2020 Kia Telluride vs. 2020 Hyundai Palisade: Which Is Best?

Check out the pick-up line at any school, the parking lot of any soccer field, or the street outside a kid’s birthday party, and you’ll see a cluster of three-row crossover suvs. Families can’t get enough of the way these vehicles manage to balance utility, comfort, luxury, and style.

The 2020 model year brings two all-new entries to this segment that you won’t want to miss: the 2020 Hyundai Palisade and the 2020 Kia Telluride. These brand-new crossovers bring elegant designs, tons of standard equipment, generous passenger and cargo space, and clever features — all at relatively affordable prices. And because Hyundai and Kia are corporate cousins, the Palisade and Telluride share the same mechanical equipment under the skin, which means they offer many of the same strengths. That makes it hard to choose between them. That's why we’ve taken a deep dive into the Hyundai Palisade vs. Kia Telluride that will help you make an informed decision about which is best for you.

The most obvious difference between the Telluride and the Palisade is how they look. Although they’re the same under the skin, you’d never know it just from looking at them. Hyundai and Kia took different design approaches that result in different aesthetics.

The Palisade has a lot of flashy design details. There’s a big, thick-rimmed chrome grille; the stacked headlamps work together to create a crescent moon of light when they’re switched on; and a blacked-out D-pillar visually joins the rear windows to the rear windshield. The Telluride, meanwhile, is blocky and purposeful. It has fewer design flourishes, fewer creases in the bodywork — and yet this simpler design will look even classier to some buyers. We’re not going to declare an aesthetic winner, but because they look so different, you should be easily able to decide which one suits you more.

Winner: Tie

The Telluride and Palisade also have a different aesthetic on the inside. The Telluride looks like a luxury suv, with an upright dashboard and a grab-handle design theme on the center console. The Palisade, meanwhile, looks more like a luxury sedan — its center console flows upward to meet the dashboard, melding them together rather than treating them as discrete elements.

Individuals can decide for themselves about the aesthetics, and both models look and feel upscale. But the Palisade’s design is our winner because it results in extra storage space. There are two big console bins, one with clever retractable cupholders, plus an open area beneath the console that’s big enough for most purses. Hyundai also saved some space by using a small push-button gear selector instead of the Kia’s big conventional lever.

Winner: Hyundai Palisade

The Telluride and Palisade are both among the most spacious crossovers you can buy, and passenger volume is basically indistinguishable between them. Available with a choice of seven- and eight-passenger capacity, they offer usable room for adults in all three rows, even in the far back. The fore-aft adjustable second row has so much legroom that even tall adults can slide it all the way forward, keeping the third row livable.

Where these two crossovers differ more is their cargo capacity behind the third-row seat. The Telluride has an extra 3 cubic feet of volume behind its third-row seat, for a total of 21 cubic feet versus the Palisade’s 18 cubic feet. That’s an extra 17% before you have to fold down the third row. Other cargo specs are nearly identical: Both crossovers have 46 cubic feet behind the second row and 86 to 87 cubic feet behind the front seats. The Palisade does have an optional power-folding third row, which can be handy, though the Telluride’s manual one is still easy to use.

Winner: Kia Telluride

Connectivity is increasingly important in a vehicle, especially when you have the family along for the ride. These crossovers are both generously equipped with most of the same connectivity features. They come standard with a nicely sized 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone integration, with an available upgrade to a 10.25-inch unit. Both let you lock, unlock, and start the car with your phone (standard equipment on all Tellurides, available on upper-trim Palisade models). Both are filled with USB ports: five as standard equipment, with six on high-end Tellurides and seven on the fully loaded Palisade. Both offer an in-car intercom that projects the driver’s voice through the rear speakers. And a clever “Quiet Mode” (standard on all Palisades and on upper-trim Tellurides) turns off the rear speakers to avoid disturbing little ones in the back.

Given that both these crossovers have most of the same features, we’ll give the Palisade the slight edge for its extra USB port. But if you want a base model, pay attention to the tradeoffs between the Hyundai and Kia’s respective standard equipment.

Winner: Hyundai Palisade

There’s little difference between how the Palisade and Telluride feel from behind the wheel. They’re both smooth and super-quiet, and they share the same powertrain: a 3.8-liter naturally aspirated V6 engine with 291 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque, an eight-speed automatic transmission, and a choice of front-wheel or all-wheel drive.

Both the Telluride and Palisade give you a choice of driving modes: Comfort, Eco, Sport, and Smart in all models, along with Snow and AWD Lock settings on vehicles with all-wheel drive. As the names suggest, you can tailor your driving experience based on your preferences, whether it’s maximum performance, minimum fuel usage, or anything in between. Neither of these crossovers is super-agile, but both are quite pleasant to drive overall. Both can tow up to 5,000 pounds.

Winner: Tie

With their powerful V6 engines, the Palisade and Telluride aren’t quite as fuel-thrifty as four-cylinder competitors like the Subaru Ascent, the Mazda CX-9, or the newly redesigned 2020 Ford Explorer. But they’re class-competitive, and also quite similar to each other.

Both the Telluride and Palisade have EPA fuel economy ratings of 19 mpg in the city, 24 mpg on the highway, and 21 mpg overall with all-wheel drive. With front-wheel drive, the Kia takes a slight edge. The Telluride manages 20 mpg city/26 mpg highway/23 mpg overall, compared to 19 mpg city/26 mpg highway/22 mpg overall for the Palisade.

Winner: Kia Telluride

The Telluride and Palisade have nearly identical base prices: $31,690 for the Kia and $31,550 for the Hyundai. They also share a lot of valuable standard features: advanced safety technology like a forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, a lane-departure warning, and lane-keeping steering assistance; a fully featured touchscreen infotainment system; alloy wheels; and rear climate controls.

But the Telluride has more standard features that the Palisade saves for pricier models: a blind-spot monitoring system with a rear cross-traffic alert and a safe-exit assistance feature, app-based remote start and locking/unlocking, and keyless entry with push-button starting. Base Telluride models also enjoy simulated leather upholstery instead of cloth, and it’s also cheaper to upgrade to real leather than in the Hyundai. We’ll award the Telluride the win for its extra features for the money.

Winner: Kia Telluride

The Telluride earned a Top Safety Pick designation from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety based on its crash-test performance and its emergency automatic braking system. The Palisade hasn't been crash-tested yet, but it should perform similarly. Both models also have a long list of standard advanced safety features, as we mentioned on the previous page. And both are offered with a handy surround-view camera system and an unusual but valuable blind-spot camera that activates when you hit the turn signal. 

There are some differences, though. Notably, the Telluride comes standard with a blind-spot monitoring system, which includes a rear cross-traffic alert and a safe-exit assistance feature that prevents rear passengers from opening their door into the path of an oncoming car. You can get those features on the Palisade, too, but not on the base model. You can also get the Telluride with the blind-spot camera for less money than the Palisade. Hyundai does provide a useful automatic high beam feature on every Palisade, while Kia limits it to the top Telluride SX model, but otherwise the Kia provides more access to the best safety technology. 

Winner: Kia Telluride

When two vehicles are very similar, choosing between them could come down to the dealership. But even here, the Palisade and Telluride are well-matched. Hyundai has a few more dealers than Kia (about 800 nationwide, versus about 755), while Kia dealers achieved slightly higher scores in two recent surveys we reviewed.

This is a category where your winner will come down to whose dealership is more convenient to you, which one gives you a better vibe, or which one offers you a better price quote or perks.

Winner: Tie

There’s no wrong choice between the 2020 Hyundai Palisade and 2020 Kia Telluride. These mechanical twins are equally strong in most ways — they’re both great values for the money, they’re both well-finished and quiet, they’re both laden with safety technology, and they both have tons of space for up to eight passengers. But in the few areas where they differ, the Telluride is often just a little bit better. It has a few extra standard features, uses a little less gasoline, and fits a little more stuff behind its third-row seat.

With two vehicles matched so closely on the merits, you can choose based on looks without feeling any guilt. Or you can get some online price quotes and see whether your Hyundai or your Kia dealership is going to get you a better deal. But if you’re still undecided after all that, we recommend the Telluride.

Winner: Kia Telluride