2023 Kia Telluride X-Pro Review: Midsize SUV Promises Rugged Luxury

SUV buyers are a demanding bunch, but then again the 2023 Kia Telluride is hardly innocent when it comes to social climbing. On the face of it a mainstream three-row family hauler, the Hyundai Palisade's cousin has aspirations of luxury, particularly when it comes to the lavishly-equipped flagship SX-Premium trim that looks to have German rivals in its sights. Combine that with the recently-added X-Pro off-road package, and you've got the promise of something even more disruptive.

X-Pro or otherwise, it's an important model for Kia, as the third-best-selling vehicle (and second-best-selling SUV) in the automaker's U.S. lineup in 2022. Big SUVs are big business, especially when they promise to seat up to eight and accommodate every whim — likely or otherwise — of American families.

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I'm not sure it's Kia's most successful design, though making a large, three-row SUV graceful is a tricky business. The fascia — with its buck-toothed grille and swollen headlamps — has something of the guppy about it, while from the side the Telluride is fairly anonymous. The rear is perhaps the most successful angle, courtesy of the outsized taillamps and Kia's boldly rebranded logo. Sure, half of the people seeing it still don't know what it's meant to say, but it certainly looks slick.

2023 Telluride ownership starts at $35,890 (plus $1,335 destination), though a Telluride SX-Prestige with all-wheel drive kicks off at a hefty $50,590 (plus destination). The X-Pro package adds a further $2,395 on top, for which you get a mixture of styling upgrades and mechanical improvements.

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On the outside, that includes 18-inch black alloy wheels — replacing the more road-friendly 20-inchers that the SX-Prestige usually sports — shod in all-terrain tires. Ground clearance is up by almost half an inch, to 8.4 inches total, while new X-Pro-specific exterior styling front and rear helps improve approach and departure angles.

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Even if you're not planning on venturing off-road, the X-Pro's improved towing capacity — here up to 5,500 pounds, a 500-pound increase — along with boosted engine cooling capacity and a special Tow mode could make the difference. The same goes for the self-leveling rear suspension and useful 110V inverter outlet in the trunk. If you take the "Utility" in "SUV" seriously, this is probably the Telluride to get.

That's not to say driving it is a hair-shirt experience. Indeed, sacrifice is absolutely not required here, beyond the $55,120 sticker price — including $495 Midnight Lake Blue paint, $295 Terracotta interior, $210 floor mats, and destination — of the particular Telluride you see pictured. None of the regular SX-Prestige's creature comforts have been abandoned along the way.

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Nappa leather — which feels both comfortable and suitably sturdy — along with heating and ventilation for both the front row and the second-row captain's chairs are included, together with a heated steering wheel, two sunroofs, power liftgate, wireless phone charging, and tri-zone climate control with vents for all three rows. 

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There's a head-up display along with twin 12.3-inch dashboard screens — one for the driver, the other for Kia's easy-to-use infotainment system — plus a digital key, a Harman Kardon premium audio system, and a digital rear-view mirror.

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Kia's healthy set of active safety features is pretty much all present and correct, too. That means a 360-degree camera, blind-spot monitoring that beams a live camera view from the side of the Telluride to the driver display when you hit the turn signal and Highway Driving Assist 2 (HDA 2) with its blend of lane-keeping and adaptive cruise control. Forward collision avoidance with cyclist and junction turning support, rear cross-traffic collision avoidance, front and rear parking sensors, and reverse collision avoidance assistance are onboard, too.

Space across all three rows is decent. The second-row captain's chairs — with their atypical, and welcome, ventilation — are basically the equal of the first-row seating and have a large degree of forward and backward slide. Buttons on the side send them tumbling forward to make accessing the rear easier, too. If you want a second-row bench (for a total of eight seats) you'll need to step down to the lower Telluride trims.

In the third row, with some compromise of second-row legroom, there's adult-scale space for at least two (or three kids). There's still 21 cu-ft of cargo space with all three rows up, which is impressive; an array of simple buttons and cords send the two rearmost rows tumbling flat, expanding the trunk to 46 cu-ft and then 87 cu-ft at most.

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While the Telluride's infotainment system is pretty comprehensive — it's how you access features like Driver Talk, which pipes the driver's voice through the rear cabin speakers for a more effective scolding — it's limited to wired Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, not wireless. Kia throws in plenty of physical controls, too, both for the HVAC and multimedia and down in the center console for drive modes and other drivetrain settings. I like that, unlike many rivals, Kia's Auto Hold is latching and stays active even after you restart the SUV.

Unlike many rivals, Kia opted not to slap a turbocharger on its 3.8-liter V6 gas engine. Its 291 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque are routed through a standard 8-speed automatic transmission. Front-wheel drive is standard on lower trims, with all-wheel drive an option; AWD is standard on the X-Line and X-Pro trims.

There are five primary drive modes — Comfort, Sport, Smart, Eco, and Snow — plus the ability to electronically lock the AWD's differential. The modes adjust things like throttle response, but while the self-leveling rear suspension relies on air shocks at the back, there's none of the all-round adaptive damping that more expensive SUVs often include. Kia's configuration leans toward firm, though the squishier rubber of the X-Pro does soften things somewhat.

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The naturally-aspirated V6 is smooth, and pickup from a standing start isn't disappointing even with the Telluride's overall heft. Still, there were more times here than in other Kia models I've driven where the transmission and I disagreed. Laggardly downshifting and some hunting for the right ratio left me wishing the steering wheel had paddle-shifters, though you can push the gear shifter to the side and notch it up and down that way.

For the target audience, though, it's almost certainly fine. The same might not be said for the Telluride's fuel economy, which — at 18 mpg in the city, 24 mpg on the highway, and 21 mpg combined, according to the EPA for the all-wheel drive version — lags behind Kia's rivals like the Toyota Highlander and Honda Pilot. My own mixed driving clocked in at 19 mpg, which left me wishing for at least a mild-hybrid engine.

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As for roaming off-road, despite the X-Pro extras and a little more confidence, the Telluride is still no Wrangler. Perhaps the biggest advantage of the chunkier tires and smaller alloys is less likelihood of curbing them, though I felt less reckless tackling gravel and mud roads in the SUV than I might in the regular version. Reality is, with no extra underbody protection, you'll still want to be reasonably cautious, but the uptick in tow capacity is probably of more interest anyway.

Nice as this Telluride SX-Prestige X-Pro is, I'm not sure your money is best spent roaming quite so high in Kia's trim walk. With the same V6 — and the same power figures — across the lineup, I'd be tempted to save $10-15k and stick around the SX or SX X-Line. There, the equipment levels remain healthy, but a $46-50k Kia SUV feels a lot more justifiable.

Or, you could wait a little longer, and see how the upcoming 2024 Kia EV9 holds up. The all-electric sibling to the Telluride keeps the three rows but ditches the gasoline, in favor of either rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive and up to an estimated 336 miles of range (configuration-depending). It's more handsome, to my eyes, too, though will undoubtedly carry a premium when it comes to the sticker.

Not everyone is ready to go fully electric, of course. The absence of a mild-hybrid or — better still — a Telluride plug-in hybrid feels like a missed opportunity for Kia, given how capable its electrified models have been recently. Nonetheless, while its X-Pro off-road credibility may in part be a styling exercise, the 2023 Telluride makes few compromises when it comes to being a capable and compelling midsize family SUV.