2020 Kia Telluride is Korean brand’s largest SUV

We have seen this before. Kia, at the New York Fashion Week last year, introduced their largest SUV, the Telluride followed by a few concepts at SEMA later.  But these machines were completely tricked out. Here is the unmodified version of the Korean SUV in all its original glory.  

At the 2019 Detroit Auto Show, Kia has showcased the Telluride and right out of the bat, we can say that it’s not as big as you think. The basic butch design hasn’t changed much from the concepts we got to see before, but it falls a couple of inches shorter than the Ford Explorer, making it a midsize SUV, although it is also a couple of inches longer than the Toyota Land Cruiser as well. However, the Toyota is a fair bit taller.

Under the hood of the Telluride sits a 3.8-litre V6 engine producing 291 hp and 355 Nm. It is front-wheel-drive as standard but an all-wheel-drive system can be chosen, with an eight-speed transmission. There are four driving modes to pick from, Smart, Eco, Sport and Comfort along with Snow and AWD Lock modes.

Inside, the Kia Telluride shares some creature comforts with its stablemate, the Hyundai Palisade. The 10.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system gets Apple CarPlay and Android Auto compatibility with a 10-speaker, 630-watt Harman Kardon sound system.

We saw the car in person at the Detroit Auto Show, and it seems to offer decent cabin materials as well as just about enough space in the third row for adults.

The safety systems in the Kia Telluride include blind-spot monitoring, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, adaptive cruise control, a 360-degree camera, and a head-up display. An additional system uses ultrasonic sensors to detect child of per movement in the 2nd and 3rd rows over the does are locked. This alerts the driver of any movement is detected.

The Telluride will have LX, EX, S, and SX trims when it gets launched.