ll find 46 cubes (1,304 L); run it in two-seat form for a cavernous 86.7 cubic feet (2,455 L).

Every Telluride comes equipped with the same 3.8-liter V6, sending a healthy 291 horsepower and 262 lb-ft through an eight-speed automatic. It’s a perfectly acceptable combination, ensuring this big rig never feels short-changed on an on-ramp, while also offering up to 5,000 lb (2,268 kg) of towing capacity. The eight-speed auto does its thing without a fuss too, easily slipping between ratios. The pairing makes for few audible interruptions in the cabin, too. Driven regularly, it got within spitting distance of the quoted 21 mpg average (11.3 L/100 km).

There are multiple driving modes available via a dial on the center console. The weather made Snow pretty useless, so most of my time was spent in Smart or Comfort. Eco dials back the throttle response a little too much, and Sport goes too far the other way. The Telluride is not a sporty drive in any way, and that’s for the best. Instead, it rides with a supple grace, masking all but the biggest road imperfections. Even then, they create more noise than anything. The steering is as light as you’d expect, though it is accurate.

Automated emergency braking, rear-cross traffic alert, blind-spot monitoring, and adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go are all standard on every Telluride. This tester also includes a 360-degree camera (to avoid curbing those pretty wheels) and front parking sensors. Kia’s clever blind-spot view monitor is also included, though as the dials are old-school analog, the side-view pops up in the small screen between them.

Mid-size crossovers are big business, literally. People flock to them in droves, since they offer most of the space of yesteryear’s body-on-frame SUVs, with the friendlier driving dynamics of cars. Bigger families are the obvious target, but even smaller ones work: it makes playdates or visits from grandparents easier when you don’t need to take two cars.

The sales leader in the segment is currently the Ford Explorer. Now sitting on a rear-drive-based platform, the Explorer is larger, eclipsing the Telluride in nearly every interior measurement. It can also tow slightly more in V6 form, at 5,600 lb. Prices start at $33,920 for a base, rear-drive Explorer ($46,449 CAD for the XLT AWD), rising to $55,725 ($67,549 CAD) for an AWD Platinum. A hybrid model is also available.

You can’t talk hybrids without mentioning Toyota, which means Highlander in this class. The Toyota’s third row is tighter than the Telluride’s—and even the Sorento’s—while the top Platinum trim has an almost Lexus-like interior ambiance. The Highlander has a gas-only V6 model as well, which is what you’ll get for its $36,260 ($42,310 CAD) starting price. We prefer the hybrid model, the top-rung Platinum AWD version of which goes for $51,815 ($58,310 CAD).

Other options include the all-around-great Honda Pilot, the king-of-cupholders Subaru Ascent, and the sporty-driving Mazda CX-9. There’s also the Kia’s platform-mate, the Hyundai Palisade. When we pitted them against one another earlier this year, the Hyundai came out on top, though only because its latest Calligraphy trim out-luxes the Telluride.

The 2021 Kia Telluride straddles the gap between mainstream and luxury with aplomb. Despite its humble price tag, this three-row comes packed to the rafters with the sort of features to keep the whole crew satisfied on road trips. In fact, even in this top trim, it feels like a bargain. Sometimes, when everyone you know is saying the same thing, it’s because they’re right.

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