We put the off-road-prepped version of our favorite three-row midsize SUV up against a Jeep.
. But as all carmakers feel compelled to fiddle with their vehicles' styling every now and then, Kia reworked the Telluride's face for 2023 and … didn't improve things. The headlights look like the double-strip LEDs worn by Hyundai's Genesis luxury models, albeit turned 90 degrees vertical. Also, we dug the orange-colored rectangles that surrounded the old headlights , which were more distinctive than the new white ones.
Despite the negligible differences in power and weight, generally shorter gearing helps the Telluride smoke the Grand Cherokee in a straight line. The Jeep needs a full 7.7 seconds to hit 60 mph, while the Kia needs only 7.0. The Grand Cherokee L lumbers down the quarter mile in 15.9 seconds at barely above freeway speed . The Telluride gets it finished in 15.2 seconds at 92.8 mph. The Kia two-and-a-half-tonner stops from 60 mph in 123 feet, bang on average for the class, to the Jeep's 132.
Up until right now we haven't mentioned tires. Well, friends, an alternative headline for this comparison could be,"A Tale of Two Sets of Tires." Remember, this is the Telluride X-Pro, and its 18-inch Continental TerrainContact A/T mud and snow tires do a lot of the heavy lifting off-road—mostly because they're pretty much the only functional upgrade next to the raised suspension.