The Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade are corporate cousins, and at first glance, it doesn’t necessarily look like the two midsize SUVs are all that different. However, when you look more closely, some specific differences begin to appear. Perhaps the most significant differences are the price range of the two SUVs and the exterior styling. Let’s take a look.
Where the Kia Telluride Wins
The Kia Telluride wins the battle of affordability compared to the Hyundai Palisade. Both SUVs offer four trims, but the Telluride beats the Palisade in price at three out of four trim levels.
Another area where the Telluride wins is reliability. J.D. Power gives the Kia Telluride a score of 85 out of 100 for reliability. The Palisade is a bit lower at 80 out of 100. However, both SUVs fall into the Great category, which is a score between 81 and 90.
The Telluride beats the Palisade, albeit just barely, on maximum space. With the second and third rows folded, the Kia SUV offers 87 cubic feet of storage compared to the Hyundai SUV’s 86.4 cubic feet. The numbers are also quite close when only the third row is folded. However, with both rows standing, the Kia Telluride is the clear winner with 21 cubic feet versus the Palisade’s 18 cubic feet.
Where the Hyundai Palisade Wins
Both the Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade offer excellent seat comfort, and both SUVs feature three rows and seating for eight passengers. This is the standard layout, but you can also swap out the second-row bench for captain’s chairs, which reduces the seating capacity to seven.
Both SUVs also feature stadium seating, which means the rear seats are angled to give passengers a view of the road ahead. The Palisade wins out here with a power third-row seat on the Limited trims.
Ride and handling is another area where the Palisade narrowly beats the Telluride. As both SUVs are on the larger end of the midsize category, you can’t expect them to be incredibly agile. However, responsive steering is important on a big SUV like this. The Palisade rolls a bit more smoothly on uneven pavement while the Telluride transmits a few jolts and jerks into the cabin.
Where the SUVs Tie
Interior quality is top-notch on both SUVs. In fact, the Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade boast some of the best interiors in the midsize class. Even base trims are packed with soft-touch materials, and the dashboards are angled toward the driver for easy-to-reach controls. When you get to the higher trims of these SUVs, the interiors get downright luxurious. Cutting-edge tech and Nappa leather becomes standard.
Both SUVs offer the exact same powertrain with a 3.8-liter V6 engine that makes 291 horsepower. You won’t find much difference in acceleration between either vehicle. Both vehicles are fairly standard on fuel economy, but the Kia Telluride does slightly better in the city with 20 MPG to the Palisade’s 19 MPG.
Either of these 3-row SUVs is a great choice for those looking at the midsize category. They offer a lot of luxury and plenty of space. However, the Kia Telluride just edges out the Hyundai Palisade in important areas like price, reliability, maximum space, and just barely in fuel economy.
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