Well I'll be shocked!  Another knock off design!

That is quite possibly Kia's best looking knock off design to date though, so well done for copying other manufacturers yet again.

I haven't gotten a chance to get into the back of the Ascent but overall I'm not that impressed with it. The third row legroom in the Atlas is nuts. After trying it myself (6' 32" inseam) I got my wife in (6' 36" inseam) and we could put the second row back down. The Audi Q7 couldn't even fit me in the third row.

The Telluride seemed to kind of fit in between both of those vehicles. I haven't really directly compared any of those to their American counterparts though. The US offerings all seem *meh* though.

Some shots from NAIAS this week.

It wasn't that long ago people used to mock the imports. Now take a drive through practically anytow USA and it's all you see....

It looks nice. That's the second time I've said a Kia looks nice. God dammit what the fuck is going on.....

Is that the ones with turns so sharp you have to drive into it and then reverse back?

And absolutely requires a short wheelbase vehicle?

If you have a longer wheelbase, you'll need to reverse down one of the switchbacks. With under 120" wheel base and reasonable ground clearance they are multi point turns, but somewhat intimidating as you can't see anything but sky from the driver's seat.

The new pictures make it looks like there will be no 3rd row.

Wow is the front end on that thing ugly.

So basically a tall car.

Maybe they can make this one fireproof.

Very similar numbers to the Dodge Durango, but the Durango is much better looking and probably a better vehicle.

Dodge is cheap and doesn't come close to competitive. It's direct competitors are the Pilot and Highlander. Both were cheaper and carry a much better history then Dodge. Not sure where Dodge is coming off putting themselves 6,000 above a Pilot, took a hard pass when their base-ish models were 41k few a grand or two off with haggling but I could (and did) jump into a similar Pilot for 34.

A Suburban will go 300k if no one lets their wife borrow it.
And a Sub can carry 4x8 sheet goods, so you don't even get the useful cargo room. Does the C to D pillar remind anyone of a Rav4 or the new Highlander? It just screams Toyota to me for some reason.

Kharn

IDK about the newest ones, but the last generation of them would go 300k for sure.   You'd just have to replace the instrument cluster, the 4wd control board once or twice, the rear HVAC wiring harness when the blower power wire burned up the clips, the wheel bearings, the fuel pump, the HVAC blend actuators, and a bunch of other odds and ends.   And those are just some of the *common* problems with them, we're not even getting into uncommon stuff.

We just bought a brand-new 2018 Durango SXT Plus for about $33k plus government thievery.

It's a very good looking vehicle, looks better than a Range Rover.

Not too many Glenn Frey / Miami Vice fans still around, I guess.

65k vs 35k

And now they won't magically go 300k without investing money.

Ski town full of pot headed yuppies?

I was thinking vw tourag, Porsche is too good.

I hate to say it but I would love to see them step into the 250/ 2500 and up truck market.   The American business/fleet market need an injection of fresh energy.  True work trucks moderately and comfortably equipped, diesel and gas burners.  The big 3 seem to be going towards the “Luxury 4x4” with these 70ish K trucks and that’s not a wining situation for small businesses.

Gotta be honest, I love the green color and probably affordable entry price. Plus made in the US sounds great to me. If they offer some sort of hybrid option with 400 HP and 30 MPG I'll be sold. I don't need some body on frame locking diff mud monster, otherwise I'd be looking at a Jeep or 4runner. The AWD will be fine for what I need it for and the occasional in climate weather we get here.

The base V6 is meh and will probably produce meh MPG. I love my Acura but it gets about 20 MPG highway and takes premium, and I drove a TON of miles every year. The only other thing I really think is competition for me is the eco boost Explorers and the tunes that can really make them scoot. The only downside is 22 MPG from the explorer.

I'd rock this.

No, no Yuppies, none of them have ever worked. All trustafarians or old money, basically, Aspen, light.

I go over Black Bear Pass at least a dozen times a year, but usually don't go down the switch backs, just to avoid having to deal with that damn town.

I have a Sorento.  It's purdy decent for what is.
Already on 3rd recall tho in 2 yrs.  

I'd question the suspension on the Telluride most.
Not sure it would be worth it at that price point.

Especially, if you end up replacing parts every time
you hit a pothole.  

Do the rear doors open like normal rear doors?  Or more like minivan rear doors?

100/0 FWD and 65/35 AWD.
I am not up on modern awd vehicles, so tell me if that is reasonable?  I would think it should be able to go 50/50 for good off road and all wheel drive handling?

August of last year I was in the market segment for the wife's next lease, I drove everything that I felt I could live with for the next 3 years, Subaru Ascent, VW Atlas, Sorrento, Highlander and Grand Cherokee. Never drove the pilot cause of the sheer size, couldnt sell it to the wife. On the test drives I have a baseline requirement that virtually none of them met, I get up to full highway speed of about 75 or so and then bury the pedal, if there's nothing left to pass at that speed it's an automatic no go for me. I really wanted it to be the Atlas, truly I did, but on the highway the 3.6 V6 was so damn anemic, pretty snappy around town but if you need to blow by a semi at 80+ your gonna be shit out of luck. Same deal with the jeep, worse in fact, the ascent was slow as balls even in town, the sorrento actually had a little more on tap but when I pictured it in my driveway I got a little nauseous. That left the highlander which oddly enough would rip from 80 to 100 like a champ, it also had the heaviest most substantial feel through the wheel and the most stable chassis, definitely plush but not wallowy when pushed hard in turns, rises and dips, in fact as long as you keep the front tires pointed in the right direction the damn thing could really be flogged around with abandon. Combine that with the highest residual value in the segment you end up with lease rates that nobody else could even get close to.

So now it's been 5 months and I continue to dig the driving dynamics of this thing, keep in mind I've had a long line of performance oriented vehicles, last one was a jeep grand cherokee SRT8 which I sold for my current ride, a tundra 4x4 crewmax with total chaos suspension. Dont get me wrong it's not a cayenne or an X5, but man it is predictable and stable as hell at it's own modest limit, and the other intangible I like, these things are the ultimate grey man vehicle, talk about blending in, it's like they are invisible, so you get even more leeway than you would in something that draws attention, all in all, it's typical toyota, overperforms for what it is and makes really good financial sense. I also dig the safety and security aspect as the wife's ride.

So, when I'm ready to re-up, this telluride will be a contender, so will the all new 2020 highlander, the new honda passport that just dropped and the all new explorer, 2020 will be a huge model year for the mid size SUV segment, it's a big bux segment for all the manufacturers, I see us staying in this segment as it does pretty much everything we want, space, light towing, light offroad capability, roominess, good on long road trips etc etc. From my perspective, there's honda and toyota and everyone else. This really gets driven home when you test all of them back to back on the same day.

That is simply the reality of taking a vehicle high mileage. Everything you mentioned is an afternoon, beer in hand DIY fix, other than the cluster, which is 5 minutes to remove and drop in the mail for repair, then another 5 minutes to put back in. Shit wears out in 300k, but most of the failure points are well known and accessible, which is why you see so many GMT800s with such high miles on the road still.

I do not have high mileage expectations for CUVs, especially those with AWD. I do not think the styling is any worse or better than the rest of the segment, and I doubt the drivetrain will be any better or worse than the rest either.

I do think that the manufacturers are pushing the term "fullsize". A fullsize SUV can fit a sheet of plywood, IMO.

Did somebody say unibody?

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@LittlePony you too young to remember these ?

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Well, there is purgatory resort in CO as well.  That would be a great car name lol.

Looks good.  My wife may let her Highlander go for that.   I’m still waiting for Hyundai/Kia to produce a truck.  Come on guys, you can do it!

There are CUVs out there with crazy high mileage. The most common examples of this are the CR-V, RAV4, and Highlander.

I knew a guy with ~290k on a first gen CR-V. It didn’t have any issues in the 2.5 years or so between the time I met him and the time he traded it off.

I like most of what I see except towing capacity... I don't need off road capability but for my needs I'd like to see 6500 ish lbs towing capacity.

Kia media link
Standard towing rated up to 5,000 pounds³

Looks like a range rover POS

Aviator hybrid will have 450 hp/600 lb ft.

Looks Land Rover-y

Compared to what?

I doubt they would want to reverse engineer chevys AFM, or plastic dash boards, recalled door handles, or any of the other countless class action bullshit the Tahoe and Yukon’s have.....oh, almost forgot the 8 speed tranny and road force balancing tires debacle still going on

No thanks

Saw it at the car show Saturday, was kind of surprised that they painted it such a shitty color.   Its like we are reliving the 70's again.

Maybe they can fill the void created by Nissan when they did this to the Pathfinder
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RIP.  That was one of the biggest automotive crimes I can remember.

That thing actually looks really good. KIA be stepping their game up the last few years.

Almost fo'd on a Borrego back in the day; went with a Sorento instead.

I'm keeping my eyes open.

None of them there are full-on production models, I have dealt with quite a few single and double digit Stingers at the training, there assembly quality compared to the one we have on the showroom floor are incomparable to each other, ill give you a hint the one on the showroom floor is the one you want, most of those get crushed after a little while anyway

Your hate sustains me

Ironic coming from a guy that sells GM products.