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anyone out there do any towing with their kia. What type of setup should I go with. ie hitch size, stab bars, upgrade suspension ect ect how much are yo actualy towing with the van. Can you actualy tow 3500lbs as stated in the manual
Hi, I Have a 2200 pound ski boat, often loaded with hundreds of pounds of gear, and a hefty trailer. No problems towing so far. All travel at low altitudes with some hilly terrain. George in Wisconsin.
got a 21 foot single axle lunar premier and don't know it is there, my last car struggled against the wind and uphill, this one is just the sedona sd model and cruises with a full car and a loaded caravan
I would advise anybody with an automatic not to tow as found out from a friend that the gear ratios are all wrong and need to professionally adjusted before towing and readjusted when finished
what do you mean. I thought all sedonas were automatic. whats the scoop with adjusting your gears????? can you or your friend elaborate.
how heavy is the trailer you tow?
I am towing a 1400kg Caravan (that's about 3000 lb) with a UK Sedona TS auto. SO I am really interested in the last comment about changing gear ratios.
I do find the gearbox is too eager to shift gears - even on the "manual" setting it changes when I would like it to keep locked up. Being (I am told) an "adaptive" gearbox maybe it will get used to the caravan with time ???
Also, does anyone have any technical info on the gearbox - such as does it mechnically lock up in all ratios ? or just the top one or two ? The 3l petrol automatic volvo I towed with before had more distinct locked/unlocked characteristics when towing - and mostly stayed in lock-up in top when towing.
Anyway - interested in anyone else who is towing a caravan with a diesel automatic in the UK, and any hints on keeping it locked up into a particular gear.
I used to tow my caravan with a Pajero auto, but got fed up with it constantly hunting the gears. I would advise a manual box for any serious towing. Thats why I went for the Sedona.
The layout of the car for stability ie a wheel right at each corner, the kerbweight, the torque available and a manual box sold it for me.
My van is is 7.7 metres long and 1700kg fully laden. The Sedona drags it with no problem whatsoever, bit slower up the hills but still has bags of torque and cruises easily at 60.
I use an ALKO hitch so don't need a seperate stabilser.
Mostly agree if it does keep hunting gears, but my Volvo automatic (960 - 3l petrol) just changed up and stayed locked in overdrive top most of the time - being 10 years old I had hoped a modern car would have matched it.
:-(
Also low speed manouvering with a caravan is sooo much easier with an automatic.
I'm new here and plan on buying the Canadian Sedona with the Steptronic 5 speed auto tranny. And will want to tow a 2200 lbs (1000 kg empty) popup.
Will the tranny lock the torque converter in Steptronic mode? To keep the thanny temp down, you want the converter locked as much as possible! I would think towing would be a real useful application for using the manual-shift mode?!
Thanks, Chris.
Last edited by pop tower : 07-12-2007 at 12:05 AM.
Don't know for sure if your Steptronic is the same as the autobox used with UK diesels, but even with that set to a particular manual ratio the revs go all over, ie, 90Kmh seems to be anywhere from about 1600 to 2300 (very approx) while still in "5".
Which I think means even if the gear ratio is locked, the torque convertor is going in & out of lock all the time.
But I would appreciate a good description of the box Kia use (please not a link to Wikipedia on "automatic gearboxes" !!!).
Whatever way - it tows easily & without trouble, apart from the worse fuel consumption than the manual.
There are a lot of doom mongers out there who will advise never to tow with an automatic - but anything with a decent size engine (like the Sedona, or my Volvo) seems fairly happy. And the Volvo is now up to 150K miles so towing can't be too disasterous to that car....
I'm now towing with a Jeep Cherokee automatic and have 250K km on it. Thus I hope to save some fuel, at least when not towing
(Oops, was towing with the cruise control on the other day: 6km/L = 14 MPG = 16.7 L/100km)
The Steptronic has besides a Drive setting a shift-up and shift-down setting. Thus works like a manual, without a clutch...
It is mated to a 3.8L V6 with 253 lb.ft. @ 3,500 rpm. Should do the trick for towing?!
Tow problems with automatic seems to stem from overheating of the tranny, and most minivans in Canada require a tranny cooler. On the Sedona it's standard I've been told. This and the Steptronic has made me put the Sedona on top of the list.
towing with sedona
Towing
Linear Mode
