The 2021 Kia Telluride, which firm reps have taken to calling the “Promote-uride” attributable to its unbelievable reputation, is one among our favourite three-row crossovers. The Telluride might have been named for a mountain city in Colorado, however one of many key options of a giant crossover is its cargo space, which on this case has extra in widespread with one other geographical function. With the second- and third-row seats folded flat, the Telluride’s cargo house is positively cavernous.
That stated, it is not really one of the best stuff-hauler within the section. That nod goes to GM’s three-rows, as we have demonstrated beforehand, adopted by the Volkswagen Atlas. However not being one of the best does not routinely make one thing dangerous, and the very fact of the matter is that any of those massive utility automobiles can accommodate fairly a little bit of cargo when known as upon to take action. Usually, we illustrate this with a baggage take a look at, however since I dwell alone and journey gentle, I am ill-equipped to copy Autoblog‘s normal method. Happily for you, expensive reader (however undoubtedly not for me), I’ve needed to relocate a number of instances over the previous few years, and within the course of I’ve amassed fairly the gathering of U-Haul bins. For some extra standard context, I additionally grabbed a hard-sided cooler (roughly 19 1/2″ x 11″ x 14″) and my carry-on half-duffle (24″ x 11″ x 9″), the latter full of some garments to provide it some construction for the needs of this take a look at.
U-Haul’s medium-sized transferring bins are conveniently (virtually) cube-shaped at 18 1/8″ x 18″ x 16″ (L x W x H), checking in at 3 cubic toes every per the corporate’s description. That is an excellent determine to have readily available for this take a look at, because it interprets properly to producer specs. Kia says the Telluride has 21 cubic toes of cargo house behind the third row, 46 behind the second and a whopping 87 cubes with all the pieces behind the primary row folded flat.
That ought to translate to seven U-Haul bins behind the third row, 15 behind the second and 29 with all the pieces stowed, proper? Effectively, as usually occurs, actuality dictates in any other case, and we needed to throw the entire speculation out the window after placing only one field behind the Telluride’s third row. Whereas it seems at first look that at the very least one field will match again right here because it sits totally in entrance of the liftgate sill, we are able to plainly see that the inside trim on the hatch protrudes too far into the cargo space for it to shut.
Seven bins behind the third row? Nope, extra like zero. In fact, the cubic-feet quantity is one among quantity, so maybe seven bins value of packing peanuts or ping-pong balls would match again there, however I did not have any of these, both.
I did have that carry-on and cooler they usually match again there simply high-quality, whether or not side-by-side or stacked. Now, as soon as we drop the third-row seats, issues begin to search for. Bear in mind, Kia says the Telluride has 46 cubic toes of cargo house behind the second row, which ought to theoretically accommodate 15 U-Haul bins with room to spare. Let’s have a look at how properly that interprets to the actual world.
However first, there are some things to notice in regards to the Telluride’s cargo space. As you may see, our ’21 SX mannequin comes with a cargo web and privateness cowl. The previous could be stowed beneath the ground behind the third row, which is a superb function. Usually, you must go away it behind or when you neglect, put it in your passengers’ laps. Not best.
The house additionally has a number of different helpful options you may not discover at first look. Beneath the slightly thick cargo carpet in our loaner is that under-floor storage bin, which is accessible with the third row up or down. Each the second- and third-row seats have reclining backs, and the second-row seats are on sliding rails for third-row passenger entry. The above proper picture exhibits the passenger-side seat in its third-row ingress/egress place, whereas the driver-side seat is locked as far ahead as it may be, preserving loads of second-row legroom. These additionally permit some adjustment by way of cargo house, and for the needs of those exams, we put them of their forward-most locking positions and put all the seatbacks upright.
That is the Telluride’s cargo-carrying candy spot. As you may see, bins could be match two-deep on this configuration with room to spare. Sadly, there’s not sufficient vertical clearance to stack them, seemingly due at the very least partly to the panoramic moonroof. On this configuration, we might most likely get 5 Uhaul bins and several other extra coolers/carry-ons into the rear cargo space — nonetheless properly wanting the literal 15 bins it “ought to” be capable of accommodate on paper, though once more, we did not have packing peanuts. The excellent news is that this explicit cargo haul would depart loads of room to recline the second-row seats as a lot as your rear passengers may like.
As soon as we drop the second row, we’re actually cooking. Observe that the second-row captain’s chairs do have a spot between them, however even a U-Haul field might bridge that with none assist. If you happen to’re carrying a big amount of smaller objects, nonetheless, you may need some kind of mat (and even a big, folded cardboard field) to cowl the gaps. On this configuration, we might theoretically match eight U-Haul bins (3+3+2) in a single layer (there’s nonetheless not sufficient room to stack them, even on high of the folded second row) and fairly a number of miscellaneous objects. The U-Haul bins will even match four-deep if positioned end-to-end proper down the middle of the Telluride’s cargo space, however that may severely restrict what could be positioned on both aspect, and that is in regards to the least-efficient method to attempt to load these explicit objects.
So, is there any universe through which a Telluride’s cargo house could be absolutely utilized by U-Haul bins? Most definitely not, however the actual take-away right here is that producer numbers solely inform a part of the story, and if in case you have a specific cargo-hauling want in thoughts, it is best to check out your subsequent car buy in particular person if in any respect potential, simply in case.
