I was worried about this before I bought it but after living with it for a few months, it's a non issue. It's not a rocket ship by any means but it's adequate. My two previous cars had 400+ horsepower just for reference.
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Smart vs Comfort Mode-what do you use and why?
- Thread author Tigerlaw
- Start date
HillCountry
Well-known member
@Amati5 - I don't find the default to be sluggish such that I want to put it in Sport Mode all the time. It is adequate for my everyday driving. Sport Mode is for when I want a little more fun or short merge lanes.
Tellthemride
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I am curious about this question. What car does not accelerate adequately to keep up with traffic?
To answer, yes the Telluride does in my opinion, but I have never experienced a car that does not otherwise.
Sorry, Maybe I should be a little more specific. There are times on the highway when you slow down because of traffic ahead of you slow down for any reason. Then things clear up and everyone speed up and your car is in such high gear that it takes a long time to respond, or downshift. These cars are designed to drive at highest gear possible to save gas. Some people think it’s the built in throttle lag too. Basically, it’s not the how much horse power or torque, it’s how it let you use them.
Or when you try to pass a slow truck in front of you. You need to make sure there is enough time for you to speed up with traffic coming behind you before you piss them off, lol…
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The Telluride has an 8 speed transmission that works well. The programing is a lot less aggressive than the ZF8 that my previous car had( BMW), which is expected. In the 6k miles that I've put on it I've never felt, "it should have chosen a different gear". I will say that in Smart mode if I start driving aggressive it will automatically start adjusting shift point for a while, you'll also notice the smart light turns red.
It’s good to hear. I expect most cars try to get the good gas mileage but some just compromise drivability too much.
Aeroguy
FOUNDING MEMBER
Count me in as well for the Smart-Sport combination. All good points above and it basically is all about personal preference and driving style.
For anyone interested, I had a really great experience with the not-too-often mentioned Snow Mode. Before moving back to Texas, I took a ski trip up to Whistler in BC Canada for a long weekend. I was anxious to try out this mode, and I had a lot of fun with it. Especially off-road.
But then, "Texas Snowmageddon 2021" hit us hard as most of the Great State went into a deep freeze. While in Snow Mode once again, I was thrilled with how it handled the snowy and iced-over streets. It was very responsive and actually felt like I was driving on dry pavement. I sought out reasons to navigate the streets to acquire more food/drink provisions.
For anyone interested, I had a really great experience with the not-too-often mentioned Snow Mode. Before moving back to Texas, I took a ski trip up to Whistler in BC Canada for a long weekend. I was anxious to try out this mode, and I had a lot of fun with it. Especially off-road.
But then, "Texas Snowmageddon 2021" hit us hard as most of the Great State went into a deep freeze. While in Snow Mode once again, I was thrilled with how it handled the snowy and iced-over streets. It was very responsive and actually felt like I was driving on dry pavement. I sought out reasons to navigate the streets to acquire more food/drink provisions.
This car comes close to 3 tons. Horsepower higher than torque. To me not the best ratio. Torque down low is what you want. Has anyone seen the torque curve? Can they post it? For a number of reasons we went from a Ford F250 diesel to our telly. Modern cars are more tuned for mpg than anything else. I have a car built in 1952 that has an engine it designed for 120 horsepower and over 200 ft pounds of torque. Long stroke engine. Today's engines are short stroke designed fir higher revs. We have to learn to live with it or step back in time vehicle wise.
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Tellthemride
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Jaggrey
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I miss my old car, the Mazda 6. That car only had a 6 speed tranny but it was always in the right gear. When I wanted to drive leisurely it would shift early, but when I got on it then it would adjust so seamlessly. It’s like it could read my mind. That was the non turbo, even before there was a sport mode button.
I'd love to hear more about this 1952 vehicle with that amazing torque curve so we can do some comparisons to things like reliability, safety, 0-60, 0-30, 1/4 mile, fuel efficiency, storage, top speed, NVH, towing capability, etc.
BasilFawlty
Well-known member
For the first week or two I used the default Comfort Mode. Eventually I switched to Eco Mode and that’s where it has stayed. I have never been in Sport or Smart mode, though I have put it in Snow mode a couple of times.
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We have a 2021 SXP and find the transmission a bit sluggish/sloppy at times, especially coming from higher end cars (BMW/Lexus) and specifically at the margin when power is needed most. Someone else mentioned the ZF8 transmission of BMW, and I agree it is superior to what is in the Telly. The crispness of the shifts could be improved as well, although that may be a function of the transmission itself and not addressable via a software tune.
Smart mode is pretty useless as it is always hunting for the right gear to the point it’s annoying.
Sport mode gives you the revs, however it seems to only adjust the shift points when really it would be better if it held the gear when on the gas and upshifting upon let off. It has a tendency to hang onto the lower gear too long for my taste, which is only useful if you are driving very aggressively and need to be in the higher ends of the power band consistently. Typically, when driving around town, bursts of power are what is needed more so than "always on". This is where the ZF8 transmission shines.
Eco mode in the Telly performs as expected.
Comfort mode is better than Smart mode for us, but still only "okay". It could be improved to be less sluggish. Getting the tranny to downshift when power is demanded typically requires a lot of throttle input, at which point it drops 2+ gears (more than needed) and the engine surges.
We were recently in the mountains, and I found myself driving in comfort mode, but putting the gear selector into manual mode so I could control the shifts to achieve better acceleration in the ascents and leverage engine braking on descents. This was quite effective, but probably not something most drivers are very comfortable with (our other vehicle is a manual transmission BMW with 350+ HP, so shifting manually is second nature).
Overall, my experience has been that if you’re in eco/comfort/smart and need power, you have to really get after the accelerator. I hope Kia releases an update to the software controlling the transmission. The driving dynamic could be dramatically improved with some refinement in this area. In my view, this is my biggest gripe with the car. Everything else has been great!
Smart mode is pretty useless as it is always hunting for the right gear to the point it’s annoying.
Sport mode gives you the revs, however it seems to only adjust the shift points when really it would be better if it held the gear when on the gas and upshifting upon let off. It has a tendency to hang onto the lower gear too long for my taste, which is only useful if you are driving very aggressively and need to be in the higher ends of the power band consistently. Typically, when driving around town, bursts of power are what is needed more so than "always on". This is where the ZF8 transmission shines.
Eco mode in the Telly performs as expected.
Comfort mode is better than Smart mode for us, but still only "okay". It could be improved to be less sluggish. Getting the tranny to downshift when power is demanded typically requires a lot of throttle input, at which point it drops 2+ gears (more than needed) and the engine surges.
We were recently in the mountains, and I found myself driving in comfort mode, but putting the gear selector into manual mode so I could control the shifts to achieve better acceleration in the ascents and leverage engine braking on descents. This was quite effective, but probably not something most drivers are very comfortable with (our other vehicle is a manual transmission BMW with 350+ HP, so shifting manually is second nature).
Overall, my experience has been that if you’re in eco/comfort/smart and need power, you have to really get after the accelerator. I hope Kia releases an update to the software controlling the transmission. The driving dynamic could be dramatically improved with some refinement in this area. In my view, this is my biggest gripe with the car. Everything else has been great!
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The Comfort Mode you described is exactly what I am concerned about. I don’t know if the Telly has the paddle shift but I learned from othe forums to just downshift manually with your hand once as needed and Just let the car upshift by itself later after acceleration.
Looks like I might have to get another Pedal Commander, but will see. I don’t mind slow cars I just can’t stand the throttle or shifting lag. I have a 2014 Outback with CVT and it’s slow, but at least I feel some response when pressing on the gas.
HillCountry
Well-known member
No paddle shifters on the Telluride… one thing I miss from the previous car. There is manual shifting using the gear selector, but I haven’t experimented with it yet. (A quirk about it: pushing forward = downshift; pulling rearward = upshift. Not conventional behavior.)
i Think I like it this way
. It feels more natural to pull back as you speed up. Pushing forward feels like you need to “fix” something. Same here, never cared for those manual shifting on an auto trans, feels weird shifting without your left foot stays put , except when i need to force the car to accelerate. ______________________________
arattle
Well-known member
That's how my BMW is and my wife's Mazda... The sportiest mainstream brands. That's the way that makes sense as you're accelerating and getting pushed back, or vice versa while slowing down.
Tellthemride
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Is this something they changed in 2021 and up? My 2020 is forward to upshift and rearward to downshift.
bruesjoh04
Well-known member
Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense. All the pictures of 2021s and 2022s that I’ve found are the same as always.
Here is a new 2022:
HillCountry
Well-known member
Both of you are right, thx. I had bad info or misunderstood what I was hearing. I tried it in my car over the weekend, and yes, the shifter is indeed set up as I would expect: forward to upshift; rearward to downshift.
