Kia Telluride vs GMC Yukon: which is more reliable?
The Kia Telluride and the GMC Yukon are level on the federal record — 76/100 against 73/100 across the years we score. Which one to buy is decided by the model year, not the badge.
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)
GMC Yukon
- 5 model years scored
- 926 owner complaints on record
- about 63 complaints per year on the road
- 26 recall campaigns, 13 safety-critical
- best year 2025 (83/100) · worst 2021 (60/100)
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 Yukon
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
GMC Yukon
- Engine — 569 complaints
- Power Train — 146 complaints
- Electrical System — 123 complaints
They do not fail the same way: the Telluride's complaints concentrate in Unknown Or Other, the Yukon's in Engine. 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.
GMC Yukon: no model year scores below 45; the strongest are 2022, 2023, 2025.
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 GMC Yukon at about $63,100 — they price within $1 of each other, which at this level is the same money, and they return 20.0 against 17.0 MPG combined.
Class-level estimates re-priced to your country, not a valuation of one car. Method.
FAQ
Is the Kia Telluride or the GMC Yukon more reliable?
On the NHTSA record the Kia Telluride scores 76/100 against the GMC Yukon's 73/100, averaged across every model year we hold. The gap is small enough that the model year matters more than the badge.
Which Kia Telluride and GMC Yukon years should I avoid?
Kia Telluride: no year scores below 45. GMC Yukon: 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 GMC Yukon?
The largest complaint group on the Kia Telluride is Unknown Or Other (376 complaints); on the GMC Yukon it is Engine (569).
Is the Kia Telluride or the GMC Yukon cheaper to own?
A recent used Kia Telluride prices at about $63,100 and a GMC Yukon at about $63,100, before insurance and the maintenance band. Both pages carry the five-year running-cost figure.