Kia didn’t need to make the Telluride any better, but it went ahead and did so anyway, with more tech and an off-road version.
, with snappy graphics and quick touch responses, and it replaces the old Telluride's analog gauges and 10.3-inch touchscreen. It also includes wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. It puts the extra screen space to good use by stretching your phone mirroring across a bigger area instead of shoehorning CarPlay into a vaguely phone-shaped section of the screen, leaving a blank space to the right, as the old Telluride did.
The lone exception is the new-for-2023 X-Pro trim, which can be combined only with the upper-level Telluride SX or SX Prestige variants. This off-road treatment includes longer shocks and springs delivering a 0.4-inch increase in ground clearance and all-terrain tires on 18-inch black-painted wheels. All-wheel drive is standard, and like on other AWD Tellurides, it has a button for locking the center differential.
With the center coupling locked and traction control defeated, we clambered over the natural and Kia-made Texas countryside mostly without issue. The Kia Telluride's relatively limited wheel articulation—it rides on a fully independent suspension and has a long wheelbase—meant that, occasionally, we found ourselves teetering on two or three wheels. So long as you maintain forward momentum, such situations are thrilling but won't slow down the Telluride.