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The 2020 Kia Telluride Three-Row SUV Is Big, Boxy, and Bold https://www.caranddriver.com/news/2020-kia-telluride-three-row-suv-photos-info Kia is going big with its new Telluride three-row SUV, both literally and figuratively. It will be the biggest crossover in Kia’s lineup, positioned above the (also three-row) Sorento. Upon this larger canvas Kia has painted bold styling that deviates little from that of the bold Telluride concept car from a few years ago. Final details are forthcoming, but Kia says the Telluride is several inches longer and wider than the Sorento. It’ll hold up to eight people, while the Sorento can only hold seven between its two front seats, three-across second-row bench, and its admittedly tight two-place third-row seat. That means you can expect the Telluride's third row to accommodate three humans, although don't rule out a seven-seat version with captain's chairs in the second row. Beyond its extra size, the Telluride also is far more distinctive than the Sorento, with interesting head- and taillight designs and a boxy, truck-like silhouette. Disregard a few of the custom off-road-y bits seen on this particular vehicle—including all-terrain tires, beefy bumpers, an intake snorkel, a roof rack, and a hatch-mounted spare tire—as it’s simply a modified version of the production car debuting at New York Fashion Week. The Kia's styling is so truck-like and bold, in fact, that you could be forgiven for thinking it's an old-school, body-on-frame SUV along the lines of Chevrolet's Tahoe or GMC's Yukon. Nonetheless, we suspect that the Telluride rides on a front-wheel-drive-based unibody platform, likely one that will be shared with a new three-row Hyundai SUV rumored to be called the Palisade. That it will be built at the same Georgia plant where Kia assembles the unibody Sorento serves as more evidence against the idea that this SUV is body-on-frame like the Borrego SUV that Kia sold for a brief while about ten years ago. Kia says the Telluride will use a V-6 engine but offers no specifics beyond that, leaving us guessing as to whether it'll be the same naturally aspirated 3.3-liter found in the Sorento or possibly a more powerful twin-turbocharged version of the same engine like that in the Stinger. An eight-speed automatic transmission and all-wheel drive seem like sure bets, at least. Inside, the Fashion Week–ified Telluride boasts a few unique bits of trim, including special leather and wood trim that won’t see production. Otherwise, the cabin isn’t likely to change all that much before it goes on sale early next year. Some spy pictures.

The 2020 Hyundai Palisade: This Could Be the Answer to Hyundai's SUV Prayers https://jalopnik.com/the-2020-hyundai-palisade-this-could-be-it-1830381809 Crossovers and SUVs dominate the car world now, bloating lineups like the first meal on a long-awaited vacation. But one of the few places it’s still acceptable to say a company lacks in big, bulky vehicles is with Hyundai and the eight-passenger SUV—a problem that’ll be solved with the 2020 Hyundai Palisade. Hyundai plans to debut the Palisade at the Los Angeles Auto Show in two weeks before it goes on sale in mid 2019, as cars labeled with the following year often do. But Russian website Auto Review might have beat the company to the big surprise: The site posted a photo of what it claims to be the Palisade Saturday, and it sure does fit the typical manufacturer photo style. The Auto Review story talked mainly about the SUV, not mentioning this was a potential early reveal or where the author got the photo. But it did say a lot of things we already know, like how Hyundai’s grand, eight-seat plan to appeal to upper-middle-class families with kids who are all in three sports and get better grades than you ever did in school is reminiscent of the Hyundai Grandmaster SUV concept from earlier this year. The full-size SUV is a big void for Hyundai globally, with its seat counts in passenger cars currently topping out at seven. The Palisade, if this is it, looks surprisingly better the Grandmaster concept did. That’s usually not the case with concept and production cars. Hyundai officially announced the name of the Palisade last week, calling it the company’s new flagship SUV and saying the name is based on an “affluent and beautiful neighborhood in Southern California.” The announcement didn’t say anything else about the Palisade, other than the usual mentions of “premium materials,” “cargo space for growing modern families” and its “bold exterior.” It’s hard to deny that “bold exterior” claim, though, if this is the actual SUV. Even without interior photos to look at, the Palisade fits right in with the other giant, eight-seater SUVs that scream “We have a 3,000-square-foot house and make a comfortable-enough income to take our children and their friends skiing every year” without having to say anything at all. In other words, it looks like an automatic competitor in the luxury SUV segment, which was surely the goal. As for whether this is the Palisade, Carscoops described the Auto Review post as “what looks like a classic case of breaking the news embargo”—an agreement where news is given early on the condition that the information in it won’t be shared until a certain time. Jalopnik doesn’t get embargoes due to our policy not to honor them, so we wouldn’t know if the photo were under embargo. Some searching around didn’t give any more concrete answers on where the photo might have come from or if it might just be a render, and Hyundai would not confirm or deny the photo on the website when asked about it by Jalopnik. But if this is the car that shows up at the LA Auto Show in a couple of weeks, good on Hyundai. It’s not another crossover simply to toss a new design at the crossover-crazed masses, and it’s not some attempt to make an SUV into a sports car. This is an SUV designed to slot into its market naturally and not make a scene, which makes it the perfect candidate to carry middle-class families to their annual ski trips when it comes on the market next year.

Toyota 4Runner Turns 35-Years-Old With Special Editionhttps://carbuzz.com/news/toyota-4runner-turns-35-years-old-with-special-edition Yes, the 4Runner has been around for three and a half decades now. The year was 1984 when Toyota launched the original 4Runner SUV, and over the past 35 years the rough and tough off-roader has proven itself time and again. Thirty-five consecutive model years is a long time for any vehicle, but given the fact that the 4Runner appeals to a more specific group of buyers speaks volumes. To celebrate its three and a half decades, Toyota unveiled the new 4Runner Nightshade Special Edition last month, available exclusively on the Limited trim. This special edition package tacks on 20-inch black wheels, black bumpers and grille accents, and black interior trim throughout, such as on the steering wheel, center cluster, console panels, and shifter. And that’s about it, really. A black theme throughout, hence the name ‘Nightshade.’ Regardless of whether or not one buys this special edition or any other trim, all 2019 Toyota 4Runners come powered by a 4.0-liter V6 with 270 hp and 278 lb-ft of torque paired to a five-speed automatic gearbox with sequential shift mode. If this powertrain setup sounds kind of ancient, well, that’s because it is. A naturally aspirated V6 linked to a five-speed slushbox is old school, and that’s why we love the body-on-frame 4Runner. It’s a true SUV. All 4Runner trims also have a maximum towing capacity of 5,000 pounds. If you opt for the standard 2WD 4Runner, you’ll also benefit from the standard automatic limited slip differential, a system that allows some wheel slippage to help the vehicle escape from deep snow or sand. The optional part-time 4WD system features a two-speed transfer case with a selectable range. But if you want full-time 4WD, you’ll have to upgrade to the 4Runner Limited. This 4WD system utilizes a Torsen center differential with locking feature and a three-mode, center-console-mounted switch. There’s a 40:60 torque split most of the time, but this alters when the system detects and responds to slippage, switching to a 30:70 split. For now, it doesn’t appear that Toyota has plans to drop the 4Runner and we really hope that doesn’t change. If anything, a complete redesign may soon be in order considering the current fifth-generation has been roaming the trails and conquering rocks since 2009. 35 years of the 4Runner. 1st gen (N60) - 1984 to 1989 2nd gen (N120) - 1990 to 1995 3rd gen (N180) - 1996 to 2002 4th gen (N210) - 2002 to 2009 5th gen - 2009 to present