GoKawiilWay back in 2019 when Kia introduced the first-generation Telluride, both the media and the car-buying public went nuts for it. Dealers struggled to keep the Telluride on their lots, and that’s before the insanity brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic a year later. Now, fast-forward six years, and there’s a new Telluride for the 2027 model year, and once again, Kia seems to have knocked it out of the park.
The 2027 Kia Telluride follows the same formula as the old one, but it has grown in every direction except engine cylinder count, and it looks a whole lot like the folks at Kia’s US design studio had “Greatest Hits of Range Rover” on repeat, which is a very good thing. Oh, and there’s finally a hybrid version.
Under the hood
The second-generation Telluride has fully ditched its old 3.8 L six-cylinder engine. In its place, it is now offering either a turbocharged 2.5 L four-cylinder gasoline engine that produces 274 hp (204 kW) and 311 lb-ft (422 Nm) of torque, or that same engine with a dual-motor hybrid system. The hybrid version produces a combined 329 hp (245 kW) and 339 lb-ft (460 Nm) while returning a claimed 35 mpg (6.7 L/100 km) combined.
Credit: Kia At 199.2 inches (5,060 mm) long, 78.3 inches (1,989 mm) wide, and 69.9 inches (1,775 mm) tall, the three-row Telluride is not a small SUV. At 199.2 inches (5,060 mm) long, 78.3 inches (1,989 mm) wide, and 69.9 inches (1,775 mm) tall, the three-row Telluride is not a small SUV. Credit: Kia
As before, the Telluride is available with either front-wheel or all-wheel drive, with AWD being a $2,000 option on the middle S and EX trims, not available on the base LX trim, and standard on X-Line and up models, including the off-road-ish X-Pro.
Non-hybrid Tellurides come with an eight-speed automatic transmission as standard, while the hybrid version gets a six-speed automatic. All pretty standard Kia stuff, which is to say, totally adequate.
Get on the road
The decision to go to a turbocharged four-cylinder engine was, overall, a good one. The added torque is very welcome on freeway on-ramps and especially off-road (more on this later), but the downside is that, as is typical for Kia, the engine noise permeates the cabin under acceleration, and it’s not a great sound. I mention this because after a day of driving the Telluride, this is one of my two biggest complaints about it.