2027 Kia Telluride Hybrid: More Power, Way Less Drama

0:00 If you're a Talking Cars fan and want to see the Consumer Reports test track in person? Here's your chance. On October 17th, Consumer Reports is hosting a 5K run and walk fundraiser here at our auto test center in Colchester, Connecticut. It's a fun way to get outside, see the cars we talk about every week, and support our mission all at once.

0:18 And if you can't join us in person, there's a virtual option to go to CR.org/5k to learn more and register. Hi, everybody. Welcome to another episode. I'm Mike Monticello. I'm Joe Veselak and I'm Jeff Bartlett. So today we're going to be spending most of our time talking about the our first impressions of the 2027 Kia Telluride Hybrid.

0:49 So, a few things to know about the Telluride Hybrid before we get going. Basically, this is the hybrid version of the 2027 Telluride that we've already tested. It's also the first time that the Telluride has been available as a hybrid. The second thing is it's pretty much identical to the Hyundai Palisade Hybrid, which we've also already tested.

1:07 So instead of the regular Telluride 274 horsepower turbocharged four cylinder with an eight speed automatic, here you get a 2.5l turbocharged four cylinder with electric drive and a six speed automatic. Total system output for the hybrid is 329 horsepower. The hybrid is $2,700 more than the regular Telluride.

1:28 The regular Telluride all wheel drive, which is actually, for the regular version. The Ex is the third tier, but in the hybrid, the Ex is the first. Basically the base hybrid. The regular Telluride starts at $45,790 for all wheel drive. The Ex hybrid all wheel drive starts at $48,490. So, also of note that lower Telluride trims, such as the Ex comes standard with front wheel drive.

1:56 All wheel drive is a $2,000 option. So what did we buy for our test program? We bought a 2027 Kia Telluride Hybrid Ex all wheel drive, with the optional ebony black paint and carpeted floor mats and the $1,545 destination fee. The total cost of our test vehicle is $50,780. And obviously, you know, for those who don't know, hopefully most of you do, but we buy all of our test cars anonymously from local dealers so that we're basically getting the same, vehicle as, the regular person buys, not some souped up, test vehicle from the automakers.

2:33 And before we get into, I just want to say, I think it's worth noting. And you let me you guys let me know if you agree that for about $50,000, this is a lot of SUV, especially considering it's the hybrid. But this comes with heated and ventilated power front seats, which is really nice. A heated steering wheel, dual wireless charging pads, navigation, and a hands free power liftgate, among a lot of other items.

2:56 So there's there's a lot of car here. And also for I think most of us and probably a lot of you out there, it also comes standard with a compact spare tire. You know, a lot of hybrids and other vehicles in general are just coming with a tire inflation get these days. So we're really happy to see a compact spare.

3:13 So let's get into it. And we're really going to focus a lot on the powertrain. We've already covered the Telluride before. We're still going to cover the whole vehicle, but the powertrain is the big thing here, the hybrid. So Jeff, let's start with you. What do you think of this hybrid powertrain and how it changes the vehicle versus the regular Telluride that we've already tested?

3:31 The story of this particular vehicle is definitely the powertrain. With the original Telluride. It was such a balanced vehicle. Every aspect of it was good. You might love some more than others, but it was all good. This had the real weakness of that original base powertrain. The rest of the vehicle was quiet, roomy, you know?

3:54 Clever features abound, but the powertrain, you know, just dominated all of our conversations. You mean the new turbo four? The turbo is. Yeah, yeah, yeah, how loud it is, the way it performed always strained. And that's a big vehicle. And despite, you know, the obvious intention of all these SUVs are shifting to turbo, you know, smaller displacement engines.

4:17 It didn't gain fuel economy over the previous one. So the consumer didn't really benefit in this swap. But this is a totally different vehicle because of the hybrid. Now you've got not only more power, but you got a much smoother experience. And all of a sudden the rest of the vehicle, I think shines more just because, at least for me, the frustration of the powertrain kind of diminished my appreciation for the rest of the vehicle, which it turns out is quiet and comfortable and very easy to live with.

4:46 Yeah, yeah, I agree, because definitely, you know, that can in a way that powertrain, it can take away from the overall comfort when you're just put into it, when you're working so hard to either get up to speed or you're in stop and go traffic, the hybrid completely or mostly remedies all of those lag delay situations and really just smooths that power out.

5:07 And, you know, it just adds to a more mature, comfortable experience that you get in this vehicle. Yeah. I mean, the regular turbo four, I think just to be clear, actually, from an operational standpoint actually works pretty well. Okay. But the problem is that everyone, most people really dislike the engine noise.

5:28 And because the engine noise dominated. Thanks so much. It made it seem like it was working harder than it really was. And it just puts this bad taste in your mouth. I mean, it's even that it's not even so much that it's annoying at high RPM. It's really the lower RPM stuff, I think where it has people called it, grumbly or gurgling.

5:49 Just such an odd note when you're just slightly on the gas pedal, you're kind of low revs, like say load. Yeah, light load. And it just has this note that dominates with the hybrid. When you're at light load, low speeds, the gas engine may not even be on. Right. You might be under full power. Yeah. And then even when you when it is on it, it doesn't have anywhere near the vibrations or strange noise.

6:17 And when you do get hard into it and it is revving higher, it's also just pretty cultured and it just seems, it seems like a completely different engine, which, you know, we don't know the specifics of the internals and everything, but it's like it's almost like night and day in terms of the sound. Yeah, it was based around being, you know, a hybrid system.

6:38 Yeah. Thank you. I totally paired with the hybrid system. The way they work together, it's like, oh, this was they were meant to be, but without. Yeah. You have those limitations that are in the, you know, our ice Telluride. But you know, it's still it's got everything else there. But you're like, man I just wish it was more responsive had that, you know, that extra 50 whatever horsepower you get.

6:58 Yeah. Is is needed, right? I think that was a great way to characterize the base engine. Congratulations. Thank you. In terms of it gets the job done right. But it protests the entire time. Yeah. Whereas the hybrid it's happy makes the driver happy. And all of a sudden you're able to just enjoy the vehicle more.

7:21 Yeah. And also, again, mostly for me, it was because of the sound. It just didn't seem to fit the vehicle. I mean, it's, it's a bit polarizing in terms of the styling, but I think a lot of us think there are some really cool aspects to the styling. And I think the styling, even some people said it. The sides of it look a little bit like Range Rover, ESC.

7:42 And of course that the regular Telluride we have in this beautiful I think, I think it's called like black jade green paint. And it really stands out and then you get it and you're thinking that you're gonna have this great experience that's like, this thing kind of sounds like a truck, you know? Yeah. So that was just disappointing.

7:58 Whereas this, this really does change that a lot. Yeah, yeah. Not that it's perfect. There are some, as we found, you know, we had sort of a similar thing where we drove the, you know, tested the all new Hyundai Palisade, with a smaller V6 than it had before. So the palisade kept the naturally aspirated V6, but it went smaller.

8:18 This one, the Telluride, dropped the V6 for the regular model and went with the turbo four. And you'd think that that would be that V6 would be a great thing. But it was with the palisade. It was a little bit, lethargic. Both the transmission and the engine was kind of weak down, low in the RPMs. So then when we got the Palisade Hybrid, I thought, oh, well, this is going to solve everything. Yeah.

8:38 But we noticed some issues with that. There was these low speed hiccups where, you know, you've got with a hybrid, you've got that switch over. Right. So you start on electric power and when and how the gas engine turns on can either can be a problem or it can be totally seamless in this case it wasn't perfectly seamless.

8:55 Still a really good vehicle. Yes, this one has a little bit of those, but it seems like they've I don't know if it's our example or it seems a little, more refined than what we were seeing with the palisade. Again, we're just getting people through it right now, but we're sensing not quite as many of those obvious hiccups and low speed delays are.

9:15 Yeah, I know, I've recently drove them back to back to kind of see and it's it's hard to it is and it's very situational because I would say maybe majority of the time the, the Telluride Hybrid felt like it was a little, little better. Yeah. But it's hard. But then, you know, I'd get into other situations with the palisade or I feel like it.

9:37 I naturally ran into some tougher situations being out on the public roads and stuff and back to back. I don't think a consumer would really be able to pick it apart. I think someone between the two of it, yeah, between the two. In terms of refinement, I think, yeah, it was very situational for me, but I don't think I'm comfortable enough to quantify how different they are.

9:57 Yeah. And so just some of the stuff just to clarify what we're talking about. Again, this is mostly low speed stuff. So we're talking like at least for me, I was noticing come to a stop sign and don't tell the police. But you know, occasionally we do a rolling stop. You maybe you get down to about five miles per hour again.

10:15 Don't tell anybody. But we do it for testing because we know people drive that long in safe conditions, like professional drivers. And when you get going again, there's a little bit of a you feel a little bit of a delay because the gas engines off. So now the gas engine has to turn on. I, noticed a little bit of a lurch sometimes.

10:31 And, you know, it seems like maybe it has to downshift it maybe wasn't, you know, in or as you're getting going, gas engine, you need the gas engine to turn on and maybe a downshift has to come. And so it just causes a little bit of a delay. I noticed some harder launches. More from a stop. You it get might get going with the electric power initially, but then the gas engine comes on because of your throttle position.

10:54 Maybe with a little more force and high RPM than you expect. So makes things just a little frenetic. And then I noticed some. I thought the upshifts were very smooth. I had no problems with the upshifts from the transmission, but some of the downshifts I found came with a bit of a bump. So those are kind of the things we're talking about.

11:09 Again, these are not deal breakers for me, I assume not for you guys as well. And I don't think they'll bother most people too much, but they are there and say compared to, say, a Toyota or Honda Hybrid, which those systems are I mean, they've been doing it for so long. They're very unobtrusive, very smooth.

11:26 The switch overs are barely perceptible here. You going to notice it a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. Is that fair. Yeah I totally agree. Yep. Yeah. There was a few you know I did the rolling stop. Not necessarily. It was a very hard turn pulling off on to a side street and drove both of them a few times through there.

11:42 And it would be you know, I go through in the Telluride, I go, yeah, that felt pretty good. And then I go through the Palisade Hybrid. I'm like, yeah, that felt pretty good. Maybe it was a little worse because I might have tipped in a little harder. And then I'm like, am I being fair? You know, just trying to be consistent.

11:57 But I do feel like if I were to go, I'd say it does feel like the Telluride Hybrid is just a little more refined in tuning. Right? And it is difficult because as testers, because it is situational. It's throttle dependent so much as throttle dependent. How the transmission and the engine are going to respond is has to do with how you know, how hard you are on the throttle or gentle on the throttle, right?

12:18 So we'll dig in deeper, of course, on our track once we get through the break in miles and in really drill in. But I think the, the easy takeaway is, you know, you have your choice of the naturally aspirated versus or not, but the regular engine versus the, the hybrid. Yeah. Get the hybrid even though it costs a little bit more, the experience is better, as is the fuel economy of course.

12:39 Yeah. So let's talk about that too. Have the numbers. You want me to rattle them off? EPA numbers. The EPA numbers. Yeah. Well, so I'll tell you, it's 31 mpg combined. Yeah. According to the EPA, for our all wheel drive hybrid versus 20 mpg combined by the EPA for our all wheel drive for the regular model.

13:00 Right. So 11 miles per gallon, that's huge. That's very significant. Yeah. And we talked about this when you think about the, quieter powertrain experience in some cases, you know, a just a calmer, nicer powertrain experience and then this much better fuel economy and not that much more money. Now, take my 2500 right now.

13:24 I'll give you it'll pay for itself for sure, and definitely worth it. It's great to be in this era now where hybrids can be the more enjoyable powertrain, and sometimes even the more powerful one. It used to be the hybrids. You'd have to concede something and you're like, wow, at least it's more fuel efficient right now.

13:44 It's not the case. It's quite the opposite. Yeah, yeah. And I think, most of the, the other things that we really liked about the regular Telluride, such as the comfortable ride, I think that pretty much carries over here. Yeah. If you guys agree with that. Yeah, definitely. We're debating a little bit earlier.

14:02 There might be some slight differences. Again, we'll probably have to test back to back on the ride course. Right. But overall, yeah, a comfortable ride, which I think is what you want when you're toting around passengers who, you know, be bobbing around in their in their seat, though I know some, of us like to have a little bit more of an edge to you guys talking about this morning. I must have missed that.

14:24 Yeah, I think that, you know, by the seat of the pants, I feel like the Telluride hybrid is a little firmer edge, but that's something of my liking. A little better body control, maybe a little more steady, but having a little firmer edge and bump absorption where if you kind of like a little more comfort or things to feel a little softer, floaty, then I feel like the Palisade Hybrid's a little more on that end of it.

14:46 Yeah. But, yeah, I, I can't say from the, the difference between ice our Telluride do Telluride hybrid, I can't say I noticed any major difference. They feel pretty similar despite a kind of a biggest difference in wheels and tires. I mean eighteen's for our hybrid to see it is interesting. That's pretty smart. I mean, happy to see it.

15:08 That's where they should be. Yeah. All these big wheels and tires is just crazy. But so it was really neat to see that actually, I think because our regular one I think has 20s, if I remember correctly, the regular Telluride, that sounds right at 20 ones are available, I heard. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. So happy to see that they went reasonable on that.

15:26 And I think you might have said that could mean even for fuel economy reasons. Yeah. Or and it kind of shows maybe you can't tell the difference in wheel size for someone who's like, I don't want to compromise my ride or thinking that it's going to ruin the ride to be like, hey, maybe just get the wheels you think look better on the vehicle wasn't noticeable enough to be like, or was telling them to get a smaller wheel to improve your ride?

15:47 You know, to be like you don't. That might not be a worry. So any other things or what other things, you know, stand out for you about the Telluride in general? Thanks especially for those who are, you know, haven't seen our other Telluride in Palisade videos. In terms of whether it's controls or brakes or those kinds of things, center console, for me, one thing from having it the other night, I just know the Kia Telluride, just having that layout fits my lifestyle better.

16:17 I mean, the lack of center of right knee intrusion or, you know, the this console design and the storage. You oh, okay, dual phone charger in the Telluride and not the Palisade Hybrid. It's back and it's like a floating it doesn't meet the actual dash and it's weird I don't it has where the useful larger spaces in the Palisade hybrid.

16:38 It's not where I want to put my stuff. Right. So, the Telluride has hybrid is more up top for you to like, right. Because the phones are way up here, right? Yeah, yeah, it's just more useful and the bend than it does have. That's down low. And the Telluride Hybrid is kind of smaller. And I go oh, I'm fine with it being there because I'm probably not going to put much down there anyway.

16:56 I go and it has some, you know, nicer, I don't know, I fit, I just feel like it accommodates my lifestyle much better. Yeah. But we don't, love the Telluride controls, some aspects of them. I mean, there are a fair amount of physical controls. But, Jeff, there's also some like that that sort of dedicated driver's climate screen, a touch screen is, is really, I think, an ill conceived design.

17:20 Do you want to touch on that a little bit and why it bothers us and doesn't work. Yeah, it's more that it's ill placed. Yeah. Because a lot of our drivers are finding that depending how their seats are adjusted and the steering wheel blocks part of the view or their hands. Right. And we've actually seen this on other Kias.

17:37 I'm thinking of the Seltos, that we're testing now as well. Has it kind of the same issue on the higher trims? Yeah. I mean, in essence, you want all things that you're supposed to see to be is easily seen, just as you want all the controls to be easy to reach. And I think you're imagining that there are even some controls that are hard to see.

17:58 But fortunately, they're not always the ones you need most. But there are so little hard to see, and some of the adjustments, trigger the infotainment screen to change over and show what the climate changes now. So you're looking off the road to the control, making a selection, and then you got look somewhere else to see what it was.

18:18 Right. And then back confirm and back. Yeah, simplicity I think is a luxury. But it's also probably a safety thing. Yeah. So what happens is for those those of you that are watching this, you can see what I'm doing here. But you basically the driver has to, has to like move a pair around the steering wheel on their hand to then press things on the screen, especially the ones that are more on the left side of this touchscreen, because like you said, it's just very ill placed.

18:47 For me, I can see most of the like the, the defrost buttons and auto and sync. I can see those from my seating position. I still it's a dumb place for them to be at a press. There is a workaround, which is pretty large redundant physical controls, as you were talking about Jeff on the center stack. And that's what I use most of the time, because for me, I don't I'm not an auto auto mode guy.

19:09 I like to have it in manual mode. So I'm changing the temperature and I'm changing the fan speed and usually not changing the airflow. But those are all very easy to find and press and use with the caveat that when you make an adjustment, it does. There was a pop up up on the infotainment screen, so not right where you're looking.

19:28 And then it doesn't. It only stays for like a couple seconds and it goes away. And it's not a persistent menu bar, as we call it, so that even that is not perfectly designed for me. It's no big deal, because if I want it, as you know, if I want it colder, I make it, you know, colder. And if I want more fan speed, I just do the button and it's easy.

19:45 I don't need to see that I'm at three or 4 or 5 clicks, but it still should be there. And it's it's not the best. Yeah. Yeah, sure. Sometimes just putting all that information there, it's like makes you think you might need it, but then it's blocked and you go, well, if it wasn't even there, even though it's blocked, what if it wasn't there when you care really, you're like, well, now that it's blocked, I care that I can't see it, you know.

20:06 Yeah. And I think also some, you know, Maddie McCarty and those on her team would say that you things like the defrost ers are actually safety related. Don't because you should be able to press those quickly and easily if things do start fogging up. In bad weather or whatever. And you shouldn't have to like pure around the screen or your steering wheel to press it, it should be a much larger physical button that you can find easily and just press a yeah, in the cold.

20:31 When the screen is frozen in the middle of winter and you defrost your, you know. Yeah, what I'm talking about is fine right now in the summertime. But we'll see how I think about it in the winter. Right. So yeah. No, I totally agree with you. It should be very much like a hazard button, something you can just instinctively make a quick motion and, and act and focus on driving, which that, the emergency flashers button, is very easy to press in this vehicle and it has a pretty prominent, like, prominently lit, red triangle.

20:58 Yeah. It looks nice. Yeah. It does. Okay. Anything else that you guys want to talk about with this vehicle? Well, just to build off what Joe was saying earlier, with the center console. I think if we're looking at the vehicle as a whole, controls aside, it is very easy to live with. Yeah, it's easy to enter.

21:17 You got a nice big driver space. A second row is especially roomy. Just everything about it makes it easy to adapt to. And, you know, I think the key is credit. They have a lot of kind of clever little things that they do in the vehicles. You know, everyone's gets a phone chargers. They make theirs easy to, to find and reach.

21:40 Everybody has USB ports for charging your devices. There is are especially easy to find and they're just everything's well thought out. And I think that adds to it. Yeah. And, you know, again, I kind of glossed over some of those virtues, I think in driving the, the regular engine, the base engine, just because I'm so frustrated with that, nothing else.

22:05 Having anything else around. I mean, it's all right now. My logbook now show. Oh, sorry. But, you know, remove that from the picture. I think these other virtues shine a little brighter. Yeah, yeah. And we can't forget pop out door handles on this if you are particular, which I will say I'm particular about them, I don't care.

22:22 We notice they do pop out. I mean they do come out automatically. You know proximity works good. And once they're out they're not an issue. Right. So it's really not that big of a deal. But the Palisade hybrid and the palisade in general does not. It has fixed traditional exterior door handles for someone who is very if they are really particular or something, that would be a deciding factor.

22:44 That's that's something to note that really, you know what I mean? You're getting pretty similar of a vehicle, but it's like these door handles drive you insane then. Does that seem a little backwards, wouldn't you think the more yeah, upscale model would have the power door handle. Yeah, I would like the sportier one to have traditional door handles, so yeah.

23:01 But, want to touch on a couple other things that and these are important things that it's the same with this is no different with the regular Telluride, but we should talk about here and why it's very important to go test drive this vehicle, because for some of us, I think the front seat, most people don't really love the front seat.

23:19 I know it didn't really work that well for me. And this is a very personal, you know, that everybody's body is different. All different sizes and shapes, whatever. So it just it's okay. It's not like it's uncomfortable, but it's okay. For me. The bottom cushion is a little long. I'm not that tall. Yet it doesn't have it's not that laterally supportive on the bottom cushion.

23:38 So I feel like my legs don't have as much support side support as they want. So to get that, I have to kind of raise the leading edge up. But then I start to almost feel like kind of like squished a little bit, you know what I mean? So I don't love that feeling. And then I've noticed this on, Hyundai Kia seats in general lately.

23:55 But the center portion of the seat back, is a little bit too firm for my liking. And then the the seat backs, side bolsters. Boy, am I picky. The seat back side. And just like. Yeah, you are really thinking, the seat back side bolsters are really pronounced, which I love, but they're also kind of hard.

24:11 So like when you push against them, they're just kind of hard. So there's that. So did you guys have any of those or are you guys okay with it? You guys are like, no I don't know what that is in the lower. Maybe it's just a little bit of the lower cushion. The length of that does bother me a little bit.

24:24 But yeah, I feel pretty well accommodated I do, yeah. And as well as the seat pocket may feel a little wide, but it doesn't necessarily bother me. I'd rather have that a little bit of extra room, especially in this type of vehicle. Yes, the side bolstering up top is good enough. If I'm feeling like some spirited driving or whatever, but in general, it's it's feels very appropriate for me.

24:46 And what about you guys? Did it work for you? Well, I'm think I would just say they're fine. Yeah. Meaning sort of as a negative, sort of, just thinking that you're you're. Oh, you're really drilled in on this. Yeah. But seats are very particular. And if they don't fit your. Well, that then nothing else about the vehicle really matters, right?

25:06 To me they're fine. I mean, I agree that the base was a little flat and a little wide. I like that I prefer that, among other things, I think it helps make it easier to get in and out. Yes. Actually, you do have a bolster. Then you'd have to lift over. The back. I always welcome a little bit of softness, and the bolsters were a little snug here than I might prefer.

25:27 In part. Just because, you know, as much as Joey might be ready to autocross it, I can't imagine hustling it with, you know, a family in on board. So, you know, just the wood, that vehicle. I'm just looking for comfort needs. And, you know, a little tweak might have helped me, but I don't have an issue with it.

25:47 Yeah. And the other aspect I was going to touch on that you should also for going to reasons to go take it for a test drive is, some driving position issues for some of us. The good stuff is tons of headroom. Like zero center console intrusion with your right knee, which is always a pet peeve for me there, but me too.

26:08 Not hitting that at all, which is fantastic. And then you know what? We call the dead paddle or the left foot rest is very wide while play, so that stuff's all great. But what some of us noticed, especially those that like, to have the steering wheel in a lower position, is it meant their upper portion of the steering wheel rim tends to block off.

26:27 You can't see the turn signals, you can't see the headlight icons, you can't see the the, stuff for the adaptive cruise control. So that's, kind of annoying. And then, also the armrests are both a little bit hard, but for some of us, we were finding that our right elbow lands on the seam in between. So it's got dual opening center armrests.

26:49 And so you've got a scene here. And then there's, hard portion of the center console ahead of that. So you either end up on the seam which is not comfortable, or on the hard portion ahead of it. Or for me, sometimes my right elbow lands on the inner portion of the armrest, which is also hard. So I'm not the only one who put logbook comments for that, so definitely go Again, it has to do with your seating position, how close you are to the to the dashboard and that kind of stuff.

27:14 But for some people, the armrests and the steering wheel position etc. may not work for you. Yeah, even the shape. You know, if you don't like the squared off steering wheel design that's in the Telluride, then you can look at the palisade and get a circle one in there. Yeah, you know, the side with door handles and steering wheel you like and pick a vehicle. Absolutely.

27:34 Okay. So, you know, interestingly, we've now driven for kind of similar vehicles, right? We've driven the Hyundai Palisade with its naturally aspirated V6. We've driven the Hyundai Palisade Hybrid. What we've actually tested both of those. We've tested the Kia Telluride with its turbo four. And now we're about to send this, you know, Telluride Hybrid through the test program.

28:02 So with that in mind, which of the four would you pick, Joey so far that you you know, for you or for someone with a family, what do you think is the best choice of these four? Yeah. For me, well, it's definitely it's easy to go we're going hybrid. So now we're down to two cars. Yeah. Right. Yeah. And it's very similar for me.

28:23 I'm going with the Kia because of it. At the moment I've been pushed it around the track. Let's say it does like it does have a little bit better body control and some of the stuff it feels too, that I would go that route hoping there's a little better handling or a little more agility, whatever. I'm fine.

28:41 As much as I complained about the pop out door handles, I'd be like, I'll deal with them just to deal with the better tuning this in that. But even beyond that, it's that center console that lives with that stuff. That is my day to day. I probably leverage that. I go, I'd rather I throw some handling away just so I can put my phone in a consistent spot, or where my keys are just how I live.

29:01 Like, yeah, but. And. Okay. And what about you, Jeff? It's, I've come to the same conclusion. I think it's interesting, to emphasize the livability because for all the, the handling dynamics, just how easy it is for you to live with, however you're going to use it, it is probably the most important thing for most people.

29:18 Yeah. But I like the elegance of the design of the palisade. Me too. I think it looks good. The Telluride, I think, looks sharp from the side. I still don't know about that grille. Looks like it's still needs one added, but the Telluride is so quiet with the hybrid powertrain, it feels luxurious to me.

29:42 And they've got a gazillion trim, so you can kind of choose the exact configuration that you like, get all the luxury that you want, and yeah, make it look how you want it. Make it very palisade and palisade like, if that's what you're what you want that hybrid powertrain power, fuel economy. I'm going to Telluride Hybrid for all those reasons.

30:03 And it's a bit less money. Yeah. Good points. I could see honestly going I think aggrieved hybrid for sure. But I could see going palisade for the better controls and for the door handles if. Yeah, if for those alone. Although, like I said, I'm still going to hold out my final choice because we really have to do more back to back driving of of the two hybrids to see if they're actually how much of a tuning difference there is between these systems.

30:31 You know, are we how big are the different hiccups at low speeds between the two or are they almost a wash? Right. So we'll we'll, we'll get to the bottom of that for sure. Like we said, this vehicle right now is, having its braking miles done. We put 2000 braking miles on every vehicle before it goes into our instrumented test program and all that stuff.

30:50 So be on the lookout for a full road test on Consumer reports.org, hopefully. Very soon. Okay. So now we're going to move on to our audience question of the week. And you can send those questions to talking cars at Consumer Talk. And producer Dave, are we still giving incentives for people. He's saying he's going to thumbs up.

31:10 So to give people extra incentives to send us, not just like a question, right, or a comment, but a scintillating. That's a word. Right? Jeff, you're a wordsmith. It is scintillating, intriguing question to the point that we use it on this show. You will get some CR branded swag sent to you personally by our producers.

31:29 And the next person who was getting swag is Bill from Connecticut. So let's see what Bill is saying. I got to put the glasses on just so that I look smarter, not because my eyes are going, bill says, first time riding in second day as an empty nester. Maybe now I'll have the time to finally write emails and squirrel away my car situation.

31:48 My job is in New Hampshire and I have to commute up there year round, but only about ten times per year, and I stay for a few days at a stretch. I'd want something relatively efficient, with good range and on the luxury side of the spectrum. Also, we recently realized that after dropping our third kid off to college, we'll still need a large three row vehicle with good cargo capacity for the next few years. At least.

32:10 I think I would have loved the new Hybrid Forester, but I was a bit disappointed in its performance and acceleration, which shouldn't have surprised me. Why can't we get the BMW x3 in this country? Can CR put a package together to incentivize Mike M's retirement to. I'm just kidding. He's my fave. What are we doing?

32:31 Mean tweets now, producer Dave, is that a new segment? Okay. That's great. What do you think that fundraiser is for? There? You know what, Bill? No swag for you, buddy. Yeah, actually, no, I don't have anything to do with that. But, that's the producers. But, all kidding aside, I mean, tweets aside, Jeff, would you have a suggestion for Bill as far as a vehicle?

32:52 I do, if he's looking for a three row vehicle, great commuter looking for fuel economy. The Forester in the X3 have lousy third row seats, so I would suggest, something a little dig. And, Bill, I think it is, but I'm just got your back. Thank you. So the vehicle immediately comes to mind. Is the Toyota Grand Highlander?

33:16 Yeah, with the Max engine. So that by talking about the X3, that tells me his budget can stretch up to 16, and perhaps a little beyond the Grand Highlander with the with the Max has a ton of power. And it's got great fuel economy. So that has 362 horsepower and is rated at 27 miles per gallon by the EPA.

33:40 That's a great balance with tons of room for, for children and their friends and maybe even their friends as well. The other thing that comes to mind, if he's commuting into New Hampshire, he's driving a long distance. New Hampshire can get some pretty foul weather. It's important also to consider where can you get your vehicle serviced?

34:01 There are only three BMW dealerships in New Hampshire, and they're all down south. I'm not sure where Bill travels to, but even if he works down south, he may want to go skiing up north. Toyota has 13 dealerships and they're spread out some more. So I think just for road trips support, especially when he's so far out of town, that that kind of hits all of the the bells that, he's signaled.

34:24 All right. What do you think? Yeah, I know it was kind of more just wondering from Bill. More questions from him being like, is the third row because you're mentioning a third row? Is that something that's really important to you? And then he also brings up heavy and wondering what is leading them there.

34:41 You know, because if if that's something that which I would not necessarily understand where the benefit would be with these long highway commuter heavy, but just kind of looking at what exactly is important them. Because if you throw three row out the window, then that opens up a whole list of things.

34:56 But he sounds like he does want the three row. My heart leads with everything Jeff sang there. Yeah, I think in the end you can't really go wrong there if you need that three row. I mean, if he really doesn't need a three row, but it doesn't sound that way here. And your point with a heavy meaning that, you're going to use up that electric only range so quickly on highway driving, and then you're just carrying around a bunch of extra weight for no reason.

35:22 Yeah, and probably getting worse. Fuel economy. So. And you paid more for the vehicle. So I totally see your point for, for long, long drives like that. It just doesn't make a ton of sense. And also Bill didn't really tell us what he's currently driving. It would it would have helped us a little bit if we knew what it was.

35:39 But you know what? I'm his fave, so I'm not going to pick on him too much. But anyway, hopefully, Bill, I think I think Jeff's got a good choice for you there. And that grand Highlander hybrid Max actually is a really. That's a really nice powertrain. It is, one to really look at and you'll enjoy it.

35:55 And, also get pretty good fuel economy. So the vehicle itself is quite luxurious. Exactly right. I'd also think, you know, again, with the idea of being so far away from home, the TVs in general aren't as reliable as regular hybrids, right? Yeah. I would add that on to the for the reasons the focus on the hybrid.

36:15 Yeah, yeah yeah yeah. Okay. Great. All right. Well that is going to do it for this episode. But before we go, for those of you that don't know, Consumer Reports is a nonprofit organization. And so you might notice that we don't have any ads on our website. Unlike most automotive media outlets, we, buy our own vehicles.

36:33 We're not getting test vehicles from, the automakers. And buying our own test vehicles cost a lot of money. So, we survive through subscriptions and donations. So to that end, we do have a donate button if you're watching us on YouTube. So, please give a little bit, give a lot, a bit, you know, every little bit helps us do what we do, which is give you completely unbiased reporting, on most consumer vehicles out there to help you make a good choice.

37:01 So, that's going to do it. If you want to learn more about the topics and the vehicles that we discussed, you can click on the links in the show notes. Don't forget to send us your questions at Talking Cars at Consumer org. As always, our podcast is produced by Dave Abrams and edited by Andrew Police.

37:16 And Anatoly Chomsky. Thanks so much for watching, and we'll see you all next week.