First road trip – awesome time – some lessons learned

[bmkt]

This road trip was our first interstate trip and I watched the mileage rollover to 1,000. The Telluride was great all around!!

• The OEM crossbars worked well for my setup - they are a bit plasticky on the ends but the arch and thinness of the actual bar worked well for attaching my Thule box. BTW, the crossbars are rated for 165 lbs... my Thule box is about 135 lbs loaded
• The integrated step when you open the back door is highly underrated! When I needed to access the Thule box, that step made it super easy. My X5 had running boards which were thin and difficult to balance on and you would never want to open the door and balance
• The smart cruise control is amazing... I feel so much more confident driving long distances with the speed control and lane assistance
• The built-in nav is decent enough even though I use car play for everything else – the built-in is better integrated as you just press the Map button, or quickly press Nav to set an address or another destination along the route; it's also needed if you want to see the directions on the HUD
• Based on the forums I was worried about the windshield the whole way – I avoided dump trucks, flatbeds, anything hauling anything... but it happened – a loud crack noise... I didn't see a thing, it was definitely an invisible rock, but when I got home I found a 1/4" chip at the bottom of the windshield in the black area. I promptly had it repaired so I'll report back if there's any additional cracking. There wasn't anything spectacular about the cars on the road at the time so this is definitely one downside.
• My passengers loved the ride too. The seats are comfortable and adjustable. After a long hike everyone put on their ventilated seats – and then the heated seats.
• Storage was good too. The 3rd row seats were folded down, and the coolers and gear were set on the Kia rubber tri-fold cargo mat. I lowered the back platform by placing it at the bottom for a few more inches which held the camping containers. The tri-fold doesn't appear to be made to go down in the extra area, but I put it there anyway. It covered all but a couple of inches. I used the cover cargo to keep everything covered.
• Being able to open and close the trunk with the remote was helpful
• Being in the mountains I hunted for a hill descent control but I'm guessing there isn't one.
• The traction control was great. The Telluride has never slipped on the road for me and there were times it was raining in the hills.

Definitely happy with the Telluride!

 

[Luvcats69]

This road trip was our first interstate trip and I watched the mileage rollover to 1,000. The Telluride was great all around!!

• The OEM crossbars worked well for my setup - they are a bit plasticky on the ends but the arch and thinness of the actual bar worked well for attaching my Thule box. BTW, the crossbars are rated for 165 lbs... my Thule box is about 135 lbs loaded
• The integrated step when you open the back door is highly underrated! When I needed to access the Thule box, that step made it super easy. My X5 had running boards which were thin and difficult to balance on and you would never want to open the door and balance
• The smart cruise control is amazing... I feel so much more confident driving long distances with the speed control and lane assistance
• The built-in nav is decent enough even though I use car play for everything else – the built-in is better integrated as you just press the Map button, or quickly press Nav to set an address or another destination along the route; it's also needed if you want to see the directions on the HUD
• Based on the forums I was worried about the windshield the whole way – I avoided dump trucks, flatbeds, anything hauling anything... but it happened – a loud crack noise... I didn't see a thing, it was definitely an invisible rock, but when I got home I found a 1/4" chip at the bottom of the windshield in the black area. I promptly had it repaired so I'll report back if there's any additional cracking. There wasn't anything spectacular about the cars on the road at the time so this is definitely one downside.
• My passengers loved the ride too. The seats are comfortable and adjustable. After a long hike everyone put on their ventilated seats – and then the heated seats.
• Storage was good too. The 3rd row seats were folded down, and the coolers and gear were set on the Kia rubber tri-fold cargo mat. I lowered the back platform by placing it at the bottom for a few more inches which held the camping containers. The tri-fold doesn't appear to be made to go down in the extra area, but I put it there anyway. It covered all but a couple of inches. I used the cover cargo to keep everything covered.
• Being able to open and close the trunk with the remote was helpful
• Being in the mountains I hunted for a hill descent control but I'm guessing there isn't one.
• The traction control was great. The Telluride has never slipped on the road for me and there were times it was raining in the hills.

Definitely happy with the Telluride!

Between the windshield being prone to cracking, and the reported vibration in the drive shaft assembly affecting some AWD models, I am hesitant to pull the trigger on a Telluride; it's so tempting though!

 

[bmkt]

No vibration at all with my AWD, I'm hoping it either does or it doesn't and this one like many others is good. My last car was on the way out and when I looked at what was available – Atlas, Pilot, Ascent, each had downsides, mostly they didn't appeal visually to me but I had to check them out anyway.

 

[cartman2317]

No vibration at all with my AWD, I'm hoping it either does or it doesn't and this one like many others is good. My last car was on the way out and when I looked at what was available – Atlas, Pilot, Ascent, each had downsides, mostly they didn't appeal visually to me but I had to check them out anyway.

Any further updates for the windshield damage? Or the vibration? What trim did you get?

______________________________

 

[JonFar111]

Between the windshield being prone to cracking, and the reported vibration in the drive shaft assembly affecting some AWD models, I am hesitant to pull the trigger on a Telluride; it's so tempting though!

Had mine since June 2019. Sweet ride and no problems that couldn't be fixed immediately. I have the AWD EX. In hindsight, shoulda purchased the SX. But with my HIDs, it's just dandy for $4K less. Checked KBB the other day, and that's showing trade-in and retail at more than I paid for it. Never had that happen before...

 

[MikeB]

I believe there is a class action lawsuit against Hyundai about the Palisade windshield.

 

[white03]

Thanx for the report. Just got my SX Nightfall on Monday for the wife and we're taking our first raodtrip this coming weekend