Looks great. Carries plenty. And has great fuel efficiency. Yes, the proverbial “total package”

By Gary S. Vasilash

Let’s talk about the Kia Telluride Hybrid X-Line SX Prestige.

Say you’re going on vacation with your kids or on a road trip with your pals.

You need a vehicle that can accommodate people and the stuff that people bring along for the ride.

Maybe you need three rows.

And if you do, and you need space for stuff, 21.3 cubic feet might do the trick. If only need to bring along people who can fit in the first and second rows, then folding that third row flat will give you 47.7 cubic feet for cargo. (Were you to have no passengers, it goes to 88.3 cubic feet with the second row folded, but that doesn’t work with this imagined trip with people.)

Now there’s something to take into account having taken into account people and packaging.

That is, whether it is kids or adults, odds are good that your passengers want to get to wherever they are going sooner rather than later.

Don’t get me wrong: The interior of the Telluride is superb, whether it is the leather-like SynTex material used for the seats or the dual sunroofs or the fast-charging USB-C ports in all three rows or the 14-speaker Meridian audio system or the heated and ventilated seats in the first and second rows or the. . . .

You get it.

This thing is exceedingly comfortable, roomy (passenger volume: 158 cubic feet) and well-equipped.

And for the driver, when on some routes where there are, say, lots of semitrucks hauling their goods to market, seemingly going faster and faster, perhaps so they can refuel before the diesel prices go higher, having a sizeable vehicle is a good thing.

The Telluride is 70.5 inches high (with roof rails, because you never know when you need even more room), 78.3 niches wide, 199.2 inches long, and has a 116.9-inch wheelbase.

What’s more, the driver is going to want to have something that is not only large under those (and other) conditions, but powerful. The Telluride Hybrid X-Line has a 2.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and a parallel hybrid system that produces a total 329 hp. And it is sure-footed, as in having standard AWD.

But back to that notion of getting there sooner rather than later.

And to one of the beauties of this vehicle which, incidentally, has absolutely stunning exterior styling (the X-Line trim provides a somewhat “rugged” appearance with things like a black mesh-typed grille and squared-off black bumper, blacked-out wheel arches, and other dark-themed elements).

The beauty in question here is the fuel efficiency.

It is rated at 30 mpg city, 32 mpg highway, and 31 mpg combined.

So you fill the 18.2-gallon fuel tank with regular. (Yes, regular.)

That provides a theoretical range of 564.2-mile range. But knock off 30 miles from that and you’re still comfortably above a 500-mile range before it is time to stop for a Slurpee, beef jerky and fuel.

And when you make that stop, you’re done in well under 10 minutes, ready to go another 500+ miles.

(I drove the vehicle from Detroit to Chicago. I stopped on the west side of Michigan to get gas because it was convenient, continued to Chicago, drove back to Detroit, and had plenty in the tank when I arrived.)

The efficiency means you’re getting your gang and your gear to where you’re going without delay.