Compare the2027 Kia TellurideVS 2026 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.

The Telluride has a standard front seat center airbag, which deploys between the driver and front passenger, protecting them from injuries caused by striking each other in serious side impacts. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer front seat center airbags.

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/Nightshade 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 and rear 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.

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’ 2025 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 19 more problems per 100 vehicles, Toyota is rated below average.

The Telluride has more powerful engines than the Grand Highlander:

Both the Telluride and the Grand Highlander have a standard automatic start/stop engine feature to stop unnecessary fuel waste and pollution at stoplights and heavy traffic. All Tellurides have a standard disable switch for the system, so a driver can keep the engine from shutting off when the vehicle stops temporarily. The Grand Highlander Hybrid doesn’t offer a way to disable start/stop.

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 84.9 cents more per gallon.

The Telluride Hybrid’s standard fuel tank has a gallon more fuel capacity than the Grand Highlander Hybrid’s standard fuel tank (18.2 vs. 17.2 gallons), for longer range between fill-ups. The Telluride’s standard fuel tank has 1.2 gallons more fuel capacity than the Grand Highlander’s standard fuel tank (19 vs. 17.8 gallons).

For better stopping power the Telluride’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Grand Highlander:

The Telluride’s standard front and rear disc brakes are vented to help dissipate heat for shorter stops with less fading. The rear discs on the Grand Highlander are solid, not vented.

For better traction, the Telluride X-Line’s tires are larger than the largest tires available on the Grand Highlander (265/45R21 vs. 255/65R18).

The Telluride X-Line’s tires provide better handling because they have a lower 45 series profile (height to width ratio) that provides a stiffer sidewall than the Grand Highlander Limited/Platinum/Nightshade’s 55 series tires.

For better ride, handling and brake cooling the Telluride X-Line has standard 21-inch wheels. The Grand Highlander’s largest wheels are only 20-inches.

The Telluride offers an optional automatic rear 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.

The Telluride has vehicle speed sensitive variable-assist power steering, for low-effort parking, better control at highway speeds and during hard cornering, and a better feel of the road. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer variable-assist power steering.

For greater off-road capability the Telluride X-Pro has a 1.1 inches greater minimum ground clearance than the Grand Highlander (9.1 vs. 8 inches), allowing the Telluride to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged.

The front grille of the Telluride uses electronically controlled shutters to close off airflow and reduce drag when less engine cooling is needed. This helps improve highway fuel economy. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer active grille shutters.

The Telluride has 1.4 inches more front shoulder room, .2 inches more rear headroom, 3.5 inches more rear legroom, 2.4 inches more rear shoulder room and .2 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 and a control in the cargo area automatically lowers the third row seats, to make changing between passengers and cargo easier. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer automatic folding seats.

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 Telluride Prestige has standard massaging front seats in order to maximize comfort and eliminate fatigue on long trips. Massaging seats aren’t available in the Grand Highlander.

To quickly and conveniently keep personal devices charged without cables tangling and wearing out, the Kia Telluride has a standard wireless phone charging system (Qi) in the center console for two separate devices. Only the Grand Highlander XLE/Limited/Nightshade/Platinum offers wireless charging, and only charges one device.

The Telluride Prestige’s Remote Smart Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. Remote Smart Parking Assist will park and retrieve your car remotely: press a button and watch it park itself. This is ideal for tight locations. The Grand Highlander doesn’t offer an automated parking system.

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.