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New 2027 Kia Telluride. Blunt or ghaslty?

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I’d say it’s both. Of course, the shape of the new Kia Telluride is pretty blunt. It looks like a big block of something with almost zero personality or shape. But it’s also quite ghastly, in my humble and totally unprofessional opinion.

There is really no excuse for a front end looking ike this in 2025. Gone is the personality of the first generation that made the Telluride so popular in the first place. It was big, and yet there was something a bit friendly about it. And almost original too. That is all gone with the new generation. Any trace of personality has been erased by Kia, and it now tries a bit too hard to look like a Range Rover, I guess.

“With Telluride, it was a matter of being tailored and restrained, dare I say, anti-design.” That’s the official word from the lead designer. I agree with “anti-design”, but this is not restrained in any way. “restrained” and “boring” are two different words. This is just a very boring shape. A Range Rover is “restrained” and yet has plenty of personality. This new Kia doesn’t. At all…

Except for that ghastly huge grill/front end. It looks like there are two different grille designs for the new Telluride, depending on trims, I guess. Both bad, plasticky black mess, and looking very cheap.

Except for powertrains to mirror what the 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe offers. That means a big thirsty V6 or a new 2.5 Liter 4 Cylinder Hybrid.

More on this very soon, since the 2027 Kia Telluride will be officially unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show next week.

Conversation 11 comments

  1. Kia ruined it! The current version is handsome and upscale in appearance. The new version is one big blunt looking block of a design failure! I don’t see how anyone can look at this monstrosity and think “I gotta have it!”

    Hyundai and Kia have both seriously lost their way in regards to exterior design! The Santa Fe, Palisade, and now the Telluride all look like cheap looking revisions of their previous classy looking generations. All three recent redesigns are huge steps backwards!

  2. I like the tail lights and that’s about it. Maybe they are alternating between Kia and Hyundai which one will look better during each generation. For the first generation the Telluride looked better, this one, definitely the Palisade. I like that Kia is going an extra step in the design department but I believe they are over designing cars lately, too many lights and lines everywhere….but oh well, I guess it is working for them, I see those K4 EVERYWHERE

  3. It looks better to me. It reminds me of a Rolls Royce side profile and Land Rover backend. Still square like the 1st generation Telluride yet still stylish and not looking like it’s sister the Palisade or EV9. The greenhouse looks more aggressive by keeping it simple and boxy. This time it has a floating roof and I love those D pillars. I wish the kinks in the B Pillars from the 1st Telluride made it to the 2nd generation. But looking at reviews looks good.

  5. Not sure. The “new” Santa Fe has not been selling as well as the previous generation. The same thing could happen here…

  6. Vince, when mentioning the powertrain, I believe you meant, mirroring the Palisade, not the Santa Fe.

  7. Wow, just wow. I love it! This thing has Range Rover vibes all over it. It looks much better than its counterpart the Palisade. The current Telluride has been a smash hit for Kia and this will continue that trend. I have a lease ending soon and will be in the market for a new vehicle in the early spring next year. This has just leaped its way to the top of the list.

  8. The front end on the second pictures looks like Darth Vader’s chest plate. The rest of the pictures are boring and unoriginal, unless you’re into rectangles. The new Santa Fe is ugly and looks cheap in person. I guess Kia/Hyundai are back in the “cheap copies of other manufacturers” mode.

  9. The second picture looks much better than the first with the horrible black cladding grille. I like the car except the first front grille especially looks very dated. Maybe the other trims with chrome would change that.

  10. I will definitely buy one because of the aerodynamic flash door handles of this square brick on wheels🤔🤣….(I won’t definitely buy!)

  11. I made a mistake unless the post was edited, the picture I hated was the second one. The rugged looks is the old looking one to me.

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