2025 Kia Telluride in Kingston: A Used Buyer's Checklist
A 2025 Kia Telluride is barely a used vehicle. In the autumn of 2026 it is one model year old, sometimes two.
That changes what the purchase is actually about. You are not hunting for rust and a rebuilt transmission on a car this young — you are working out which version you are standing in front of, and what its first owner did with it.
Jim Thompson Chrysler is a Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram dealership on Gardiners Road, not a Kia dealer. We appraise, buy and sell pre-owned vehicles of makes we do not sell new, and that is the reason this guide tells you what we cannot look up as plainly as what we can.
Key Takeaways
On a 2025 Telluride the paperwork decides the purchase, not the badge. Four documents settle almost every question — the original window sticker, the ownership, the owner's manual and the service records — so ask for all four before you ask about price.
The newest year is not the thriftiest, which is the opposite of what most people assume. The Government of Canada Fuel Consumption Ratings, published by Natural Resources Canada, rate the 2025 Kia Telluride AWD with the 3.8 L six at 11.7 L/100 km combined and the 2020 Telluride AWD with the same engine at 11.2 — so Jim Thompson Chrysler in Kingston would rather you knew, before you pay for the newer year, that on fuel it is the one that costs you.
Drivetrain is the one thing you do not have to hunt for. Every Telluride in the federal fuel-consumption ratings from 2020 through 2025 is listed as Telluride AWD with one 3.8 L six, so what you confirm on the vehicle in front of you is trim, equipment and history — not whether it has all-wheel drive.
All-wheel drive helps you pull away; four winter tires are what stop you and turn you. On a heavy three-row, in a city that freezes and thaws before the snow ever stays, a full set of four is the recommendation we make most often — and it is a recommendation, not a rule.
Jim Thompson Chrysler in Kingston cannot look a Kia VIN up in Kia's own system, and we will not pretend we can. What we can do is search Transport Canada's public recall database with you, put the vehicle on our hoist before you commit, and appraise whatever you are driving now.
Is a Used 2025 Kia Telluride in Kingston the Right Three-Row for Your Family?
Yes, if you want a large three-row that spends most of its week as a five-seater, and you would rather buy a vehicle whose history is short enough to actually check.
Most Kia Telluride Kingston shoppers are families, and they do not fill the back row daily. They fill it for the hockey carpool, for cousins on the way to Gananoque, and for the airport run with grandparents in the back.
The rest of the week it is one adult, a coffee and the Gardiners Road merge onto the 401. A vehicle this size earns its keep on the days it is full and costs you on the days it is not, so be honest about the ratio before you shop.
Fuel columns and seating ratios are not why anyone falls for a Telluride, though.
What sells this vehicle is the first five minutes inside it: square, upright and plain in the best possible way, with a cabin that feels like a room rather than a cockpit.
You sit up high enough to see over the traffic on Sir John A. Macdonald Boulevard, and the open tailgate is a roof over your head while you load groceries in a November downpour.
The third row is the part that ends the shopping. Watching two kids climb into the back on their own, doors shut and front seats untouched, settles more Saturday mornings than anything printed on a window sticker.
And it is the vehicle the whole family actually wants to take, which matters on any weekend where the alternative is taking two cars.
If you are still deciding between three-row SUVs rather than deciding about a Telluride, start one step earlier with our guide to used seven-seater SUVs in Kingston. It is the wider question, and it is worth settling first.
Once the shape is settled, you can browse our used vehicle listings and sort by what is actually there on the day you look.
Which 2025 Kia Telluride Are You Actually Looking At?
You cannot tell from the outside, and the badge on the tailgate will not tell you either. The answer is written on the vehicle's own documents, and reading them is the single highest-value thing a used Telluride buyer does.
This is not a Telluride problem. It is true of every large SUV sold in more than one configuration, and it costs people money because listings are written to be attractive rather than complete.
The seven questions, where the answers are written, and what we will do with you
A listing that leads with "AWD" has told you nothing, because every Telluride in the federal ratings has it. "Loaded" is the word doing the real work in most adverts, and it means whatever the seller wants it to mean.
Work down this table with the actual vehicle in front of you.
The question | Why it changes the decision | Where the answer is written | What we will do with you |
|---|---|---|---|
Which trim it is | Trim is what actually separates two Tellurides of the same model year, and it is what you are paying the difference for | The original window sticker, which lists the trim and the equipment that came with it | Read the sticker with you and show you what the words mean in practice |
Which options were added, and which systems came with them | Equipment somebody chose tells you how the vehicle was specified and often how it was used | The window sticker's option list, and the owner's manual for the systems named on it | Walk the option list line by line with you |
How the second and third rows are laid out | It decides whether your family actually fits, and it varies between vehicles that look identical online | The window sticker, and your own eyes in the parking lot | Put the rows up and down with you and let your kids sit in the back before you sign |
What towing gear is actually fitted | Fitted gear and a capability claim in an advert are two different things | The window sticker, the owner's manual, and a look underneath | Put it on the hoist and tell you what is really there |
What is left of the original factory coverage | Coverage runs from the first in-service date, not from the day you buy | The ownership and the in-service date, confirmed by a franchised dealer for that make | Tell you which questions to ask and who has to answer them |
What the tires are and what comes with the deal | A second set of wheels and winter tires is real money either way | The tires themselves, measured with a gauge, and the written deal | Measure the tread on all four and tell you what the set has left |
What the service history shows | On a young vehicle, a gap in the history matters more than a number on the odometer | The service records, requested from the seller in writing | Read the records with you and say what looks thin |
The equipment names matter, and they are printed rather than remembered
One thing is already settled, and it saves you a whole line of questioning: the drivetrain. Every Telluride in the Government of Canada Fuel Consumption Ratings, 2020 through 2025, is listed as Telluride AWD with the same 3.8 L six, so all-wheel drive is not the variable — trim and equipment are.
Kia gives its safety and convenience systems their own names, and those names are printed on the window sticker and in the owner's manual along with whether each was standard on that trim or an option somebody paid for.
Read the name off the vehicle, not off the advert and not off a blog — including this one. We do not publish a Kia system name we have not read at Kia's own source, because a wrong one sends you looking for the wrong thing.
What we can look up, and what we cannot
If the window sticker is gone, a franchised Kia dealer can confirm how the vehicle was built from the VIN, in Kia's own system.
We cannot. We are a Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram store, we have no access to Kia's system, and telling you to send us the VIN for a build check would be a claim about access we do not have.
What we do instead is read every document you can get your hands on, put the vehicle in the air, and tell you what the metal says. That is the part that usually decides the purchase.
Should You Buy a 2025 Kia Telluride or an Older One?
Buy the 2025 if you want the shortest history and the most of the original coverage still running. Buy older if you would rather spend less and do more inspecting.
That is the whole trade, and it is worth seeing side by side rather than in paragraphs.
The vehicle in front of you | What you are really buying | Its combined fuel rating | What that changes in Kingston |
|---|---|---|---|
A 2025 | The newest used Telluride there is: one or two Ontario winters, and the most of the original factory coverage still to run | The federal ratings put the 2025 Telluride AWD with the 3.8 L six at 11.7 L/100 km combined. | Less salt has been under it, and the service history is short enough to read in one sitting. Confirm the in-service date on the ownership, because coverage runs from that date and not from your purchase |
A 2024 or 2023 | A vehicle that has been through more winters and usually more kilometers, at a price that reflects it | The same federal data rates the 2024 Telluride AWD at 11.7 and the 2023 at 11.4 L/100 km combined, both with the 3.8 L six. | The underside deserves a proper look and the tires may be on their second set. Confirm what the service records actually show, and whether anything is missing |
A 2022, 2021 or 2020 | A used vehicle in the ordinary sense, where condition matters far more than model year | The same federal data rates the 2022 and 2021 Telluride AWD at 11.3 and the 2020 at 11.2 L/100 km combined, all with the 3.8 L six. | Kingston winters and 401 kilometers both show up here, and the inspection is no longer optional. Confirm everything in the table above, on the hoist, before you commit |
Read the fuel column again: the 2025 Telluride AWD is rated at 11.7 L/100 km combined, tied with the 2024 model and above the 2020 to 2023 entries in this comparison. A newer year buys a shorter history and more potential remaining coverage; it does not automatically lower fuel use.
The difference is small and it is real, and it points the opposite way to the assumption most of us carry into a used lot. Paying more for a newer year buys you a shorter history and more remaining coverage; it does not buy you a cheaper vehicle to run.
The same federal data lists all six of those model years on regular gasoline, so nothing in it points to a premium-fuel Telluride. The fuel grade for the specific vehicle you are looking at is in its own owner's manual, which is another reason to insist on having one.
One footnote for anyone who looks the ratings up themselves: that dataset files the Telluride under its own class label "Sport utility vehicle: Small", which is a classification inside the data rather than a description of the vehicle. Nobody who has parked one would call it small.
The temptation is to shop by model year because it is the easy number to compare. On this nameplate the trim and the history separate two vehicles further than the year does.
If the Telluride's footprint is more than your driveway wants, the smaller Kia three-row is the Sorento, and our pre-owned Kia Sorento guide covers that side of it properly.
You can also shortlist three-rows in our used SUV listings and compare shapes before you commit to one nameplate.
How Does a 2025 Kia Telluride Handle a Kingston Winter?
All-wheel drive helps you pull away from a stop. Four winter tires are what stop you and turn you, and that difference is where most winter disappointment comes from.
Every Telluride in the federal fuel-consumption ratings from 2020 through 2025 is an all-wheel-drive listing, so on this nameplate the winter question is never drivetrain. It is tires, and what is on the vehicle when you buy it.
Around here the set goes on in the first half of November, not after the first storm. Kingston's freeze-thaw mornings glaze a road before any snow stays on it, and the ice at the bottom of a west-end side street does not care how many wheels are driven.
We recommend a full set of four rather than two, on this vehicle and on our own. It is our recommendation and not a requirement anyone has placed on you.
An unploughed side road in the west end is the honest test of a heavy three-row, and the honest answer is that it will pull through and it will not shorten a stop.
The other winter question is the ferry line. A three-row idling in the Wolfe Island queue in February with the back row full is a different vehicle from the same one empty on the 401, and how it was used matters more than what it was sold as.
So ask what set is on it, whether a second set comes with it, and what the tread measures. Those three answers change the cost of the first winter more than anything on the option list.
What to Check on a Used 2025 Kia Telluride in Kingston
Every item below you can learn to check yourself, and every item below we will check with you.
Book a pre-purchase inspection and a used Telluride goes up on a hoist here before you commit to it, whatever badge is on the nose. That is where most of this list gets done properly, with the vehicle in the air.
The four documents, together. Window sticker, ownership, owner's manual and service records; if the seller can only produce two of the four, that is information too, and we will tell you what the gap usually means.
Tires, all four. Tread gets measured with a gauge rather than eyeballed at the curb, and our service department will measure all four and tell you what is left.
Brakes, from underneath. On a vehicle this young the question is rarely whether they are worn out but whether the wear is even, and that is a hoist question we will answer for you.
The underside, after two winters of salt. Two winters is not long, but a vehicle that spent them on gravel concession roads deserves a look from below, which is part of the inspection above.
Kilometers against the age of the vehicle. This one is your judgement, not ours: the odometer tells you whether it lived on the 401 or on the school run, and neither is wrong.
The third row, with your own people in it. Do not take anyone's word for whether it works, including ours — bring the people who will really ride back there and have them sit in it in the parking lot.
Recalls are issued against a VIN rather than against a model year, so a clean model year proves nothing about the specific vehicle in front of you.
Transport Canada's public motor vehicle safety recall database covers every make, is free to search, and we will sit down and search it with you on any vehicle you are considering. Where it shows open work, that repair is carried out by the manufacturer's own franchised dealer network for that make, and we will tell you plainly that it is not us.
What we can do the same day is book the vehicle in and tell you what our own inspection finds, which is the part that decides most purchases.
Who Should Not Buy a 2025 Kia Telluride?
Three buyers should walk away from this one, and it is cheaper to hear it now than to learn it in three weeks.
If you park downtown every day in the tight spots around Princess and Ontario Street, a vehicle this size will annoy you daily for a third row you use monthly.
If you tow something heavy every weekend, buy for the towing first and the seats second, because a vehicle chosen for its interior rarely wins that argument.
And if what your budget actually wants is a smaller three-row, buy the smaller three-row. Our pre-owned Mazda CX-90 guide covers a tidier footprint that still has a back row.
There is one more case worth naming, and it is ours. If you would rather buy your three-row from the store that can also open the manufacturer's system for it — the build lookup, the recall work, the coverage conversation, all in one building — then the Dodge Durango is the three-row to put beside it, and our Dodge Durango guide walks its versions.
That is not a verdict on which vehicle is better. It is one real difference, stated once, and you can see our new vehicle listings if it is the difference that matters to you.
Trading In and Financing a Used 2025 Kia Telluride in Kingston (O.A.C.)
Almost nobody buys a three-row without something to get rid of first, and the trade is usually where the whole deal is decided.
Start with Value My Trade online, then bring the vehicle in so an appraiser can put eyes and hands on it. A photo of a bumper is not an appraisal.
We appraise makes we do not sell new, which is the same reason we will look at a Telluride for you. The appraisal happens on Gardiners Road, in the same building as the hoist.
If you are not buying anything from us at all and simply want the vehicle gone, that is a real option too: we buy cars outright, with no purchase attached.
On the money side, financing is available, O.A.C. Nothing on this page is an offer of credit, and approval depends on the application, so the useful first step is finding out where you stand rather than guessing.
The 30-second credit application starts that, O.A.C. It puts the trade, the payout and the finance options on one page in plain language, which is the only way any of it makes sense.
If you are still carrying a balance on your current vehicle, say so at the start rather than at the desk. It is arithmetic, not a character flaw, and it is far easier to work with early.
Why Buy a Used 2025 Kia Telluride at Jim Thompson Chrysler in Kingston?
Because we will read the documents with you, put the vehicle in the air, and tell you plainly which questions have to go somewhere else.
We sell and appraise pre-owned vehicles of every make here, not only Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram. A used Telluride gets the same straight answers as anything wearing one of our own badges.
Nothing on this page says we have one. The honest way to shop a Telluride with us is to tell us you are looking, and to let us appraise what you are driving now while we look.
The service department that inspects it before you buy can help with the maintenance and inspections we are equipped to provide after purchase, so the inspection conversation and the ownership conversation happen in one building.
And the finance desk works the way the rest of it does: financing and lease options are available, O.A.C., with the numbers explained rather than recited.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a used 2025 Kia Telluride a good buy in Kingston?
It can be, and the newest year is not the thriftiest: the Government of Canada Fuel Consumption Ratings, published by Natural Resources Canada, rate the 2025 Kia Telluride AWD with the 3.8 L six at 11.7 L/100 km combined and the 2020 with the same engine at 11.2. What decides it is trim, service history and tires.
How do I tell which version of a 2025 Kia Telluride I am looking at?
Read the original window sticker, which lists the trim and the equipment that came with the vehicle, and the owner's manual for the systems named on it. Drivetrain is not the variable — every Telluride in the federal ratings from 2020 through 2025 is listed as all-wheel drive with one 3.8 L six.
Does a used Kia Telluride need winter tires in Kingston?
All-wheel drive helps a heavy three-row pull away, and it does nothing to shorten a stop, so we recommend a full set of four winter tires on a vehicle this size. That is our recommendation rather than a requirement, and the tread on the set already fitted is worth measuring before you buy.
How do I check a used Kia Telluride for open recalls?
Search the VIN in Transport Canada's public motor vehicle safety recall database, which covers every make and is free to use. Any open recall work is carried out by that manufacturer's own franchised dealer network, and a clean model year proves nothing about one specific vehicle.
Can Jim Thompson Chrysler inspect a used Kia Telluride if it is not a Kia dealer?
Yes. Jim Thompson Chrysler in Kingston is a Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram store that inspects, appraises and finances used vehicles of makes we do not sell new, O.A.C. We cannot look a Kia VIN up in Kia's system, and we say so before you ask.
Find a Used 2025 Kia Telluride in Kingston
A three-row is a ten-year decision made in an afternoon, and on this one two things decide it: which version you are actually buying, and what the documents say about its first year.
Bring us both. Get directions to 805 Gardiners Road, bring the vehicle you are driving now, and we will put an inspection and an appraisal in front of you rather than a promise.
Sources: every fuel figure above, and the drivetrain and engine listings for the 2020 to 2025 Telluride, come from the Government of Canada Fuel Consumption Ratings, published by Natural Resources Canada on open.canada.ca, last verified September 28, 2026.
What this guide deliberately does not claim: it states no Kia specification — no power, torque, towing, seating, cargo or trim figure — because we publish a manufacturer's number only when we have read it at that manufacturer's own source on the day of writing. Every one of those questions is sent to the window sticker, the owner's manual, the ownership and the VIN instead, which is where a used buyer has to go regardless of what any blog says.
Recalls are held against the VIN by the manufacturer and in Transport Canada's public motor vehicle safety recall database, which is free to search for any make. Last reviewed September 28, 2026.
Visit us at 805 Gardiners Road, Kingston, ON K7M 7E6
Browse inventory online, value your trade, start a credit application, O.A.C., book service, or contact our team.
Local: (613)-389-4426 Sales: (877)-251-9249 Parts: (888)-711-5309 Service: (888)-713-0742
About the Author:
Kerry Irven is the Vice President of New and Used Automotive Operations for Heighton Automotive Group, a family-owned and operated automotive group serving communities across Eastern Ontario. Kerry began his automotive career in new-car sales, building his experience on the showroom floor and working his way through multi-store dealership operations.
With over 25 years in the automotive industry, Kerry has helped grow automotive businesses from one location with 40 to 50 vehicles in stock to more than 500 vehicles across 10 rooftops. His hands-on background in both new and used-vehicle operations gives him a practical understanding of what customers look for when shopping for their next vehicle.
Throughout his career, Kerry has always been actively involved in staff coaching and in understanding customer wants and needs, helping ensure the businesses he works with continue to adapt to what customers are truly looking for.
One of the most exciting chapters of his career has been the shift into modern automotive marketing, embracing new technology, transparent pricing, customer-first inventory strategies, and new ways to create a better vehicle-shopping experience.
Kerry has completed extensive automotive training, including certification through the Ontario Motor Vehicle Industry Council, involvement with the Used Car Dealers Association of Ontario, Canadian automotive dealer training, and multiple customer service courses.
Born and raised on a farm, Kerry has always valued family, hard work, and a practical, down-to-earth approach. Joining Heighton Automotive Group and working alongside Thomas Heighton and family, along with managing partners Kyle Lothian and Martin Gougeon, has allowed him to bring those same values into the car business. It has also allowed Kerry to continue following a simple philosophy: treat every customer exactly the way he would want to be treated.
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