[sdj]

Anyone have experiences with towing? I took out the boat for the first time Saturday! Not bad, I'm guessing its a 2,000 lb boat package. Hitch receiver has a 12" rise.

 

[Leshemdoc]

Anyone have experiences with towing? I took out the boat for the first time Saturday! Not bad, I'm guessing its a 2,000 lb boat package. Hitch receiver has a 12" rise. View attachment 532 View attachment 533

Nice!
Do you have to turn off the parking/reverse assist sensors (can’t remember the system official name) when towing?

 

[sdj]

Nice!
Do you have to turn off the parking/reverse assist sensors (can’t remember the system official name) when towing?

Yes! You have to turn off active rear parking assist- otherwise the Carnival will slam on the brakes everytime you back up. The issue is - I occasionally forget to turn it back on.

 

[Jp3]

Do you have the same problem as me with the hitch constantly scrapping on a semi steep slope?

 

[sdj]

Do you have the same problem as me with the hitch constantly scrapping on a semi steep slope?

yes- fortunately I live in South Florida so it rarely happens here. But this summer I scraped it in Maryland and North Carolina constantly.

 

[exde]

For anyone that's done some towing with their Carnival, what's your MPG been like and how much weight are you towing?

 

[Kia-Driver]

I don't have a Carnival yet, but I have it's predecessor, the Sedona. My '16 Sedona tows pretty well. My previous tow vehicle was an '07 Subaru Tribeca, and the Sedona tows better than that, likely due to the longer wheelbase.

I have an enclosed 6' tall 5x10 utility trailer. When loaded to the gills with 3,000 lbs (or slightly more), my mileage drops to 12-14 at 70-75 mph (from 24-26 when not towing). I think most of that drop is due to wind resistance from the trailer. Slower speeds get better mpg, but I don't have the patience to drive slow.

The Carnival has an additional 14 hp and 9 ft-lbs of torque over mine, so I would guess it would take a little less of a hit to mpg.

 

[kckyle]

Anybody towed close to the 3,500 limit yet? I am renting a travel trailer that weighs 2,800 pounds so expect I’ll be over 3,000 with all our stuff. Curious how well my Carnival will handle the weight.

 

[vandalorian]

interesting! I am looking to tow a 14" bass boat but wasn't sure it was possible with such low clearance. any other cons to look out for?

 

[kckyle]

interesting! I am looking to tow a 14" bass boat but wasn't sure it was possible with such low clearance. any other cons to look out for?

Yep, here's what I would say:

• The low hanging hitch part sucks. I don't know why they couldn't have had it more integrated into the bumper instead of hanging completely below it. To get your trailer to be level, you will probably need to get a hitch receiver that adds 8-11" of lift; look at etrailer.com for the most options and pay attention to the weight limit of the receiver too.
• Most receivers also don't give you much room between the ball and the bumper; it was within like 1-2" in my test.
• Unfortunately, Kia also only equips the Carnival with a 4-wire setup, even though the Telluride gets a 7-wire. Therefore, you have no trailer braking capability so you are reliant on your trailer having surge brakes or you're counting on the van's brakes to do all the braking, which is risky.

 

[vandalorian]

Yep, here's what I would say:

• The low hanging hitch part sucks. I don't know why they couldn't have had it more integrated into the bumper instead of hanging completely below it. To get your trailer to be level, you will probably need to get a hitch receiver that adds 8-11" of lift; look at etrailer.com for the most options and pay attention to the weight limit of the receiver too.
• Most receivers also don't give you much room between the ball and the bumper; it was within like 1-2" in my test.
• Unfortunately, Kia also only equips the Carnival with a 4-wire setup, even though the Telluride gets a 7-wire. Therefore, you have no trailer braking capability so you are reliant on your trailer having surge brakes or you're counting on the van's brakes to do all the braking, which is risky.

i feel like i need to just buy a pickup LOL