Kia Telluride
Published · Researched 2026-09-21
Verdict first: the Telluride is the three-row SUV owners love most and the one whose 2020 model year you should absolutely not buy.
Every reviewer on earth has recommended this car at some point. And they're right — the Kia Telluride basically invented the idea that a $40k family SUV could feel like a $60k one. The first generation (2020–2025) is a 291-hp 3.8L V6 with an 8-speed automatic, room for 7 or 8, and up to 5,500 pounds of towing. It's handsome, quiet, loaded with features, and backed by Kia's 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty. That's the love story. Now the fine print.
What's genuinely good. Owners are almost boring about this: the design still looks right, the cabin is genuinely premium for the money, it drives smaller than it is, and the warranty makes you feel protected. It tows well (5,000 lb standard, 5,500 with the X-Pro pack), the third row fits humans, and it held its value through years of markups because dealers couldn't keep them in stock. When a car sells at a premium for years, that's the market doing your research for you.
What's actually wrong. The 2020 Telluride, specifically, is a car to treat like a bad ex — don't get nostalgic. NHTSA-based records show 747 owner complaints, seven safety recalls, and one federal investigation for that single model year. The complaint clusters are wild: 183 about exterior lighting, 151 about visibility, 143 about the engine.
The engine complaints are the ones that matter. Owners describe excessive oil consumption — engines drinking oil with no dashboard warning at all — followed by stalling, knocking, and in some cases outright catastrophic failure. A Virginia owner filed a report after his 2020's engine failed at 93,200 miles: the car "consumes oil at an alarming rate without any dashboard warning lights, or low oil pressure indicators, leading to sudden loss of engine power and potential stalling while in motion." A Michigan owner this year reported adding "a quart of oil weekly" plus the car dying mid-road. A Colorado owner watched the transmission fail at 95,000 miles — jerking on the highway, forced to pull over — and said it's "an ongoing issue especially in 2020 models from social media and the dealership."
Then the recalls. The 2020s were recalled for tow-hitch wiring that could short and catch fire (NHTSA literally advised parking the car outside). 2020–2024 models got a recall for a front power-seat motor that could overheat and, again, fire. And certain 2024–2025 models were recalled for defective valve springs that could shut the engine down or — third time's the charm — start a fire. Kia offered free engine sub-assembly replacements on that one. Three separate fire-adjacent recalls on one nameplate is the kind of thing you read twice.
2021 improved — down to 362 complaints and 5 recalls — but the oil-burning and transmission grumbles persist. 2022–2025 are materially cleaner, and the 2023 facelift is generally considered the settled, sorted gen-1 car.
The social pulse. The Telluride owner community is a two-story building: upstairs, happy family road-trip photos; downstairs, the 2020 owners' oil-consumption support group. The love is loud and real — this car won awards and sold over sticker for years — but the 2020 grievances are specific, documented, and persistent enough that they can't be waved away as lemons.
Value call. Here's the thing the data screams: buy a 2023–2025. Same beloved car, worst recalls behind it, worst complaints never happened to it. 2020s are cheaper for exactly the reason you think — and the 10-year powertrain warranty, which runs from original sale date, is half gone on them. If a 2020 is somehow irresistible, check the VIN for every recall and watch the oil level like it's a Tamagotchi.
The wildcard is the 2027 redesign, already in showrooms (Kia skipped 2026 entirely). The V6 is gone, replaced by a 2.5L turbo four (274 hp) and a 2.5T hybrid (329 hp, up to 35 mpg combined) priced $39,190–$58,335 for gas, $46,490–$57,590 for the hybrid. More torque, better economy — but it's a first-year new powertrain, and the old V6 had seven years to prove itself. Early enthusiasm is real, but don't let anyone sell you a first-year engine as proven.
Sweet-spot year: 2023 — facelift, sorted, still under long warranty. Skip 2020 (747 complaints, 7 recalls, oil and transmission failures) and 2021 (the tail of the same problems). Don't pay launch pricing for a 2027 either.
The honest tradeoff: the Telluride is the best three-row Kia has ever built, wearing the worst first-year record Kia would probably like you to forget. Buy the car, dodge the birth year.