Autoblog and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article.The 2027 Kia Telluride trim levels run from $39,190 to $56,790 before destination, and on paper the structure is conventional enough. Five core trims, LX through SX Prestige, with X-Line and X-Pro variants layered over the upper half. Kia's comparison tool walks you across the grid one column at a time, and most trim guides follow the same order.Read the pricing sheet instead of the feature columns and something else appears. The 2025 Telluride sold an SX with all-wheel drive at $48,190. The 2027 does not offer one at any price. Near the top of the range, two more trims sit $200 apart and have almost nothing in common. Neither fact shows up in a features comparison, and both change which Telluride is worth buying.How Kia Built The 2027 Telluride LineupOne powertrain covers the entire gas range. Every trim gets the 2.5-liter turbocharged four making 274 horsepower and 311 lb-ft of torque, paired to an eight-speed automatic, with towing rated at up to 5,000 pounds when properly equipped. The outgoing 3.8-liter V6 made 291 hp, so peak power is down 17 while torque climbs by 49 lb-ft.AdvertisementAdvertisementIn most three-row lineups, walking up the range eventually buys you a different engine. Here it does not. Any Kia Telluride trim comparison is therefore a comparison of equipment, drivetrain, and hardware alone, which makes the pricing structure the whole story.Here is the full gas lineup as Kia lists it. All figures are MSRP and exclude the $1,545 destination charge.TrimDrivetrainMSRPLXFWD$39,190SFWD$42,090SAWD$44,090EXFWD$43,790EXAWD$45,790X-Line EXAWD$47,290SXFWD$48,790X-Line SXAWD$51,790X-Pro SXAWD$53,690SX PrestigeAWD$53,890X-Line SX PrestigeAWD$54,890X-Pro SX PrestigeAWD$56,790Twelve lines, ten distinct trims. Front-wheel drive appears on four of them. Everything above the SX is all-wheel drive only.LX And S: What $39,190 Actually IncludesThe LX is the only Telluride under $40,000 and it is not a stripped car. Standard equipment covers a 12.3-inch touchscreen with navigation, wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, tri-zone climate control, eight-passenger seating with a second-row bench, and what Kia counts as 19 driver assistance systems. Front-wheel drive is the only option here. There is no LX AWD.AdvertisementAdvertisementSpending $2,900 more on the S buys presentation: 20-inch wheels, a power sunroof, heated front seats, and a power liftgate. It also swaps the bench for second-row captain's chairs, which drops capacity to seven. This is the first point in the range where all-wheel drive appears, at $2,000.Hold that number. It is the reference point for everything that follows.EX And X-Line EX: The Cleanest Math In The RangeThe EX at $43,790 is where the interior stops feeling like a base car. Full SynTex synthetic leather seating, ventilated and power front seats, second-row window sunshades. All-wheel drive is again $2,000, taking an EX AWD to $45,790.Move up to the X-Line EX and the figure is $47,290. Since all-wheel drive is standard on it, the honest comparison is against the EX AWD, not the front-driver. That puts the X-Line package at exactly $1,500, and two of the things it includes are not cosmetic. The EX is a bench-seat car, and Kia does not offer captain's chairs on it in any configuration, so the X-Line EX is the only way to get them at this level. It also brings a self-leveling rear suspension that the LX, S, and EX cannot be ordered with. The 21-inch wheels and blackout trim come along for the ride. This is also the only place in the range where the X-Line premium can be isolated at all, because it is the only point where an X-Line trim and its non-X-Line equivalent both exist with the same drivetrain.The Missing Step: There Is No All-Wheel-Drive Telluride SX2027 Kia Telluride SX Prestige bronze front angled viewKiaView the 2 images of this gallery on the original articleAdvertisementAdvertisementThe SX costs $48,790 and it is the trim most buyers will gravitate toward once they see the feature list. Dual sunroofs, a driver's memory seat, Meridian premium audio, dual 12.3-inch displays, blind-spot monitoring with a 360-degree camera. It is the point where the Telluride starts behaving like a considerably more expensive vehicle.It is also front-wheel drive only. Kia does not list an SX AWD, and you cannot add all-wheel drive for $2,000 the way you can one trim below. This is not a new lineup finding its footing: the rung existed a year ago, at $48,190, and Kia removed it in the redesign without comment.The only route to an all-wheel-drive Telluride at SX equipment level is now the X-Line SX at $51,790. That is $3,000, not $2,000. And the X-Line appearance package that cost $1,500 on the EX is no longer optional. If you want an SX with power going to all four wheels, you are buying 21-inch wheels, blackout trim, and X-Line interior treatment whether they suit you or not.Kia is not trimming a lineup that struggles, either. The second-generation Telluride posted 35,928 sales in the first quarter of 2026, the best quarterly result the nameplate has recorded, and July brought Kia's best-ever July for the model. The configuration was dropped from a car selling better than it ever has. Kia does not publish sales by trim, so there is no way to know how many buyers the change affects. The cost to each of them is easier to work out. For someone in Colorado or Vermont who wanted an SX and a set of winter tires, all-wheel drive at this point in the lineup now runs $3,000 and comes with a styling decision made on their behalf. Kia has not publicly explained the reasoning, and we are not going to invent one. What is verifiable is the outcome. A configuration that existed a generation ago is gone, and the detour around it is the most expensive $1,000 in the range.AdvertisementAdvertisementRelated: Does the 2027 Kia Telluride X-Pro SX Prestige Pass the Family Test? I Put My Kids in One to Find OutKia Telluride EX vs SX: Which Is BetterOn a straight price-list reading, the SX costs $5,000 more than the EX, $48,790 against $43,790. That money buys dual sunroofs, Meridian premium audio, dual 12.3-inch displays, a 360-degree camera with blind-spot monitoring, and a fuller driver-assistance set including evasive steering assist. Measured purely by equipment per dollar, the SX wins that exchange comfortably.The comparison only holds if you want front-wheel drive.An EX with all-wheel drive costs $45,790. There is no equivalent SX at any price. The nearest all-wheel-drive car with SX equipment is the X-Line SX at $51,790, which turns a $5,000 decision into a $6,000 one. At that point you are also paying for 21-inch wheels and blackout trim you may not have wanted.AdvertisementAdvertisementSo the answer splits along one line. If you are buying front-wheel drive, the SX is the better car and the better value. If you need all-wheel drive, the EX and the X-Line EX are where the sensible money sits, and the SX stops being a realistic comparison at all.X-Pro SX vs SX Prestige: $200 Between Two Different SUVsNear the top of the range, the pattern breaks entirely.The X-Pro SX lists at $53,690. The SX Prestige lists at $53,890. Two hundred dollars separates them, exactly the price of the accessory cargo cover. They are not two steps of the same idea.X-Pro SX, $53,690. The Hardware Choice:9.1 inches of ground clearance, up from 7.4 on the rest of the range18-inch wheels wearing all-terrain tiresElectronic limited-slip differential and multi-terrain all-wheel driveA dedicated suspension with additional strokeGround View Monitor and an off-road status displayAn integrated tow hitch as standard equipmentAdvertisementAdvertisementSX Prestige, $53,890. The Comfort Choice:Heated and ventilated second-row seats12-inch head-up displayDigital rearview mirror with HomeLinkPower steering column with memoryStandard 20-inch wheels, road tires, and 7.4 inches of ground clearanceTow hitch available at $625Note what that last line means. The towing package is a $625 option across the lineup, and on both X-Pro trims it vanishes from the options sheet because the integrated hitch is already fitted. The only Tellurides where towing hardware costs nothing extra are the two most expensive ones.Getting into an X-Pro has become harder. The 2025 lineup offered an EX X-Pro at $47,385, so entry to the off-road trim is now $6,305 higher. The hardware is more serious, though not in every direction: the 2025 X-Pro AWD towed up to 5,500 pounds, while the 2027 range tops out at 5,000.AdvertisementAdvertisementThe split runs deeper than the feature lists suggest. Inside, the X-Pro SX is an SX: cloth headliner, hydrographic trim, a steering column you adjust by hand. The SX Prestige gets suede on the headliner and pillars, engineered wood, and a power column with memory. Two hundred dollars apart, and they are not the same cabin.Neither is the better car. They answer different questions, and a buyer who arrives at this price point without knowing the range splits here will pick by badge order and get it wrong roughly half the time.Kia Telluride Top Trim: X-Line SX Prestige And X-Pro SX Prestige2027 Kia Tellurid X-Line SX Prestige ExteriorKiaView the 3 images of this gallery on the original articleBoth paths run one trim higher. The X-Line SX Prestige at $54,890 adds the X-Line design treatment, 21-inch wheels, LED projector fog lights, and an LED liftgate lamp to the Prestige equipment set. The X-Pro SX Prestige at $56,790 takes the off-road hardware and adds Prestige comfort content plus engineered carbon interior trim.AdvertisementAdvertisementThat top figure lands at $58,335 with destination. The equivalent 2025 trim listed at $53,685, so the Telluride's ceiling has risen $3,105 in one generation while its floor rose $2,800. The car grew and gained a turbo engine and a great deal of equipment, and the pricing moved with it.Which 2027 Kia Telluride Trim Level Is BestThe X-Line EX at $47,290.Of the ten 2027 Kia Telluride trim levels, it is the only one where the equipment, the drivetrain, and the money line up cleanly. You get all-wheel drive as standard, the X-Line package at its honest $1,500 price rather than bundled into a $3,000 detour, captain's chairs, a heated steering wheel, and the SynTex interior that makes the EX feel a class above where it sits. It is also the last trim before the arithmetic starts working against you.There are two exceptions, and both are legitimate.AdvertisementAdvertisementIf you live somewhere that never sees snow and you want the audio, the screens, and the dual sunroofs, the front-drive SX at $48,790 is a genuinely strong buy. Front-wheel drive is not a compromise in Phoenix or Tampa, and the SX packs more equipment per dollar than anything else in the lineup.If you actually go off pavement, buy the X-Pro SX at $53,690 and do not agonize over the $200. All-terrain tires, an extra 1.7 inches of clearance, a limited-slip differential, and a tow hitch you did not have to pay for are hardware you cannot add later. The SX Prestige's heated rear seats are a nice thing to have. The X-Pro's suspension is a different vehicle.Just do not walk into the showroom assuming the range behaves the way the last one did. Kia took a configuration out of the middle of it, and the two trims near the top that look adjacent on the price list have almost nothing to do with each other.2027 Telluride X-ProKiaThis story was originally published by Autoblog on Aug 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the Features section. Add Autoblog as a Preferred Source by clicking here.