2025 Los Angeles Auto Show Best in Show: 2027 Kia Telluride
Key Point
- With slick new styling, an upgraded interior and some promising new powertrains, the 2027 Kia Telluride has impressed us mightily, earning our pick as Best in Show.
It’s kind of amazing to us how every new Kia model seems to be a legitimate, demonstrably significant improvement over the last one. Even when you get one that’s really, really good, you can be pretty confident that whatever Kia dreams up next will be even better — and not just a little better, but wow-your-socks-off better. The brand has done it again with the 2027 Kia Telluride. The old Telluride was one of our favorites, but it was indeed getting long in the tooth, as we discovered in our last big SUV comparison test. This new one addresses all of the issues we had with the old one in spectacular fashion and adds in a load of new upscale style to boot.
Related: More 2025 Los Angeles Auto Show News
So Much Styling, But We Like It
Kia has a habit of taking styling in new directions with every model’s new generation, refreshing the look of its showroom completely on a schedule most other automakers don’t match. That’s happened again with the new Telluride. Its look is more luxury Range Rover or smoothed-out Kia EV9 than rough-and-tumble off-roader (although a rough-and-tumble X-Pro off-road trim is again available), and the dramatically different grille up front looks a bit less intimidating when you fire up the actual headlights. It’s a slick look for Kia’s big SUV, and it successfully telegraphs the brand’s desire to continue moving into more expensive territory in a good way.
Knockout Interior
Inside, the new Telluride ramps up the interior refinements to new levels. It’s posh in there, especially when you opt for some eye-popping color themes like Blackberry and Sand Beige. The new screen layout is about what we expected given what we’ve seen in the latest EV9, and that means it’s not perfect — the climate controls are obscured from the driver’s view by the steering wheel. But the rest of the displays and controls are fantastic, easy to use and clear in their presentation.
Comfort is also key, with plenty of passenger space in the first two rows and acceptable room in the third for full-size adults. The second row got the biggest boost thanks to the Telluride’s increase in size — its wheelbase has been stretched by nearly 3 inches, while the whole SUV has lengthened by just over 2 inches — and that’s paid serious, noticeable dividends for interior passenger space.
Powertrain Updates
We’re even excited for both of the powertrains that will be available in the 2027 Telluride: a standard turbocharged four-cylinder engine (instead of the lump of a 3.8-liter V-6 it used to have) and a new hybrid powertrain that has proven to be outstanding in the Kia’s crosstown sister, the Hyundai Palisade. We’re hopeful that the torquey nature of the four-cylinder will prove to make even the base Telluride fun to drive, but we’re pretty confident that the hybrid will be, as it is in the new Palisade.
With the new Telluride’s exceptional style, upgraded interior and promising powertrains, we’re confident that the new 2027 model will be a hit, and that’s why we’ve named it our 2025 Los Angeles Auto Show Best in Show winner.
Read More About the Kia Telluride:
- 2027 Kia Telluride Gets Available 35-MPG Hybrid Powertrain
- Kia Shows Off 2027 Telluride’s Bold New Look Ahead of Los Angeles Auto Show Debut
- Which 3-Row SUVs Offer Captain’s Chairs?
- How Do Car Seats Fit in a 2025 Kia Telluride?
- Research the Kia Telluride
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