Compare the2024 Kia TellurideVS 2024 Toyota Grand Highlander

Both the Telluride and Grand Highlander have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Telluride has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Grand Highlander’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

In the past twenty years hundreds of infants and young children have died after being left in vehicles, usually by accident. When turning the vehicle off, drivers of the Telluride are reminded to check the back seat when a sensor determines the back seat is occupied. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer a back seat reminder.

To help make backing out of a parking space safer, the Telluride has standard Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Warning with Rear Cross-Traffic Collision-Avoidance Assist, systems which detect vehicles approaching from the sides and can automatically apply the brakes to prevent a collision. Only the Grand Highlander Limited/Platinum offers Parking Support Brake.

Both the Telluride and the Grand Highlander have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front side-impact airbags, driver knee airbags, side-impact head airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, plastic fuel tanks, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, driver alert monitors, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

A significantly tougher test than their original offset frontal crash test, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety does 40 MPH small overlap frontal offset crash tests. In this test, where only 25% of the total width of the vehicle is struck, results indicate that the Kia Telluride is safer than the Grand Highlander:

The Kia Telluride has achieved the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety’s (IIHS) highest rating of “Top Safety Pick Plus” for the 2024 model year. This distinction is based on its exceptional performance in IIHS’ rigorous battery of safety tests. Specifically, it earned a “Good” rating in the latest, more stringent moderate overlap front crash test, a “Good” result in the updated side impact test, and a “Good” score in the revised pedestrian crash prevention test. The Grand Highlander is not even a standard “Top Safety Pick” for 2024.

The Telluride comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Grand Highlander’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Kia’s powertrain warranty covers the Telluride 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Toyota covers the Grand Highlander. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Grand Highlander ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2023 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Kia vehicles are better in initial quality than Toyota vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Kia above average in initial quality. With 24 more problems per 100 vehicles, Toyota is rated below average.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2022 survey of the owners of three-year-old vehicles provides the statistics that show that Kia vehicles are more reliable than Toyota vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Kia first in reliability, above the industry average. With 13 more problems per 100 vehicles, Toyota is ranked fifth.

The Telluride has more powerful engines than the Grand Highlander:

As tested in Motor Trend the Kia Telluride is faster than the Toyota Grand Highlander:

To lower fuel costs and make buying fuel easier, the Kia Telluride uses regular unleaded gasoline. The Grand Highlander Hybrid Max requires premium, which can cost on average about 82.8 cents more per gallon.

The Telluride has 1.6 gallons more fuel capacity than the Grand Highlander Hybrid’s standard fuel tank (18.8 vs. 17.2 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups. The Telluride has a gallon more fuel capacity than the Grand Highlander’s standard fuel tank (18.8 vs. 17.8 gallons).

The Telluride stops much shorter than the Grand Highlander:

The Telluride LX/X-Pro’s standard tires provide better handling because they have a lower 60 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Grand Highlander XLE’s 65 series tires. The Telluride S/EX/SX’s tires have a lower 50 series profile than the Grand Highlander Limited/Platinum’s 55 series tires.

The Telluride has a standard automatic load leveling suspension to keep ride height level with a heavy load or when towing. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer a load leveling suspension.

For better handling and stability, the track (width between the wheels) on the Telluride is 1.9 inches wider in the front and 2.2 inches wider in the rear than on the Grand Highlander.

The Telluride SX 4x4 handles at .81 G’s, while the Grand Highlander Platinum AWD pulls only .80 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

The Telluride SX 4x4 executes Motor Trend’s “Figure Eight” maneuver 1.3 seconds quicker than the Grand Highlander XLE AWD (27.3 seconds @ .63 average G’s vs. 28.6 seconds @ .58 average G’s).

For greater off-road capability the Telluride X-Line has a greater minimum ground clearance than the Grand Highlander (8.4 vs. 8 inches), allowing the Telluride to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged.

The Telluride is 4.5 inches shorter than the Grand Highlander, making the Telluride easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

As tested by Car and Driver while cruising at 70 MPH, the interior of the Telluride SX 4x4 is quieter than the Grand Highlander Platinum AWD (63 vs. 67 dB).

The Telluride has 2.4 inches more front hip room, 1.4 inches more front shoulder room, 2.9 inches more rear legroom, 1 inch more rear hip room, 2.4 inches more rear shoulder room and .9 inches more third row headroom than the Grand Highlander.

The Telluride’s cargo area provides more volume than the Grand Highlander.

Pressing a button automatically lowers the Telluride’s second row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

While the Grand Highlander Hybrid can only tow 3500, any Telluride can tow a minimum of 5000 pounds.

The Telluride has a higher standard payload capacity than the Grand Highlander (1662 vs. 1575 lbs.).

The Telluride uses gas struts to support the hood for easier service access. The Grand Highlander uses a prop rod to support its heavy hood. It takes two hands to open the hood and set the prop rod, the prop rod gets in the way during maintenance and service, and the prop rod could be knocked out, causing the heavy hood to fall on the person maintaining or servicing the car.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducts detailed tests on headlights for their range both straight ahead and in curves and to be certain they don’t exceed acceptable amounts of glare to oncoming drivers. The Telluride’s headlights were rated “Good” by the IIHS, while the Grand Highlander’s headlights are rated “Acceptable.”

Consumer Reports® recommends both the Kia Telluride and the Toyota Grand Highlander, based on reliability, safety and performance.

Motor Trend selected the Telluride as their 2020 Sport Utility of the Year. The Grand Highlander has never been chosen.

A group of representative automotive journalists from North America selected the Telluride as the 2020 North American Utility Vehicle of the Year. The Grand Highlander has never been chosen.

The Kia Telluride outsold the Toyota Grand Highlander by over two to one during 2023.