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Hello allcarseveryday comparison test readers, today I will be comparing the 2020 Kia Telluride SX to the 2019 Toyota Highlander Limited and 2019 Honda Pilot Touring. The Highlander already has a 2020 model released, but it isn't on dealership lots yet and the official pricing and specs have not been released yet. The Pilot is also rumored to have an update either for 2020 or 2021, so both of these Japanese incumbents are through or nearly through with their life-cycles. That being said, they still sell very well and both have managed to make a winning formula. Let's get straight into it!
VALUE:
The Telluride in the SX trim starts at $41,490. For that price, the exterior of
the car is fitted with heated, power-folding mirrors, rain sensing wipers, LED
headlights, daytime running lights, and fog lights, chrome dual exhaust tips
and 20-inch rims on 245 series tires. Two more technologies that need a
slightly more in-depth explanation are high-beam assist and a smart lift-gate. The
high-beam assist reads oncoming lanes for traffic and switches the high-beams
off when it detects another car so the driver doesn’t have to do it manually.
The smart lift-gate will open if you stand behind the Telluride’s rear hatch
with the key in your pocket—naturally it’s powered. Let’s move on to the
interior, where the main feature is the Telluride’s dual sunroofs. However, the
interior also has a ten and a quarter inch touchscreen that sports Apple
CarPlay and Android Auto, as well as Kia’s UVO infotainment system. Another
prominent feature that all passengers can enjoy is the ten speaker
Harman/Kardon surround sound system, that has a sub-woofer and an external amp. The
Telluride SX also has wireless phone charging, Bluetooth, a smart-key with push-button
start, wood-grain and stainless-steel accents, 64 different interior lighting
colors, and an auto-dimming rear-view mirror. The seats and steering wheel are
leather, and both the captain’s chairs and second row are heated and
ventilated. Speaking of seating, the driver’s seat is 12-way power adjustable
and the passenger has eight ways of power adjustability as well. The Kia also has
a head-up display projected near the bottom of the windshield as well as a
7-inch TFT display in the gauge cluster. Another nifty feature uses a
microphone to amplify the driver’s voice to rear seat passengers for the hard
of hearing or, more likely, the unruly youth. Now get ready for the extensive
list of safety features that come on the 2020 Telluride. Standard are blind-spot
warning with crash avoidance, driver attention warning, forward collision
avoidance with pedestrian detection, adaptive cruise control, lane departure
and keep assist, parking sensors, rear cross-traffic alert, a birds-eye view
parking camera, and safe exist assist, which looks for passing traffic threats
so passengers can open doors safely when the vehicle is parallel parked.
Let’s
now look at the 2019 Toyota Highlander Limited. The front wheel drive model
starts at $42,780. Standard exterior features are Halogen headlights with LED
DRLs, fog-lights, and taillights, heated mirrors, and 19-inch wheels. On the
interior, the Toyota sports a power sunroof, a three-zone automatic
climate-control system, and a leather interior. The front seats are heated, the
driver’s being 12-way power adjustable and the passenger four. The gauge
cluster has a 4.2-inch multi-information display, and wood-grain accents are
found in the Highlander, similar to the Kia. The smart key has remote start as
well as push button start, and a similar rear hatch function to the Telluride. The
Highlander’s infotainment system finds a home in the 8-inch touchscreen on the
center console, which comes with navigation. Besides the standard Bluetooth,
Sirius XM radio and voice recognition, the Limited trim also comes standard
with 12 JBL speakers with a built-in amp and sub-woofer to rival the Kia’s
Harman/Kardon unit. Standard safety features on the 2019 Highlander include blind-spot
monitoring, rear parking assist, an engine stop/start system, pre-collision
system with pedestrian detection, lane departure alert with steering assist,
automatic high-beams and dynamic radar cruise control.
Finally, let’s see the 2019 Honda Pilot Touring. This
vehicle is $42,520. LED brake lights, foglights, DRLs, and headlights are
standard on this trim, as is the power tailgate and programmable remote entry.
The Honda also has smart entry with walk-away auto lock, where the driver can
walk away from the Pilot and it will lock when the driver leaves a certain
radius from the vehicle. Like the Kia, the Honda rides on massive 20-inch
wheels. On the interior, the Pilot has push-button and remote start, a sunroof,
tri-zone automatic climate control, and an auto-dimming rearview mirror. The
seats are all leather, and the first two rows are heated. Also, the driver’s
seat is power adjustable ten ways and the passenger gets four ways of power
adjustment. The touchscreen in the Honda is 8 inches like the Toyota and comes
with Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, Bluetooth, SiriusXM, and an in-car PA system
like the Kia. Navigation is standard on the Honda, and unlike its competitors,
it has a 10.2-inch screen in the back for the kids to watch Blu-Ray or another
input from a device. The audio system in the Touring trim is a 590-watt unit
with ten speakers including the sub. For active safety technology, the Honda
has a collision mitigation braking system, road departure warning, forward
collision warning, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring with cross
traffic alert, automatic high beams, adaptive cruise control and lane keeping
assist.
SAFETY:
The 2020 Kia Telluride is not rated by the Insurance Institute
for Highway safety as of yet. However, this category tends to be very similar
across the industry for three row SUVs, so I can assume it’s rated in a similar
fashion to the other two. The 2019 Pilot and Highlander are both Top Safety
Picks from the IIHS and score a rating of ‘Good’ in every category except the
Highlander gets ‘Acceptable’ in headlights and a slightly higher front crash
prevention score than the Pilot. Active safety technology for each SUV was
included in the ‘Value’ segment, so this safety category only focused on the passive
safety ratings.
POWER-TRAIN & PERFORMANCE:
The Telluride has a 3.8-liter V6 engine making 291 horsepower and
262 pound-feet of torque. It’s a very old engine with just an Atkinson cycle
update in the new vehicle, but at least it has had all the kinks worked out—and
it isn’t a bad engine. Just old. It’s mated to an 8-speed automatic
transmission powering the front wheels. The duo is good for an estimated 8.1
second 0-60 run, though AWD Tellurides shave about a second off that time.
The Highlander Limited is powered by a 3.5-liter V6, and
even though it’s got modern stop/start and variable valve timing, it too is an
old engine. It makes almost identical numbers to the Telluride at 295
horsepower and 263 pound-feet. Power is shifted through an eight-speed automatic
transmission. This combo is good for a 7.8 second 0-60 run, which bests the
Telluride’s estimate by three tenths of a second.
The Honda has identical displacement to the Highlander at
3.5 liters for its V6, making 280 horsepower and 262 pound-feet of torque.
Though an old engine, the new nine-speed automatic makes sure to keep the mill
in its prime power-band. The Honda is the speed demon of the group, with a 6.5
second 0-60 time. Credit some of that to the nine-speed’s shift mapping, but
with a power deficit the Honda engineers must have some other tricks up their
sleeve to beat the next fastest Highlander by over one whole second. The Pilot
weighs a little less than the other two, but nothing too significant. The AWD
Pilot does the same deed in 6 seconds flat.
It’s interesting to see Kia use their older engine in this
new model. With the 2020 Highlander just released and the 2020 Pilot right
around the corner, I expect to see some new turbocharged four-cylinders
powering these cars. Let’s hope that older V6 doesn’t set the brand-new
Telluride back when its competitors get updated this year.
RELIABILITY:
The reliability of these vehicles is important for the families
that will be using them. The Telluride is not yet rated by Consumer Reports,
but the Sedona, Cadenza, and Sorento all use the 3.3-liter version of the same
engine. The Sorento and Cadenza also use the same 8-speed transmission with the
Cadenza coming in as ‘Better than Average’ and the Sorento coming in at
‘Average’. I will put the Telluride in between the two for now, though if I had
to guess, Consumer Reports would most likely rate the vehicle average. For
right now, we’ll give it partial benefit of the doubt. The Highlander is rated
as ‘Much Better than Average’ and the Pilot is ‘Average’ according to Consumer
Reports extensive testing.
FUEL ECONOMY:
Another important feature in every new car is its fuel economy,
even when said car is a three row SUV. The 2020 Telluride is rated at 20 miles
per gallon in the city, and 26 on the highway. The Highlander bests it by one
in each category respectively, at 21 in the city and 27 on the highway. The
Pilot splits the difference with 20 city and 27 highway.
CARGO CAPACITY:
Oftentimes, these big SUVs are used to haul stuff around, but
which one can haul the most stuff? The Telluride has 21 cubic feet of storage
in the trunk with all the seats in the upright position, 46 with the third row
down, and 87 with the rear two rows folded. The Highlander has less room inside
at 13.8, 42.3, and 83.2, respectively. The Pilot has 16.5, 46.8, and 83.9. As
far as passengers go, the Telluride has 178 cubic feet available to be used by them,
the Highlander has 142.2, and the Pilot has 151.7. Apparently, if you need to
haul a lot of cargo or people, the Kia has you covered by a long shot.
FAMILY FRIENDLINESS:
Let’s now look at how family friendly each of these three SUVs
is. Of the three, the Honda had the most intelligent ingress and egress,
especially to the back seat. Its second row was threefold, allowing for a small
seat in the middle. Entry and exit from the back seat is controlled by two
buttons on the second row seats. One push of the button folds and slides the
second row forward so that rear seat passengers may enter or exit with grace.
The redundant buttons—one on the side of the second-row seat cushion and one on
the back of the second-row seat—makes it easy for third row passengers to get
in and out of the Pilot by themselves without assistance from the driver or
second row passengers. Furthermore, the Pilot had the most spacious third row,
and my five-foot-ten frame fit fairly easily behind the second row even in the
most rearward position. The other two have a third row that is usable only for
children or adults over a short distance. However, the Telluride and Highlander
had bucket seats for the second row with an isle between the two. In the
Highlander, the aisle can be taken up by a fold out tray with cup holders that
slides down when access to the aisle is needed. Honda put two cup holders per
second row passenger on the door, which is a less ideal spot because the door
opens and closes, and the drinks could spill. But again, Honda’s seat design
was ergonomically miles ahead. The Highlander has a nice tray running the
length of the dashboard to store cellphones, pens, receipts, snacks and more,
which is a nice touch for the front seat passengers. Also, the Highlander has a
huge storage compartment in the center console with two sliding covers. The two-cover
design seems kind of ridiculous when they both lead to the same negative space
for storage, but nonetheless a purse and then some could easily fit down there.
STYLING:
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| 2019 Toyota Highlander, via allcarseveryday |
Finally, let’s look at our very last area of competition, which
is styling. Of course, this category is purely subjective, so if your tastes
differ from mine, feel free to take that into account at the end of the video.
I prefer the Telluride’s styling on both the interior and exterior, but that
may be because it’s just a more modern vehicle. I’ve seen the 2020 Highlander
and though it’s a good-looking vehicle, I wouldn’t call it stunning. I am very
excited for the new Pilot, however, because this current one dates back to
2016. Plus, my favorite styling on a midsize sedan right now is the Accord, and
I also liked the Civic better than any other compact sedan as well, so I think
Honda’s more modern design language will work wonders on the Pilot, much like
the current generation was a huge improvement on the previous generation Pilot
in 2015. Differences in exterior styling on the Honda and Toyota are nearly
negligible to me; if I had to pick one over the other though I would probably
go with the Highlander. Again, these are not bad designs and they certainly
aren’t ugly at all, but the Telly is a sweetheart in this category. On the
interiors, I would again pick the Toyota over the Honda, and the Toyota is a
close second to the Telluride here. I believe the Toyota’s design to also be
more functional than the Kia’s but this is the styling segment, not the family
friendly one. Overall, the Kia is the new king of styling, but Honda may have
an answer to that for 2020.
Here are the rankings for each of the three SUVs on a scale
from one to ten in each of the eight categories. Kia and Hyundai have always
offered the most value for the money, as they still try and prove themselves as
brands that can be competitive with the likes of Toyota and Honda. The
Telluride was the cheapest of the group and offered a significant number of
features. All three SUVs score well in safety, but note that the Telluride hasn’t
been rated by the IIHS yet. All three score close in fuel economy, but the
Highlander had the best scores, with the Telluride bringing up the rear. The
Toyota again scored big in reliability earning maximum points in this category.
The Honda scored average, which hurt its overall score—and it’s worth noting
that lots of consumers would probably disagree with a rating of just ‘Average’
for this vehicle, or Honda in general…but I didn’t want to bring my opinion
into this comparison. The Telluride looks the best, both in the interior and
exterior. The Honda got points in power-train and performance for its stellar
0-60 time, and its new nine-speed transmission. It also seemed to be the most
family-friendly of the three to me, with the Highlander being close behind. Finally,
the Telluride is a bigger vehicle, so it has more room for passengers and their
cargo. Overall, the brand-new Telluride pulls ahead of the next closest
Highlander by a point and a half. Remember that its reliability rating could
fall or increase one point, making this comparison an even closer competition.
Furthermore, the 2020 Highlander was just released, and I’m sure Honda will
have an answer to the two new vehicles soon, as this Pilot is near the end of
its life-cycle
anyway. All 2019 Pilots and Highlanders will have steep discounts soon, so if you decide to buy one, now would be the time before the brand new generation hits lots. Thanks for watching, I’ll be sure to pit the Telluride against the new Highlander and Pilot when available.
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| The rankings of the three SUVs. |
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