Is the 2023 Kia Telluride Still Top of the Heap?

Considering that Kia unveiled the Telluride a few years ago, it has been one of the most fascinating a few row crossovers on the industry, combining capacity, luxury, model, and worth in an appealing package that’s just the ideal measurement for households. The factor that has minimal the Telluride most has been its availability in the sector, with Kia declaring an regular of 4 days between shipping and delivery and profits at the dealership.

Additionally, Covid-19 production stoppages and provide chain difficulties limited the volume of available cars in the previous two years. Despite this, the Telluride has continued to be a top rated select by automotive journalists and individuals alike.

On the other hand, the business can change quickly and suppliers want to adapt to continue to keep up. Kia, for its portion, has now taken the covers off the refreshed 2023 Telluride, which is a extremely slight update to its successful package. Is this facelifted Telluride more than enough to keep it on top of the big crossover segment?

From the outside the house, this is plainly a delicate modify: the entrance and rear bumpers have been chiseled by Kia’s style group to seem additional upright with much better defined and extra built-in specifics. For example, the entrance air consumption down below the grille is now much better included into the facial area of the vehicle. The grille by itself has also been slightly squared off on the edges to give a beefier visual appearance. The Telluride’s headlights have been absolutely updated, getting rid of the halo influence daytime operating lights and incorporating a additional upright linear theme that appears additional modern-day but has sparked a ton of criticism from individuals who cherished the amber halos of the pre-facelift product.

The taillights have been revised as nicely, showing up extra purposeful and continuing the LED pattern into the tailgate when moving the reverse lamps to the decrease bumper. Some new colors and new wheel kinds have been added, and the well-liked Dusk version has been changed by the X-Line trim degree which will come in a styling-only X-Line model and an X-Professional trim that features smaller wheels and bigger all-terrain tires with some other compact mechanical updates to make the X-Professional a little a lot more able off-highway (just don’t confuse this included capacity with a genuine physique-on-frame off-roader).

On the inside of, the former extra traditional dashboard has been replaced by a two-screen set up with 12.3” shows for the two the gauge cluster and the infotainment interface. This brings the Telluride in line with other new Kia types which consist of this dual-screen setup, and would make the Telluride’s interior truly feel quite a lot like an Escalade on a finances. Over and above the sprint, the seating designs are more rugged for 2023, but very little else genuinely variations on the inside.

From a powertrain standpoint, the Telluride remains unchanged with at 3.8L the natural way aspirated V6 giving an adequate but not abnormal 291 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque. This motor also nets the Telluride an common gas economic system of 23 miles for every gallon. Nevertheless, this is one of the regions exactly where the Telluride is really starting up to clearly show its age in comparison to the marketplace. The powertrain is neither highly performant nor exceptionally gasoline productive, meaning that people who have the dollars to ignore swiftly elevating fuel selling prices could locate it underpowered and those who are much more frugal will come across it exceedingly thirsty.

In comparison to opponents who have entered the sector since Telluride to start with went on sale, this powertrain just isn’t incredibly aggressive. For instance, Jeep’s new Grand Cherokee L matches the Telluride in conditions of luxury and has an arguably more attractive badge, but offers a 5.7L V8 with 357 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque (albeit with a lower 17mpg normal). On the other side of the spectrum, a Toyota Highlander Hybrid may be somewhat considerably less appealing than a Telluride in general, but sees a 35mpg ordinary fuel economy, which starts to appear really beautiful with fuel selling prices spiking.

Furthermore, Telluride could start out observing extra competition coming from the growing popularity of full-measurement SUVs, particularly the new Toyota Sequoia which gives a greater package with additional electric power and improved fuel efficiency for not considerably much more cash than a Telluride. Kia does not nonetheless have an supplying in this section and I’m sure they will start off to come to feel this increasing competition as the Telluride ages.

Last but not least, Kia requires to look at competitiveness from inside its company umbrella, as the 2023 Hyundai Palisade has been through a much a lot more significant redesign and now features a a lot much more rugged look. Even though the Telluride was undoubtedly the more desirable auto ahead of the redesign, Hyundai could pull a number of prospective buyers about the fence with the newest Palisade.

In spite of these issues, the Kia Telluride continue to has a strong placement in the marketplace as of right now, and it enjoys the ongoing momentum of its superior track record. The modifications for 2023 do preserve the car clean, but can it maintain on to its crown right until a total redesign, which is absolutely a good 2 or 3 decades in the long run? We’ll see, but at the very least for me, I feel it is crystal clear that Kia will need to have to handle its lackluster powertrain, perhaps by introducing a twin turbo, hybrid, or plug-in hybrid choice, and raise the Telluride’s dimensions, or at least offer a long wheelbase edition, if it wishes to preserve up with shifts in the current market. And if Kia gets the impending EV9 massive electric crossover suitable, we could possibly even see a different alternative in just the Kia lineup that could steal back again some of those people who may well be swayed by the current and forthcoming levels of competition but like the added benefits of the all-electric E-GMP system.