Kia Forte GT manual toad

[Richard Good]

Last summer I sold my Fiat 500 Turbo toad and purchased a 2023 Kia Forte GT manual to be my new toad. The mileage is advertised to be 26mpg, but on the highway I am getting close to 40mpg. I installed a Blue Ox base plate which went in pretty easily. I only had to drill 2 holes as part of the mounting process. So far everything seems to be working out fine. The car is about 4-500lbs heavier than the Fiat, but still under 3000lbs. it tows easily and so far I have no complaints. The manual says to tow with the ignition switch in the accessory position which I do. The steering wheel does not lock when the ignition is turned off, so I am not sure of the reason to keep the accessory switch on. I installed the accessory light kit, so the lights are powered from the coach, not the car.

[Fred Brooks]

   Richard,
  Most newer toad vehicles will have you tow with the key in accessory position to unlock the steering wheel. The down side is the draw on the vehicle battery. If the owner's manual states not to tow it for more than 6 hours. They are trying to keep you from depleting the toad's battery. Normally they will advise you to remove a certain fuse to prevent that. After I dropped that fuse into no-mans land several times, I said enough of that! I ran a charge line from my 7-pin tow plug thru a 15 amp inline fuse to my toad's battery. Some folks add a disconnect switch to the accessory circuit they flip off when towing. Fred