Knoxville’s Guide to the Trim Levels of the 2025 Telluride

What is there to say about the Kia Telluride? A lot, as it turns out. If you’re considering a Kia Telluride for sale in Knoxville and are looking to learn more about the 2025 model’s trims, then you’ve come to the perfect place. We’ll discuss all of the trims and their best features and highlights to help you determine which is the one you should drive home in today.

Keep in mind that the 2025 Telluride has similar performance across all trims. Every Telluride has a 3.8L V6 engine paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission that together produce 291 hp and 262 lb-ft of torque, with a maximum towing capacity of 5,000 lbs. Thus, instead of focusing on what every trim has in common, we’ll focus on what makes these trims unique and, more importantly, how they compare to one another. Let’s dive in.

The LX

The LX is a well-rounded starting point for anybody in Knoxville looking for a 2025 Kia Telluride. It starts north of $36k, and with it comes a plethora of standard premium features and high-quality materials. Front-wheel drive (FWD) is standard with the LX, and all-wheel drive (AWD) is available as an upgrade.

The Kia Telluride is a fantastic SUV for big families because it has three rows of seats, offering spacious headroom and legroom for everybody. The LX, in particular, is designed for everyone to come along for the ride, as it has an eight-passenger seating capacity, with a standard second-row bench instead of two captain’s chairs, which would reduce the passenger capacity by one person.

Tech is another area where the 2025 Telluride LX shines. It comes standard with a 12.3-inch infotainment center with onboard navigation software for turn-by-turn directions. This tech is high-quality, with Kia Connect being a notable standout, allowing you to unlock your vehicle, check your fuel level, and access other features through your smartphone or smartwatch.

Kia Connect isn’t just a remote key fob; it has a robust AI voice assistant via Amazon Alexa and Digital Key 2.0. With this feature, your phone becomes a virtual key fob, allowing access to your vehicle when you have your phone with you. And, you can lend digital car keys to friends and relatives, meaning you never need to worry about anyone losing your only set of keys. Kia Connect is amazing, but you can’t mention the 2025 Telluride LX’s infotainment center without also mentioning that Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are also standard, along with SiriusXM Radio.

Are there any more highlights of the 2025 Telluride LX that are worth mentioning? Yes! Custom-ordering your Telluride LX means you can opt for the Rear Seat Entertainment Package, implementing one monitor behind each front seat, for a dual-screen viewing experience where your kids will be entertained watching their favorite web content, television shows, and movies during long trips.

Another area of the 2025 Telluride LX that’s worth mentioning is its safety features. The LX keeps on impressing with a slew of standard safety features, including some that other manufacturers charge more for. One such feature is Blind-Spot Collision Warning. It comes standard with the LX, with sensors located on the sides of your vehicle to detect other drivers that are traveling within your blind spot, and it alerts you through your sideview mirror to be cautious, especially if you’re switching lanes.

A few other standard safety features you should expect with the 2025 Telluride LX are a Forward Collision Warning with Forward Collision Avoidance Assist with Pedestrian, Cyclist, and Junction Turning Detection. With the former, you’ll be alerted to apply the brakes if a collision is imminent with another vehicle, pedestrian, or bicyclist, but the latter feature attempts to stop the vehicle automatically if you don’t, as a last resort. And, similar to the Forward Collision Warning, the 2025 Telluride LX has Rear Cross-Traffic Collision Avoidance Assist to alert you of any bypassing vehicles when reversing out of a parking space, for example.

The S

You don’t need us to reiterate that the Telluride LX is a great trim, so what does the S have that the LX doesn’t? For starters, the 2025 Telluride S has second-row captain’s chairs, which are indisputably more comfortable for two people than sharing a bench. It also comes with heated front seats; here in Knoxville, you’ll want these in the winter months, for your chilly morning commute. The seat upgrades don’t stop there, however; the 2025 Telluride S has an 8-way power-adjustable driver’s seat. These aren’t leather seats, but the S introduces a leather-wrapped gear shift knob, lending both visual flair and a premium feeling material when shifting gears.

The 2025 Telluride S is great for transporting your jet skis to the lake or bikes to your favorite trails because it has standard roof rails. Another upgrade the S has over the LX is its 20-inch alloy wheels—an upgrade over the 18-inch alloy wheels on the LX. The standard Smart Power Liftgate with Auto Close is revolutionary; it opens automatically when you walk up to it with your key fob or phone with the Kia Connect app, and pressing the liftgate button will seamlessly close it shut. It’s one of many features of the S designed to improve your quality of life, with a couple of other notable ones being the standard power sunroof for extra sunlight and airflow, and the wireless phone charging pad to keep your smartphone charged without any wires.

The EX

You’d think it’d get harder for Kia to find ways to improve upon the trims we’ve spoken about, but there are more premium features and fun to be had with trims like the EX. The EX brings back the standard eight-passenger seating from the LX, although captain’s chairs are available. The 2025 Telluride EX has second-row window sunshades that are perfect for keeping the bright sun out of your passengers’ eyes so that they can enjoy the available rear-seat entertainment center. The interior also lends itself better to conversations and relaxation, with standard sound-absorbing window glass on the front doors.

Your front-row passenger receives a solid upgrade with the EX, with an 8-way power-adjustable seat standard to match what you’re sitting in. These seats are both heated and ventilated, making long drives in the summer more comfortable, too. The ventilated seats are somewhat mandatory because Knoxville gets hot in the summer, and the EX has standard leather seats. You’ll find the leather seats give the Telluride a more premium appearance, considering the EX also introduces woodgrain interior accents that we can’t get enough of.

The SX

What do we love most about the Telluride SX? We love that the SX is one of the best value-to-luxury combinations within the entire line of Telluride trims. The first feature worth mentioning is the Dual Power Sunroofs, which allow backseat passengers to have better airflow and greater natural light. There’s also an impressive self-leveling rear suspension that automatically adjusts the weight of the rear suspension to always keep it level with the front, even if you’re towing or hauling heavy cargo.

The 2025 Telluride SX has not one but two 12.3-inch dual panoramic displays: One is the infotainment center, and the other is the digital Driver Information Center, which replaces your analog gauges with a screen that extends to the edge of the dash, creating a clean and unified look and feel.

A Blind-Spot View Monitor is also introduced with this trim. It shows you live video feeds of your blind spots, which are displayed on your Driver Information Center; simply look down at the screen, and you’ll have access to your blind spot. You’ve never felt this safe when changing lanes, especially when combined with the standard Blind Spot Collision Warning mentioned earlier. Aside from enhanced blind-spot features, the SX also has enhanced Auto Emergency Braking, even adding the ability to steer out of the way to avoid a collision. We also want to mention the 360-degree surround view monitor, which uses linked cameras around your vehicle to provide a simulated vantage of your surroundings.

The 2025 Telluride SX goes one step beyond the preceding trims by adding a standard 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat; it also has a memory function that remembers the seating position for you and whoever you most share your vehicle with. One last area that gets a notable improvement is audio quality, as the 2025 Telluride SX has a premium 10-speaker audio system from Harman Kardon that sounds incredible.

The EX X-Line

The EX X-Line is rugged, versatile, and eye-catching. It has high-utility roof rails that are stronger than what you get on the S. It has sleek black badging, with a dark Kia logo proudly centered on the grille that looks stylish yet utilitarian. Although the interior features aren’t different from what comes before it, the standard heated steering wheel is a welcomed addition.

Like the SX, the EX X-Line also has a self-leveling rear suspension. However, it has a dedicated towing mode that dynamically adjusts power to perform better while towing cargo. Compared to the other trims, the EX X-Line expects hard work, even going as far as having standard AWD with a center-locking differential.

Towing performance isn’t all that’s improved with the EX X-Line; it has larger approach and departure angles and greater ground clearance. Its approach and departure angles are 17.7 and 23 degrees, while the LX through SX trims have approach and departure angles of 17 and 22.4 degrees, respectively. As for ground clearance, the EX X-Line has 8.4 inches of ground clearance over the 8 inches of the other trims.

The EX X-Pro

The EX X-Pro takes what makes the EX X-Line so memorable and gives it a distinctive flavor boost. This means exclusive styling on the wheels, front seats, and other parts of the vehicle. However, some upgrades are not found on any other trim, like the 110V power inverter, allowing you to plug in a game console for backseat passengers or an electric stove for camping or tailgating.

This trim has the same self-leveling rear suspension, ground clearance, and towing mode as the EX X-Line, but it increases its towing capacity to 5,500 lbs—a small but noticeable 10% increase over the other trims. It also has even better approach and departure angles over the EX X-Line, with an approach angle of 17.9 degrees and a departure angle of 23.2 degrees. The EX X-Pro’s benefits don’t stop there, as it’s important to mention the standard all-terrain tires that make off-roading more viable from Day One.

The SX X-Line

The SX X-Line takes the EX X-Line and meshes it with the best features of the SX. This means that you get X-Line styling in the interior and exterior and 20-inch X-Line wheels. It has the self-leveling rear suspension, the heated steering wheel, and the same approach and departure angles as the EX X-Line. However, where it differs is with the more premium features.

Like the discrepancy between the EX and SX trims, where the latter has more lavish amenities, the same divide is seen between the EX X-Line and SX X-Line trims. This means the SX X-Line gives you the best of both worlds: the enhanced versatility of the X-Line, but with the SX’s luxury features like leather seats and a ten-way power-adjustable driver’s seat.

The SX Prestige

The SX Prestige sits above each preceding trim because it introduces several premium features and materials, aptly earning its name, as it feels nothing short of “prestigious.” Some enhancements aren’t immediately noticeable at first glance, but they passively make your driving experience simpler, being somehow less hands-on but more engaging.

For example, you’ll notice the high-quality Nappa leather seats the moment you open the door and enjoy the same 10-way power-adjustable driver’s seat with 2-way power-lumbar support that the SX has. What you likely won’t immediately notice are passive features like Auto Rain-Sensing windshield wipers that automatically turn on when it starts raining, meaning you never need to twist that knob if you don’t want to.

Second-row seats get a notable upgrade with the SX Prestige over any trim before it, with heated and ventilated captain’s seats standard. Believe it or not, more premium features are introduced with the SX Prestige. For example, a standard 10-inch Head-Up Display (HUD) projects relevant drive data onto your lower windshield, and a digital rearview mirror replaces the traditional reflective glass rearview with one that doubles as a screen that shows your rearview camera feed instead of your cabin.

The SX Prestige X-Line

The SX Prestige is phenomenal, but it lacks the approach and departure angles and ground clearance that X-Line outfits have. It also lacks features like the high-utility roof rails and a unique style to differentiate it from the traditional Telluride trims. That’s where the SX Prestige X-Line comes into play. It’s complete with the SX Prestige’s most notable features, but it also has the impressive dimensions that make the X-Line outfits so unique!

The SX Prestige X-Pro

Like the SX Prestige X-Line, the SX Prestige Pro takes the SX Prestige and mixes it with the incredible versatility of the X-Pro trim. This means that you get the most premium features coupled with dynamic styling, all-terrain tires, greater ground clearance and angles, a 110V Power Inverter, and more. Despite being the priciest trim of the bunch, it’s worth every penny once you experience it for yourself. If you want the ultimate Telluride experience that’s equally comfortable and ambitious, then you should look no further because it’s the top trim for a reason.

Which 2025 Telluride Should You Buy?

There are a lot of Telluride trims, so how could you possibly know which is the right one? It’s not as complex as it sounds. If the X-Line or X-Pro outfits have features that stand out to you, then remove the other trims from your consideration and stick with these. Similarly, suppose the X-Line and X-Pro don’t have enough for you to consider warranting an upgrade over the traditional trims; in that case, removing the X-Line and X-Pro outfits from the equation leaves you with a far simpler list: LX, S, EX, SX, and SX Prestige.

Once you’ve figured that out, find a trim that fits your budget and offers the features you’re looking for. The best part is that Knoxville drivers can count on us to help them decide. Best of luck, and we’ll see you soon!