Just saw the new 2027 Kia Telluride in person…

I just came back from the Los Angeles Auto Show, where, among other things, I saw the new Kia Telluride in person. And it is quite a sight. But not in a good way.

It seems Kia has designed a few different front ends for various trims of the new Telluride. All are quite obnoxious and frankly, quite cheap and clumsy-looking. All these plasticky grilles are also mostly fake. As you can see in the photos above. (Most of these photos are just the official stuff from Kia, but I will be posting videos very soon.)

The interior is fine, but that plasticky grey trim along the dash and center console can only be described as ghastly. At least some better-looking matte wood trim is available on some trims.

In other news, Kia has also announced that the new 2027 Telluride will not be available with a V6 anymore. Instead, it’s been replaced by, you guessed it, a 4-cylinder Turbo. A 2.5 Liter engine. Or a new Hybrid version using the same 2.5 Liter. While the old V6 was probably a smooth operator, it also averaged about 21MPG. The new Hybrid is rated at 35MPG. And that’s a huge difference.

However, Kia hasn’t told us the regular 2.5 Liter gas mileage. Which probably isn’t that much better than the V6, since these big 4-cylinder Turbo engines are usually still pretty thirsty. I guess if you’re gonna get a huge SUV with a 4 cylinder engine, it might as well get 35MPG…

On the other hand, I was very impressed with the new 2026 Hyundai Palisade. Sure, it also has a big flat front end, but the whole thing seems to work much better than on the new Telluride. Its interior is also very impressive. And the V6 is somehow still available. The top-of-the-line Caligraphy on display at the show was very, very impressive in real life. Inside and out. Its $54,000 price (2WD) was also a nice surprise for the amazing level of room and luxury you are getting.