- Spacious interior
- Well equipped
- Class-leading warranties
- Pricing starts at $37,805 | Price yours
- On sale now | See listings near you
We’re incredibly consistent. So is the Kia Telluride. This is the sixth year in a row it’s won our 3-Row Midsize SUV Best Buy Award. And the Telluride has been in existence for six years. There are several great contenders in this class, and we had long conversations exploring all their various virtues. But we couldn’t get away from the obvious and logical conclusion — the Telluride is too good to be toppled.
It does everything a midsize SUV has to do and does it well. Factor in all the features for the price, and the Telluride looks even more attractive. Speaking for ourselves a moment, we like the chunky/cool styling, and we really like driving it. So does everyone else, it seems. Demand remains high (we’ve heard rumors that dealers call it the “Sell-uride”), both for new examples and used models, keeping the resale values robust.
Exemplary Interior
This is where the 2025 Telluride delights. In its basic form, this 3-row midsize SUV has seating for eight. And yes, a couple of adults can fit in the third row, as long as they’re not on the basketball team.
Higher trims bring a pair of captain’s chairs to the second row, reducing the occupant count to seven, but raising comfort levels while making access to the third row a little easier. Each row is a little higher than the one in front of it, an arrangement called “stadium seating.” This adds to the open feeling of the Telluride’s cabin.
At the higher trim levels, the Telluride brings truly premium features like fine Nappa leather seating surfaces, ambient cabin lighting, and a Harman Kardon surround-sound system (also found in many BMWs).
Since we’re singing the praises of the 2025 Telluride lineup as a whole, though, there are a couple of standard features that illustrate how good it is as a family vehicle. Driver Talk pipes the driver’s voice through the speakers, so even those in the third row can hear it. And the audio system’s Quiet Mode uses just the front speakers when the little bundles of joy in the back are napping. These features bring minivan-like convenience to a rugged SUV, which is part of what puts it on our most recent Best Family Cars list.
Top Tech
Every 2025 Kia Telluride comes with a dual-display setup with driver information and the infotainment touchscreen set into one unit that dominates the dashboard — the kind of thing found in Mercedes-Benz and BMW vehicles.
The standard navigation system has a Connected Routing function. It plans routes with traffic information factored in. A digital key enables access through a smartphone or smartwatch, and every version has at least five USB ports.
Practical Examination
Let’s not forget the utility part of a sport utility vehicle, or SUV. As well as plenty of headroom and legroom for all occupants, the 2025 Telluride has a luggage area behind the third row of 21 cubic feet, which is a lot for this class. That’s about the size of a 2-door refrigerator.
Fold down the second and third rows to reveal 87 cubic feet. Those trips to IKEA might even start to feel like fun. From the SX trim and up, the smart-powered tailgate has hands-free opening and automatic closing.
Playing it Safe
In addition to safety features expected from a modern family vehicle like automatic emergency braking and blind-spot monitoring, every new Telluride SUV comes standard with the Highway Driving Assist 1.5 system. This advanced driver assistance feature incorporates adaptive cruise control and lane centering to maintain the Telluride’s position in traffic by braking, accelerating, and steering.
If circumstances spiral beyond the control of person and machine, it’s reassuring to know that the Telluride has been given a maximum 5-Star overall score from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and named a Top Safety Pick+ by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) after going through crash tests.
Xtra Rugged
A refined 3.8-liter V6 developing 291 horsepower powers every 2025 Kia Telluride, but more adventurous families will want the perks that come with the X-Line and X-Pro trims. Telluride models with “X” in the name ride on the wilder side of midsize family SUVs. They come with all-wheel drive (AWD) as standard, featuring Snow and AWD Lock modes for slippery surfaces, plus slightly higher ground clearance than the rest of the range. The X-Pro also wears all-terrain tires on its 18-inch alloy wheels and achieves the Telluride’s max tow rating of up to 5,500 pounds.
Dollars and Sense
Kia offers an unsurpassed powertrain warranty of 10 years or 100,000 miles, whichever happens first. The new vehicle warranty is also one of the best: five years or 60,000 miles.
Starting at $37,805, the 2025 Telluride also happens to be among the best values in the segment. And with strong resale values having a beneficial effect on overall ownership costs, it also looks good in the bigger picture. That’s why we’ve made the Kia Telluride 3-row midsize SUV a Best Buy. Yet again.
Photo Tour
More 2025 Kia Telluride
- Read our full review
- Build and price your own
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Our 2025 Best Buy Award Winners
- Best New Model: 2025 Toyota Camry
- Best Subcompact SUV: 2025 Hyundai Kona
- Best Compact SUV: 2025 Honda CR-V
- Best 3-Row EV: 2025 Kia EV9
- Best Electric Vehicle: 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5
- Best Compact Car: 2025 Honda Civic
- Best Midsize Car: 2025 Toyota Camry
- Best Minivan: 2025 Toyota Sienna
- Best Compact Truck: 2025 Ford Maverick
- Best Midsize Truck: 2025 Toyota Tacoma
- Best Full-Size Truck: 2025 Ford F-150
- Best Electric Truck: 2025 Ford F-150 Lightning
- 2025 Best Buy Awards Home
