Thoughts on the Kia Telluride

[Donkyjoto]

I wanted to know if this is the right place to ask how everyone likes there Telluride, we are in the market for the SX model with the pretige package. I keep getting grief from someone about buying a kia but we had a Kia years ago but it didnt last a year due to an accident so we really havent fully tested a Kia, any information would much be appreciated.

Thank You
Donald Kloss

 

[Average Joe]

I'm struggling with the paying 45K+ for a Kia as well despite all the rave reviews. etc.

 

[TheNip73]

I'm struggling with the paying 45K+ for a Kia as well despite all the rave reviews. etc.

Why isn’t the vehicle worth it?

Are you a brand snob?
Seems to me the biggest issue is your state of mind. If you can’t mentally get past Kia as an entry level/low quality brand, you need to break that mindset or keep it and pick a different brand. If you can’t resolve that conflict, you WILL be unhappy.

 

[Average Joe]

Opposite of a brand snob here. Just a fan of making sound decisions in terms of quality and reliability. Never owned any luxury brands. Probably never will own a Mercedes, BMW or Audi due to maintenance costs. Love the Range Rovers but hear their reliability is horrible. I have only owned Honda’s and Toyota’s to the tune of only needing three cars in the last 29 years (two of them still running). If a car can’t go 200K+ miles without costing a fortune, it’s a bad investment in my book because 95% of cars will eventually only be worth 2K one day, regardless of how much they cost new. It’s a rapidly depreciating asset so one should strive to get maximum longevity and reliability in my book. Of course, that needs to be coupled with the features desired. I want to believe that the Kia could make it to these milestones, but who knows. It’s not like they have decades of reliability like the previous mentioned brands or their luxury counterparts (i.e., Lexus and Acura). However, the 45K+ territory gets you close to the luxury brand RDX/MDX territory. I like the Telluride way better, no doubt. I mean, the aforementioned cars are luxury brand and definitely use nicer interior materials but offer far fewer options at a similar price point. A lot of tech on the Kia at an incredible value. This also gives me a little pause because I can only imagine the cost of repairing/replacing some of the electrical equipment. Another factor is the rather generic feel you get at the Kia dealerships. I have heard bad things about their dealerships/service departments not keeping up with the strides their vehicles are making. Their local sales crews are old school vultures for sure compared to the experience I had looking around the Acura (no commission) and Lexus lots. Not that the sales experience matters a lot moving forward, but just another thing that gives a little pause when forking out 45K+ for a vehicle. I feel like even the Honda and Toyota dealerships are a significant step up in terms of how they go about their business. Just my initial perception. Heightened awareness perhaps but Kia has historically been a value brand and I know their will be growing pains. After all, their cousin is still trying to launch a luxury line out of its value dealerships. Talk about giving pause to somebody dropping 50-80K on a relatively new line of “luxury” vehicles. All that being said, the Stinger and Telluride seem to be good deals at face value or without factoring in the risk of long-term reliability issues and/or accelerated depreciation.

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[Brett B]

When I was first looking earlier in the year for an SUV for my wife I needed to make sure it had all the safety features as this will be an upgrade from her Nissan Altima. I personally love the look and it checked all the boxes for me when it came to technology. I knew it was the right one for my wife as she uses the view button when parking in the garage and parking in retail areas. This allows her to have a 360 degree view as she is pulling in. It is quiet and comfortable. I make my two kids sit all the way in the back until they can prove they can keep their area clean. When I look back there they look extremely comfortable and will definitely be falling asleep on any trip over 30 minutes.

 

[DJGBerg]

I bought my SXP (first Kia ever) last Nov 18th. I love it. Best riding, safest and most feature rich vehicle I’ve ever owned.

 

[jw_tx21]

Opposite of a brand snob here. Just a fan of making sound decisions in terms of quality and reliability. Never owned any luxury brands. Probably never will own a Mercedes, BMW or Audi due to maintenance costs. Love the Range Rovers but hear their reliability is horrible. I have only owned Honda’s and Toyota’s to the tune of only needing three cars in the last 29 years (two of them still running). If a car can’t go 200K+ miles without costing a fortune, it’s a bad investment in my book because 95% of cars will eventually only be worth 2K one day, regardless of how much they cost new. It’s a rapidly depreciating asset so one should strive to get maximum longevity and reliability in my book. Of course, that needs to be coupled with the features desired. I want to believe that the Kia could make it to these milestones, but who knows. It’s not like they have decades of reliability like the previous mentioned brands or their luxury counterparts (i.e., Lexus and Acura). However, the 45K+ territory gets you close to the luxury brand RDX/MDX territory. I like the Telluride way better, no doubt. I mean, the aforementioned cars are luxury brand and definitely use nicer interior materials but offer far fewer options at a similar price point. A lot of tech on the Kia at an incredible value. This also gives me a little pause because I can only imagine the cost of repairing/replacing some of the electrical equipment. Another factor is the rather generic feel you get at the Kia dealerships. I have heard bad things about their dealerships/service departments not keeping up with the strides their vehicles are making. Their local sales crews are old school vultures for sure compared to the experience I had looking around the Acura (no commission) and Lexus lots. Not that the sales experience matters a lot moving forward, but just another thing that gives a little pause when forking out 45K+ for a vehicle. I feel like even the Honda and Toyota dealerships are a significant step up in terms of how they go about their business. Just my initial perception. Heightened awareness perhaps but Kia has historically been a value brand and I know their will be growing pains. After all, their cousin is still trying to launch a luxury line out of its value dealerships. Talk about giving pause to somebody dropping 50-80K on a relatively new line of “luxury” vehicles. All that being said, the Stinger and Telluride seem to be good deals at face value or without factoring in the risk of long-term reliability issues and/or accelerated depreciation.

Toyota is trying to move Highlanders, just buy one of those. If you want an MDX, yes you can get for near same price. Just buy what you want... the Telluride will last 200k+ if desired. Kia has come a long way. Dealership experience will likely be better at Honda, Toyota and leaps and bounds better at Acura or Lexus. Acura sells just under 5000 MDX / month, fewer than Telluride. Lexus even fewer. All different markets. You don't have to pay so much for Telluride - just get an LX or S model and drive the heck out of it. All new cars today have tons of electronics - which will likely be outdated in 10 years. Oh well! The Telluride is aggressively priced.

 

[Average Joe]

Good points. That’s kind of the point of this thread...to figure out what makes the most sense from a value/reliability standpoint.

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[sdfan]

We own an SX-P and have been very pleased. Purchased it about 4 months ago and have over 8,000 miles. You will not be disappointed. That said, there is always the occasional "lemon" regardless of make so you always hope you don't have the misfortune of getting one of those.

The dealership experience depends on the dealership quite frankly. I owned a Mercedes E250 in the past and it was always a pleasant experience dropping off my car and receiving a loaner. However that said, you ultimately pay for that service. Our basic service fee every 10k miles was about $300. Our local Kia dealership charges about $50 but no loaner of course.

You get a lot of safety features, a usable 3rd row, 21ft of cargo space even with the 3rd row up. Looks are always subjective but most people are fans of the aesthetics. You mention you are worried about the sales experience. My advice (even if you don't purchase a Kia) is to go through the Internet Sales Manager. It's so nice not having to haggle face to face and negotiating via email.

Good luck in your search! You make some valid points in terms of long term reliability and depreciation. Only time will tell.

 

[TheNip73]

Opposite of a brand snob here. Just a fan of making sound decisions in terms of quality and reliability. Never owned any luxury brands. Probably never will own a Mercedes, BMW or Audi due to maintenance costs. Love the Range Rovers but hear their reliability is horrible. I have only owned Honda’s and Toyota’s to the tune of only needing three cars in the last 29 years (two of them still running). If a car can’t go 200K+ miles without costing a fortune, it’s a bad investment in my book because 95% of cars will eventually only be worth 2K one day, regardless of how much they cost new. It’s a rapidly depreciating asset so one should strive to get maximum longevity and reliability in my book. Of course, that needs to be coupled with the features desired. I want to believe that the Kia could make it to these milestones, but who knows. It’s not like they have decades of reliability like the previous mentioned brands or their luxury counterparts (i.e., Lexus and Acura). However, the 45K+ territory gets you close to the luxury brand RDX/MDX territory. I like the Telluride way better, no doubt. I mean, the aforementioned cars are luxury brand and definitely use nicer interior materials but offer far fewer options at a similar price point. A lot of tech on the Kia at an incredible value. This also gives me a little pause because I can only imagine the cost of repairing/replacing some of the electrical equipment. Another factor is the rather generic feel you get at the Kia dealerships. I have heard bad things about their dealerships/service departments not keeping up with the strides their vehicles are making. Their local sales crews are old school vultures for sure compared to the experience I had looking around the Acura (no commission) and Lexus lots. Not that the sales experience matters a lot moving forward, but just another thing that gives a little pause when forking out 45K+ for a vehicle. I feel like even the Honda and Toyota dealerships are a significant step up in terms of how they go about their business. Just my initial perception. Heightened awareness perhaps but Kia has historically been a value brand and I know their will be growing pains. After all, their cousin is still trying to launch a luxury line out of its value dealerships. Talk about giving pause to somebody dropping 50-80K on a relatively new line of “luxury” vehicles. All that being said, the Stinger and Telluride seem to be good deals at face value or without factoring in the risk of long-term reliability issues and/or accelerated depreciation.

This is a really helpful to get your mindset/decision making process. Seems you like the value play, but are unsure of reliability, which is a key criteria.

I'm similarly situated, but taking the gamble. I hate only having two dealers in my area selling Volvo. The one is large and snobby since they basically own the entire market. Two weeks to get in for maintenance. The other is small and I've enjoyed getting my service work done at (can get in same day), but a pain in the butt to get to as 40 miles or so away.

Kia has a ton of dealers in the area so I have some choice. If the car is average reliability, I won't have to make too many dealer visits as I plan to do oil, plugs, and filters myself.

Extended warranty of 100K on powertrain sounds nice, but I hope to never have to use it.

Agree there may be some growing pains for the brand. If they continue to grow in popularity, the dealer network size and/or service bays per dealer may need to go up to make sure there is not a maintenance backlog that develops. Guess is that unlike my Volvo, the availability of independent garages to service these cars will be much higher.

 

[Hmellish]

I wanted to know if this is the right place to ask how everyone likes there Telluride, we are in the market for the SX model with the pretige package. I keep getting grief from someone about buying a kia but we had a Kia years ago but it didnt last a year due to an accident so we really havent fully tested a Kia, any information would much be appreciated.

Thank You
Donald Kloss

Only cars I have bought for my own use in the past 40 years have been Mercedes. Now I’ve had a telluride sx-p for three months and 3500 miles including a long road trip. I would not think of getting another Mercedes. I’m very very pleased with the telluride even though with all the extras it was over 50K. Twenty eight years ago I paid 58 K for a Mercedes. the telluride is a better quality vehicle and it shines in a value comparison.

 

[Boonedoggle]

Sold my Range Rover Sport Supercharged for the Telluride SXP. Loving it! Great in snow and a great drive. I do miss the speed I got from the RR but I don’t miss the feeling of anticipation of a $1000 repair bill ever few months. The value vs overall ride is WELL worth the loss of a brand name and HP.

my 2 cents

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[SoCal760]

Opposite of a brand snob here. Just a fan of making sound decisions in terms of quality and reliability. Never owned any luxury brands. Probably never will own a Mercedes, BMW or Audi due to maintenance costs. Love the Range Rovers but hear their reliability is horrible. I have only owned Honda’s and Toyota’s to the tune of only needing three cars in the last 29 years (two of them still running). If a car can’t go 200K+ miles without costing a fortune, it’s a bad investment in my book because 95% of cars will eventually only be worth 2K one day, regardless of how much they cost new. It’s a rapidly depreciating asset so one should strive to get maximum longevity and reliability in my book. Of course, that needs to be coupled with the features desired. I want to believe that the Kia could make it to these milestones, but who knows. It’s not like they have decades of reliability like the previous mentioned brands or their luxury counterparts (i.e., Lexus and Acura). However, the 45K+ territory gets you close to the luxury brand RDX/MDX territory. I like the Telluride way better, no doubt. I mean, the aforementioned cars are luxury brand and definitely use nicer interior materials but offer far fewer options at a similar price point. A lot of tech on the Kia at an incredible value. This also gives me a little pause because I can only imagine the cost of repairing/replacing some of the electrical equipment. Another factor is the rather generic feel you get at the Kia dealerships. I have heard bad things about their dealerships/service departments not keeping up with the strides their vehicles are making. Their local sales crews are old school vultures for sure compared to the experience I had looking around the Acura (no commission) and Lexus lots. Not that the sales experience matters a lot moving forward, but just another thing that gives a little pause when forking out 45K+ for a vehicle. I feel like even the Honda and Toyota dealerships are a significant step up in terms of how they go about their business. Just my initial perception. Heightened awareness perhaps but Kia has historically been a value brand and I know their will be growing pains. After all, their cousin is still trying to launch a luxury line out of its value dealerships. Talk about giving pause to somebody dropping 50-80K on a relatively new line of “luxury” vehicles. All that being said, the Stinger and Telluride seem to be good deals at face value or without factoring in the risk of long-term reliability issues and/or accelerated depreciation.

If you are purely looking at cost per mile you shouldn't get a 40k plus car.

You should get a used Toyota. Preferably a Toyota Prius.

I am looking at Lexus right now and factoring in looks, mileage, reliability, technology, size, etc etc nothing comes close.

 

[Lucas & Craig]

If you are struggling because of brand name....Not the vehicle for you. The Telluride has crushed its competition in every category more or less. We have people coming out of Lexus,Mercedes,Audi and Land Rover to buy. They are tired of paying high prices and even higher service bills just to fix or maintain. I have yet to read a review that bashes the Telluride. That being said is why it is the hottest SUV on Planet Earth.

 

[TheNip73]

If you are struggling because of brand name....Not the vehicle for you. The Telluride has crushed its competition in every category more or less. We have people coming out of Lexus,Mercedes,Audi and Land Rover to buy. They are tired of paying high prices and even higher service bills just to fix or maintain. I have yet to read a review that bashes the Telluride. That being said is why it is the hottest SUV on Planet Earth.

I saw this one a few days back. He compares the Telluride to knock-off sunglasses around the 3:30 mark.

This is the only “negative review” I have seen so far.

 

[Boonedoggle]

If you are purely looking at cost per mile you shouldn't get a 40k plus car.

You should get a used Toyota. Preferably a Toyota Prius.

I am looking at Lexus right now and factoring in looks, mileage, reliability, technology, size, etc etc nothing comes close.

I need a tow vehicle (for a 35k trailer) and seating for 7 at times. This was by FAR the best choice for me. To each his own.

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[Brf]

10 years ago I bought a Sorento, one of the first 2000 made in Georgia. My eldest son made fun of me. Last week he bought that Kia from me when my Telluride came in. In 10 years I had very few issues with the Sorento and had no problem with ordering and waiting 3.5 months for delivery of the Telluride.

 

[Average Joe]

If you are purely looking at cost per mile you shouldn't get a 40k plus car.

My lengthy post mentioned nothing of “purely looking at cost per mile.” That would be a significant oversimplification of the thoughts and factors I was trying to convey in my post.

 

[ucinn]

I saw this one a few days back. He compares the Telluride to knock-off sunglasses around the 3:30 mark.

This is the only “negative review” I have seen so far.

I'd like to know what he was smoking...Ours rides like we are on a cloud and feel hardly any bumps..and its very quiet in the cabin. Has much less roll in the corners than our Sorento did. Much better ride and stability than the Caddy we rented.

 

[blitt]

Only cars I have bought for my own use in the past 40 years have been Mercedes. Now I’ve had a telluride sx-p for three months and 3500 miles including a long road trip. I would not think of getting another Mercedes. I’m very very pleased with the telluride even though with all the extras it was over 50K. Twenty eight years ago I paid 58 K for a Mercedes. the telluride is a better quality vehicle and it shines in a value comparison.

Beautifully said!! I have owned 3 Mercedes SUV's, an Escalade , and various others......my Telluride ( SX P )is the most comfortable , better build quality in a lot of ways, and the tech is beyond all......and the luxury equal to or beyond all!