Kia Telluride vs Chevrolet Captiva: which is more reliable?
The Chevrolet Captiva is clearly ahead of the Kia Telluride on the federal record: 89/100 against 76/100 across every model year we score.
The record, side by side
Kia Telluride
- 5 model years scored
- 1,624 owner complaints on record
- about 95 complaints per year on the road
- 26 recall campaigns, 5 safety-critical
- best year 2021 (82/100) · worst 2020 (66/100)
Chevrolet Captiva
- 4 model years scored
- 409 owner complaints on record
- about 7 complaints per year on the road
- 0 recall campaigns, 0 safety-critical
- best year 2015 (97/100) · worst 2014 (80/100)
Mean score is the average across model years from 2013 on, where both records are comparable. How the score works.
Year by year: Telluride against Captiva
The comparison that decides the purchase. A nameplate is not one car — a redesign can move the record sixty points inside two years, and the two nameplates rarely move together.
What owners actually complain about
Kia Telluride
- Unknown Or Other — 376 complaints
- Engine — 273 complaints
- Visibility/Wiper — 270 complaints
Chevrolet Captiva
- Electrical System — 186 complaints
- Engine — 131 complaints
- Unknown Or Other — 73 complaints
They do not fail the same way: the Telluride's complaints concentrate in Unknown Or Other, the Captiva's in Electrical System. That difference matters more to a buyer than the score gap, because it says which repair bill you are taking on.
Years to avoid on each
Kia Telluride: no model year scores below 45; the strongest are 2021, 2023, 2024, 2025.
Chevrolet Captiva: no model year scores below 45; the strongest are 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.
A year scores below 45 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns. Every car’s years to avoid.
What each costs today
A recent used Kia Telluride prices at about $63,100 and a Chevrolet Captiva at about $17,000 — the Chevrolet Captiva is roughly $46,100 less, and they return 20.0 against 23.0 MPG combined.
Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.
FAQ
Is the Kia Telluride or the Chevrolet Captiva more reliable?
On the NHTSA record the Chevrolet Captiva scores 89/100 against the Kia Telluride's 76/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The Chevrolet Captiva carries about 7 complaints per year on the road against 95 for the Kia Telluride.
Which Kia Telluride and Chevrolet Captiva years should I avoid?
Kia Telluride: no year scores below 45. Chevrolet Captiva: no year scores below 45. Each of those scores under 45 out of 100 on complaints per year of exposure and recall campaigns.
What goes wrong on the Kia Telluride and the Chevrolet Captiva?
The largest complaint group on the Kia Telluride is Unknown Or Other (376 complaints); on the Chevrolet Captiva it is Electrical System (186).
Is the Kia Telluride or the Chevrolet Captiva cheaper to own?
A recent used Kia Telluride prices at about $63,100 and a Chevrolet Captiva at about $17,000, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.