2025 Kia Telluride SX Prestige - Anything NEW for 2025?? (Still a GREAT Pick!)

What's going on, YouTube? So the Kia Telluride has been on a quick rise to popularity as a value-filled, spacious, and luxurious family SUV. But the competition is moving quick, so we want to know what's new for 2025. Well, let's go ahead and find out. All right, so as always, let's start off with our spec dump and under the hood. For 2025, no powertrain changes to the Telluride. That means you continue to find a 3.8-liter naturally aspirated V6 engine with 291 horsepower. That's paired to an eight-speed automatic transmission, and our combined fuel economy is 20 mpg with all-wheel drive. Now, of course, we can't wait to take this out on a spin later on in the video. While we're on that drive, we'll be getting things like our sound level reading, and after that, we'll discuss resale value and reliability. But let's go ahead and close up the hood because there is an exterior change that I want to talk about right from the start. So, what is that update to the front-end design? Well, it's right here. We have blacked-out logos. This is now going to be on all of the X trim levels, so that means the X-Line and the X-Pro. So, of course, as in the previous model years, you continue to have five main trim levels, but you can also add X-Line and X-Pro packages on top of those models to give it a more rugged design. This is the SX Prestige, the fully loaded model with the X-Line package, and as you can see, that does mean you get the blacked-out finish here on our emblems as well as the full gloss black grille, which I think looks quite nice, and you also have a gloss black finish to our kind of tough-looking lower area. Now, as far as lighting is concerned, we do have full LED headlights, of course, on board with all models. These are the stacked crystal designs. You have the amber daytime running lights and turn signal indicators. Also, the SX and above will come with LED fog lamps. Now, walking around to the back, we continue to find a very handsome design. Yeah, and there has been an update back here as well. I bet you can probably guess what that update is. Just like the front, we now have black branding back here for this trim level. So, I really like the look of that. I think it looks a lot sleeker than the silver trim that it used to be last year, and as far as other design elements, let's talk about our tail lights. So, our tail lights are going to have that signature Telluride design, and they're also going to be LED if you choose an EX trim level or above. So, I really like the overall shape. We do have an incandescent reverse light down at the bottom though, so keep that in mind, and then speaking of the bottom, all of this is going to be finished in a nice piano black. You do also have a 5,000-pound tow rating for the vast majority of trim levels. If you choose the X-Pro, it's bumped up to 5,500 pounds. Moving on to our wheels, you have an enormous number of them, depending on what combination of trims that you make. This is a 20-inch alloy wheel on board with this one. As you can see, we have the gloss black finish. You also have the blacked-out logo right there in the center as well, and overall, it looks quite nice, especially with this model's rather unique-looking green paint. Now, moving up here to our mirrors, these are going to have standard blind spot monitoring and heating as you'd expect. Also, you only have to get the EX trim level if you want power folding. Now, at the side of the Telluride, we're going to continue to have an overall vehicle length of about 197 inches long, and for trim levels like this one we have today, you do also have raised roof rails up top as well as all of the blacked-out window surrounds. Now, when it comes to the safety department, you do actually have a couple changes for 2025. I want to go ahead and mention right here from the start that you get standard second-row airbags on every single Telluride this year. Additionally, you're also going to get standard Highway Drive Assist 1.5 in addition to all the other safety systems standard equipment. You can also furthermore add the Highway Drive Assist 2.0 system by opting for a high-end Telluride. But guys, there is an incredibly luxurious cabin waiting for you on the inside, so let's dive into that. But first, if you're new here, we're brothers and we've been reviewing cars since we were 12 and 16. We may be young, but we love cars. And we'd love for you to subscribe to be a part of our Car Confections family. Let's learn a lot, have some fun with all the latest cars. All right, now let's go ahead and move on to the interior. First of all, here's our key fob, your typical Kia key fob with that nice look. I don't know if this is new this year, but I did notice that this is lighting up and that's something I never have seen before. Nevertheless, when you walk up to the vehicle, it does sense your approach. It'll go ahead and fold the mirrors outward and then you can just grab behind the handle and that will unlock the door. Digital key is also available on your upper end trim levels. All right, now as far as the interior is concerned, obviously it still has a very luxurious look for 2025. Let's start off by talking about the seats though. So your lower trims are going to come with a faux leather. Your middle trims will come with real leather. And then here on the SX Prestige, this is where we get fine Napa leather. So beautiful seating design on board. It's got X-line branding up there. Nice quilting going through in the color contrast finish. This is just the black option. We'll insert some pictures of some of the more interesting color options, but there really are a lot of different ones to choose from. As far as the seats themselves, the upper trims will come with 14 ways of power adjustment, including things like your power thigh extension and four-way lumbar support. SX and above will get memory seats and let's go ahead and climb inside. Now climbing inside and shutting up the door, let's look at the rest of the cabin materials. Beginning over here on our door trim, we have a nice leatherette material with padding. It is soft touch in the center and soft touch along the top. As we move to the upper dashboard, again, we have more soft touch plastic. We've got a stitching detail. And then through all through the center section on this version, we have a faux wood trim. It's a very realistic feeling, as you can see. They've textured it. And then down here, we have those signature Telluride handlebars. Again, nicely finished and stitched leatherette. Let's go ahead and fire it up. And now that it's fired up, a good place to start will actually be right here with our gauge clusters, because this is an update for 2025, just in the standard features list. So the EX X-Line is now going to get the dual 12.3-inch displays with the full digital cluster. That is going down a little bit and making that more available for 2025. This, of course, is fully customizable, so you can see the design change when you use different drive modes. And you also have the blind spot camera system on the SX version and above. Up there at the top, we also have a head-up display that's on the SX Prestige. Also on the SX Prestige is our rain sensing wipers. And then we've got a nice leather-wrapped steering wheel on board, manual tilt and telescoping. And you can also get steering wheel heating on a large number of trim levels. All right, let's open up our center console, though, and get into interior storage. So inside, you're going to find some donuts, because here at Car Confections, we like to do the donut test and see the volume of the center consoles by putting stuffed donuts inside. Today, we have 21 donuts inside. That's a really good score. We're actually getting close to that two dozen mark, which is the maximum number of donuts we even bring along with us. You also have a couple cup holders there, a little bit of storage. And then if I pop open that Piano Black trim, you'll notice another storage cubby. This one has a wireless phone charger. Pulling back to the shifter, no electronics shifter or anything like that, just a nice traditional style. Bump over here to the left if you want to shift manually. There are not paddle shifters on the steering wheel. Heading into reverse, this is where we're going to see a nice backup camera on board. It's going to be 360. If you choose the SX trim level or above, you do also have that nice 3D view where you can spin around the vehicle and see it in nice graphics. And then back behind the shifter, you've got your electronic parking brake, as well as your drive mode controller. Now moving up this handlebar, we have our signature controls for the heated seats and the ventilated seats. So heated seats will actually be on all but the base model of Telluride. And then the EX trim level is where you will add the ventilated seats. And then above that, you have your climate controls. This is a standard three zone climate system and you do have nice physical controls as you can see. Very simple to make those adjustments super quickly. You also have a nice row of physical controls for your audio system. So here on this top model, we have of course the Harman Kardon sound system. It has 10 speakers and let's go ahead and give it a sample right now. Yeah, overall sound quality is nice. Definitely fills up the cabin well. Okay, so let's kind of go back over here and get into technology. So right above the three vents, we have our 12.3 inch display. Now for 2025, this does not get upgraded to the latest Kia software. So that's something to be aware of because most of their models at this point are moving towards the CCNC system. This just has the regular version that we've seen for a few years. So that means that we do not have wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay. You're going to have to connect via a USB cable. That being said, you do have a built-in navigation system right there. You also have a few additional features to keep in mind, such as your passenger talk system, which is a microphone that brings your voice back to the third row. Up above here, you've got your frameless auto dimming mirror. You also have Homelink remotes on most of the trim levels, but on this top model, we can flip that switch and we have the camera mirror system. Also, since we have the SX Prestige, we have a full Alcantara headliner, which is really, really luxurious. You don't typically see that outside of luxury vehicles. And then we've got a dual panel panoramic sunroof. So the front panel is a regular sunroof that just opens up normally. And then you've got the back panel with a power sunshade. Now, the Telluride has one of the nicest rear seats in the entire segment. And I'm going to tell you why it has all those nice features. Now, I want to go ahead and start by space first. We're going to be sitting at one of the largest figures in the entire segment, 42.4 inches of legroom, over 40 inches of headroom as well. Like I mentioned, really impressive space figures for most of the competition. It is going to be pretty much identical to the Hyundai Palisade, as you might expect. Now I do want to point out this seat does slide forward and back a very good distance. It actually will touch the front seat, which makes, you know, if you need to get to your kid, the access is a lot easier that way. And with Drew's 5'8 driving position, I have an additional nine and a half inches of knee room and my feet can slide up underneath the seat in addition to it being able to fully recline. Now, speaking of the seats, you are noticing that we have bench seats on this specific configuration. Now, speaking of the seats, you will notice that we have captain's chairs on this specific configuration. They have a kind of a weird assortment of different trim levels that get standard bench seating, standard captain's chairs. Just know that you can normally get either option if you prefer. Now, as far as features you can see, we have two cup holders up here in the top. We have a 12-volt outlet down here, a household style outlet as well, and then we're also going to have two USB ports integrated in the back of each seat back. Most of your main controls, though, are going to be integrated up here in the roof, so you have your own zone of climate. You can adjust the temperature real easy through that, some LED illumination, and you also have vents coming out of the ceiling. Now, if you turn over to the door trim, that's going to be nicely done as well. We have rear window sunshades on EX trim levels and above, and then down below that by the leather armrest, you'll see some other controls, and that's for your heated and ventilated seats. So you're going to get that if you choose the SX Prestige model. Certainly nice to have ventilated rear seats. That's still very rare in this segment. As far as bottle storage down in the bottom, I do want to point out it's not really going to fit any type of water bottle. Even a smaller one doesn't fit down here. Let's go ahead and dive into the third row. They've made it really easy to get back here. You just press this button right here. That's going to actually allow the seat to slide out of the way, and you would not have to remove a child seat. And hopping into the third row itself, I want to point out you have three seats back here, so that makes your total seating configuration seven passenger as equipped today or eight passenger if you choose the bench seating option. And as far as the space is concerned, we're looking at about 31.4 inches of legroom, about 38 inches of headroom though, so that's quite good. As far as how it compares to the competition, it's going to be solid for this segment. It's not the class-leading options. Those would be like Toyota Grand Highlander. The Atlas is also quite large, but overall, it's a good amount of space for someone who's five foot nine. This seat is adjusted all the way back, and I still have a couple inches of knee room, and I also have good thigh support. As far as features, we have a cup holder over here. We also have USB ports, and we're going to have vents that come out of this ceiling. Do be aware though, you're not going to get the heated third row that you get on the Palisade calligraphy or the power adjustment. As far as how this rates on our third row rating scale, I'm going to say that this is fit for the in-laws. Walking up to the tailgate, if you choose an EX trim or above, that will give you the power tailgate with hands-free ability. And let's talk about space. 21 cubic feet behind the third row of seats. If I reach up here and fold those down, we're going to have 46 cubic feet. And if we fold the second row seats down, which we have convenient buttons over here to do so, that is going to give you a maximum of 87 cubic feet. So if you're keeping track of some of the competition, that is going to be very much in the middle of the segment. Pretty much ties the Honda Pilot, stuff like that. However, the Toyota Grand Highlander will have about 10 more cubic feet as a maximum. Now, underneath of the floor, there's additional space. We also have a spare tire integrated under there. You can see that written out there. And we're going to have a manually folding third row. So keep that in mind. No power folding third row is offered on the Tell You Ride, even though the Palisade does have that feature. Now, let's go ahead and get our cargo length, width, and height figures. That's something we do in all of our car confections reviews, in case you're looking to haul something specifically. From behind Drew's 5'8 driving position, we're looking at an overall cargo length of 86 inches. From behind the second row of seats, 48 inches. From behind the third row, 20 inches. 47 inches wide is what we are looking at. And then as far as overall height, a pretty impressive 31.5 inches. Well, guys, here we are behind the wheel of the 2025 Kia Tell You Ride. In this test drive, we're going to be discussing quite a few things, as you can see on the screen right now. We'll also be getting things like our signature sound level reading. But we want to go ahead and start this test drive off by giving you a hard acceleration. All right, there we are going up to about 60 miles per hour. Like we said at the spec dump, no changes to the powertrain situation, which remains a 3.8 liter naturally aspirated V6 engine. Of course, V6s are, you know, kind of a dying breed in this segment. A lot of the big names have transitioned to turbo four cylinders, such as, you know, Toyota Highlander and Grand Highlander, the new Traverse and all the other General Motors variations of that. Those are all using turbo four cylinders now. So for a lot of you guys, I think you're going to like having the smooth refinement, of course, of the V6. Now, in terms of, you know, how the power is delivered, it's a little bit different because the turbo fours tend to have a little bit more low end grunt. But these are just so buttery smooth until you ride. Yeah, as far as overall power figures, you're looking at 291 horsepower, 262 pound feet of torque. Healthy numbers for this segment. Like Drew said, I think really the key thing here is you're just going to get a lot more refinement out of this V6, especially when I'm in this really nice cabin here in the SX Prestige model. It really does help my overall luxury experience feeling. It really just feels like I'm in a little bit more of an expensive product, especially if I don't hear a lot of, you know, four cylinder kind of groaning that you get in some of the rivals. Yeah, just so overall smooth. Also, the eight speed automatic transmission just really works in there nice and smoothly. It's just a a nice partner to this overall power train. Doesn't give you any types of weird shifts or anything like that. And if you put your foot down, it does give you plenty of power. Yeah, but we are on our designated strip of road to get our sound level reading going 55. So I'm going to go ahead and make sure the rear climate is off and also put it on fan speed one. Both of our vented seats are off as well. 54.4 decibels is what we have settled in at as our official sound level reading. Now we don't have to sit here and guess how it compares to the rivals. We can find that at carconfections.com slash sound level readings and cheers to consistency because that is actually the exact same sound level reading that we got last year in the Kia Telluride. And it's one of the quieter options in the entire segment. Really the only thing that has tested on Kentucky strips of road a little quieter would be the Volkswagen Atlas as well as the Toyota Grand Highlander that was just ever so slightly quieter, but is a very impressive reading for this segment. And also what is impressive is your ride quality with this Telluride. We have been in this car numerous times. We've done probably 15 reviews on Telluride and I've been nothing but impressed with every single one of them that we've been in. It just has fantastic ride quality overall. When you hit a bump, it does a great job of soaking it up. The seats are super comfortable. The headrest is really nice. I'm the best in the segment. I will say though, if you compare it directly to its sibling, the Hyundai Palisade, this is a little bit more on the firm side. That's a little bit softer in its suspension setup, but it also does have slightly better driving dynamics as well. Yeah, for a three row, you might be surprised that this does handle pretty nicely. Obviously, it's not a sporty SUV per se, but you know, you have decent chassis balance, not a ridiculous amount of body roll. And the thing I also really like is the steering. The steering is really quite good. You get immediate feedback when you go off center. It also has a little bit of heft, but not too heavy. Now let's also take a second to discuss fuel economy for the Telluride. So when it comes to this, because we do not have a hybrid offering, we're still fingers crossed and hoping that Kia will add that maybe for the all new model in, you know, next model year or the year after that. We're still going to be sitting at 22 or 20 miles per gallon combined. So 22 with the front drive version, 20 miles per gallon combined with all wheel drive. It's worth noting that is worse fuel economy than what you would find out of the turbo four cylinder rivals. But you do have stuff like this auto start stop, you know, really good. Yeah, it's a very good auto start stop system to kind of improve that fuel economy. And it's worth noting, it's not a massive difference. Most of the turbo fours are like 22 or 23 MPG. So honestly, I think I'd be willing to accept that penalty to have the smoothness of the V6. Now let's get into our slam dunk and airball, which is our favorite and least favorite element. Drew, why don't you kick us off with the slam dunk? The slam dunk is going to be kind of vague, but it's really that this vehicle is still so competitive and so good. You know, in this segment, there is a lot of competition and there's a lot of competition that's newer than this. This is on its sixth model year since its introduction, yet it is still one of the best because of the overall packaging. It just really nails all the kind of key things that people are looking for. Yeah, on the flip side with our airball, the main thing we could come up with was the technology is starting to show its age a little bit. Honestly, not really in the design. I think it looks still very modern, but the software itself, the fact that it's not the latest and greatest, and it also doesn't have wireless CarPlay, wireless Android Auto, a lot in this segment have really upped the tech game, and this is going to be one of the areas where it's starting to show its age. Lastly, for your warranty, you have a five-year, 60,000-mile basic warranty. You also have a 10-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty, and Kia does not do complimentary maintenance. Now let's discuss pricing. So prices don't rise much for the 2025 model year. It's only about $500 on a couple of trim levels. So we started around $36,000 for the LX trim level. If you choose this SX with X-Line package, it's going to cost quite a bit more, a little over $50,000. As you can see, we have the 25 Telluride SX Prestige. We also have the optional carpeted floor mats and the $1,395 destination charge. We're sitting at $54,005 for this model as tested. Now, if you're looking to buy a Kia Telluride or any new vehicle, we would encourage you to go to carconfections.com new car quotes. Now, the reason you do that is because we have a tool on our website that will connect you with local car dealers in your area to get you the best price. It's also going to give you access to invoice pricing information, which is a great tool for dealership negotiation. If you'd like to take advantage of that, a link is provided in our video description, and we also have a pinned comment at the top of this video. But buying a car is about more than just the original MSRP. So let's go ahead and dive into resale and reliability. So let's start by talking about resale value. As an economics graduate myself and I took the time to develop what we think is a good estimate for this Kia Telluride's potential resale. We estimate that after five years and 60,000 miles, it'll be worth 49% of its original MSRP, and after 10 years and 120,000 miles, 21.1%. Now, it's worth noting that is right at the industry average for all vehicle makes when it comes to resale value by percentage. It is going to be less than some of the Japanese alternatives though, such as Honda and Toyota. Now, we've also done the same for reliability by developing the combined reliability index. This takes into account several studies on reliability from trustworthy sources and combines them in a way that gives you a more holistic picture. In this regard, Kia is rated above the industry average for all vehicle brands. Now, if you'd like to learn more about our resale values or our reliability, as well as our methodology, be sure to go to carconfections.com slash resale and carconfections.com slash reliability. Buying a new car is a very big decision, so you want to make sure you're making a smart purchase, especially if you're cross-shopping between different vehicle brands. And guys, that's going to be where we leave off on this in-depth review of the 2025 Kia Telluride. If you enjoyed watching this video or found it helpful in your purchasing decisions, which we hope you did, we'd really appreciate it if you hit that subscribe button down below. 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