As
our sights are set on the coming of fall but we are still fully enjoying the
long and warm days of summer here at Jim
Butler Kia of St Louis, we all agree that it is one of the best seasons to
get out and drive! It may be the newest crossover, SUV, or sedan that you have
your eyes set on for a brand new car, and there are so many great features on
every type that you may even change your mind. The staff on hand at Motor
Trend has had much praise for the high-altitude and lakeside-ready Kia
Telluride already, and this week they took a close-up look at the Nightfall
Edition.
Now
available on the mid-and upper-level SX and EX trims for the Telluride, this
package gives a darker vibe and looks cheerfully formal, stealth, and
fantastic. The grille painted black now features a pattern unique to the
Nightfall Edition, and it's rounded off perfectly with 20-inch black wheels and
LED headlamps and fog lamps sporting black inner bezels. Most of the
competition's after-hours hued packages only come in the signature black, and
from Kia, you can also opt for white, silver, gray, dark red, or dark green.
Similar
to last year's model, the 2021 Telluride is powered by a 3.8-liter V-6 engine
that doles out 291 horsepower and 262 lb-ft of torque. We would expect the
all-important fuel economy numbers to stay around the same, averaging around
20/26/23 mpg city/highway/combined for front-wheel drive and 19/24/21 mpg for
the all-wheel-drive variants. A remote engine start button has now been added
to the key fob and LED headlamps are also included in the EX Premium package.
There is now the choice of Black Copper for S and EX trims, and Sangria can
also be chosen for the SX.
The
harness for the towing trailer has also seen an upgrade from a four-pin
connector to a seven-pin setup. The Car and Driver crew had
plenty of great things to say about the Telluride including the fact that this
number simply “provides unrivaled levels of luxury and remarkable utility,” and
all at an incredibly reasonable price. In the top-of-the-line SX, this testing
team reached 60 mph is just 7.1 seconds and attributed the ideal firmness of
the ride as a solidly valuable component in the perfect setup for a daily
driver.
