Pushed: The 2023 Kia Telluride X-Professional Strikes the Needle Barely

Is the X-Professional gon’ give it to ya off-road?

Most of our time was spent behind the wheel of the X-Professional in SX Status guise, which is principally probably the most totally loaded Telluride you will get with a price ticket that suggestions north of $55,000. It is best to think about the X-Line as an look bundle (to not be confused with the virtually too equally named X-Professional mannequin), because it comes with a unique entrance grille, roof rails and 20-inch alloy wheels.

Each trims include a 0.4-inch enhance in floor clearance, however that solely will increase strategy and departure angles by 0.7 and 0.6 levels, respectively. That is not sufficient to get the Telluride over any obstacles you should not be making an attempt on this automobile anyway, and the X-Line’s 20-inch wheels come shod in the identical all-season tires as the usual fashions. Kia says the traction management has been modified for each variants, however it was already fairly good. Plus, if you happen to go for all-wheel drive, the Telluride comes with a locking middle differential anyway.

Solely the X-Professional provides any tangible acquire in off-road efficiency, due to its all-terrain tires that give it some further grip. However on the sunshine off-road course we put the Telluride by, I did not encounter something the usual Telluride would not have been in a position to do simply as properly. For any form of fireplace highway or dust path resulting in a campsite, an all-wheel-drive Telluride (X’d up or not) stays greater than certified.