Kia Telluride vs. Hyundai Palisade: What’s The Difference?
Telluride by Gold Pony — CC-BY-SA-4.0
It’s never been easy to differentiate between similar cars, and with the recent popularity spike in three-row SUVs, it’s more complex than ever. Many manufacturers are pushing their SUV offerings onto the market, each competitively designed to match the standards set by whatever SUV was the previous reigning champ.
The Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade are two great examples of this, both being continuously refined over the years to be the best of the best. If you’re having trouble figuring out the difference between these two cars, you’re lucky. You’ve come to just the right place to learn all the information you need on whether you should get a Kia Telluride vs. Hyundai Palisade.
A Brief Overview
The Kia Telluride vs. Hyundai Palisade comparison is one of the closest races we’ve ever seen. These three-row SUVs match up in nearly every category, having the same engine, almost identical safety and technological features, and similar price points. Your choice will most likely come down to smaller factors like exterior styling.
If you decide to spring for a higher level trim, though, the Palisade gets a lot more expensive than the Telluride, so that’s worth considering. Regardless, these are both great cars, and you really can’t make a wrong choice here.
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Specs
Surprisingly, there’s absolutely no difference in engine performance in the Kia Telluride vs. Hyundai Palisade comparison. Both the 2021 Telluride and 2021 Palisade come equipped with the same 3.8 Liter V6 engine with 291 horsepower. This is top-tier power for a three-row SUV of this kind, and as both have the same engine, there’s no difference in this department.
The Kia Telluride has more cargo space than the Palisade, so there is a slight difference there. With all seats down, you can enjoy up to 87 cubic feet of space with the Telluride. Even if you want to fill up your Telluride full of passengers, you can still get a nice 21 cubic feet of space behind the third-row seat. These metrics are better than the space the Palisade has to offer, though it isn’t by much. The Palisade has just under 86.5 cubic feet of total cargo space when all the seats are down and about 18 cubic feet behind the third-row seat. Therefore, cargo space is highly unlikely to make or break your decision, but it could sway you slightly if you’re really on the fence.
Exterior Styling
When it comes to the Kia Telluride vs. Hyundai Palisade comparison, most decisions will likely diverge in both SUVs’ styling.
The Hyundai Palisade sports the traditional good looks of most SUVs like the Honda Pilot or GMC Acadia. However, the Palisade looks to make a statement using a bold, large bowed grille but also projects refinement with its split composite headlights. The front almost has a reptilian feel but is quickly toned down by the honeycomb grille and silver trims. The rest of the SUV looks more traditional and muted in comparison.
On the other hand, the Kia Telluride is more of an urban road warrior and sits nicely in the space between rugged and urbane. The Telluride’s bold styling succeeds by taking design cues and riffs from some of the best luxury SUVs like the Land Rover. Kia’s flagship SUV looks chunkier than the Palisade but still gives a purposeful vibe. The narrow upright headlights and a slightly prominent grille than the Palisade complete the hefty look without being too overbearing.
Basically, the Palisade will appeal to customers who prefer a more traditional SUV styling, while the Telluride will attract those who prefer a more rugged approach.
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Safety and Reliability
Before getting into this section of the Kia Telluride vs. Hyundai Palisade comparison, we should clarify that these are rated highly for their safety offerings and will keep you and your passengers safe and sound. It should, of course, be mentioned that safety and reliability are essential when it comes to any car. Still, they’re usually top priorities for drivers hoping to go out and purchase a three-row SUV. Now that that’s been said let’s get into specifics.
The 2021 Kia Telluride is an incredibly safe vehicle chock full of excellent safety features no matter what trim you purchase. You have advanced safety features like automatic emergency braking, pedestrian detection, driver attention warning, and collision avoidance assist. This safety suite is rounded out by a top-tier rearview camera, giving you a clear picture of what’s behind you at all times. All of this sounds excellent, and it is, but it actually isn’t exclusive to the Telluride. The 2021 Hyundai Palisade has a shockingly similar safety suite, with just about the same features that the Telluride offers in this regard. Therefore, the included safety features won’t be a huge deciding factor.
Regarding safety ratings from trusted institutions, the Palisade fares a little bit better than the Telluride. The Insurance Institute of Highway Safety granted the Palisade its highest honor, the Top Safety Pick+ award, while the Telluride only received the Top Safety Pick award. For this reason, we have to give the win here to the Hyundai Palisade, but the difference is relatively small.
Gas Mileage
Many of the different factors we’ve gone through in the Kia Telluride vs. Hyundai Palisade debate have been relatively minor, which is true for gas mileage.
Given that the Telluride and the Palisade have the same engine, they effectively have the same fuel economy. These three-row SUVs are estimated to return 20 miles per gallon in the city and 26 miles per gallon on the highway, which isn’t amazing but isn’t bad either.
Technology
Both SUVs have a top-tier, modern tech, with the winner in this category genuinely comes down to what you’re looking for out of your SUV. Like the safety features, both the Kia Telluride and Hyundai Palisade share almost identical technological features.
They each have an eight-inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, a six-speaker audio system, and five distinct USB ports for you to use. They also have Bluetooth capabilities which is a nice modern touch. We’ll give this one to the Telluride (though it’s ever so slight) because it includes both HD and satellite radio, but whether or not this matters is really up to personal preference.
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Price
As with many of our comparisons in the Kia Telluride vs. Hyundai Palisade competition, pricing is highly competitive between them with little differentiation.
A 2023 Kia Telluride goes for around $35,890, while a 2021 Hyundai Palisade sits around $35,900. The gap here is ever so slight, though the difference gets a lot bigger when we look at those top-level trims. For its most advanced trim, the 2023 Telluride will run you about $50,390. This isn’t cheap, but it comes with loads of extra features. The 2023 Palisade, on the other hand, has its top-level pricing start at nearly $48,900, which is a giant leap. The features get much more advanced here too, but at this point, you’ll have to ask yourself what all you want out of the car and how much you’re willing to spend on it.
Kia Telluride vs. Hyundai Palisade: Which is Better?
The Palisade is slightly cheaper than the Telluride for pure pricing alone, but only by a hair. However, the larger the price gap becomes once you opt for the higher trims. Regarding interior quality and technology, the Telluride and Palisade are equal. Going for the upper trims will give you near-luxury territories such as Nappa leather and cutting-edge features. However, we give the edge to Telluride when it comes to interior and tech features.
As for the ride and handling, both SUVs are similar. However, the Palisade appears to have a slight advantage on paved roads. Many critics have commented that the Palisade rolls off the road smoothly, while the Telluride can be pretty unstable on the pavement. Safety-wise, these two SUVs are also neck in neck. Both SUVs have high scores given by the NHTSA and IIHS and have a generous collection of safety and driver assistance features.
Overall, the Kia Telluride vs. Hyundai Palisade is one of the most complicated choices in automotive shopping. Each has its pros and cons, but it’s hard to go wrong with both. With that said, we give a slight edge to the Kia Telluride.
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