 So if you guys will come back to another one. If you're new to the channel, I'm Goldpony. I do new car truck SUV reviews on YouTube. And today we're in the brand new 2023 Kia Forte courtesy of Fred Beans Kia in Mechanicsburg, PA for more information on their inventory. Please feel free to check out the link in the description box below. And so we're in this one today because this is a very affordable sedan starting at under $20,000. You don't hear that too much these days. So that's pretty cool. Compete, of course, with the Civic and the Corolla, but it comes with America's best warranty being five year, 60,000 mile bumper to bumper, 10 years, 100,000 miles on the powertrain. So ton of peace of mind right there. So ultimately in this video, we will be testing out and going over everything about this one from acceleration to braking, steering full, ride quality, sound system, exhaust, all that fun stuff. So having said all that, what do you guys say? Let's just go ahead and jump right into it. And as always, let's start with pricing. And so as you can imagine, there are several different trim levels for the 2023 Forte. First one being the LX, starting at $19,490. LXS, which is the one we have today, starting at $19,990. GT line for $21,690. GT for $24,190. And the GT manual transmission for $24,890. And I know what you're thinking, why is the manual transmission more? For whatever reason, Kia actually gives the manual transmission a ton of added features actually as well. And we'll get more into that in the video. But anyways, nonetheless, as you can imagine with all of this trim levels, there are actually two different power plants available for the Forte. First one being the one we have today and belonging to the first three trim levels. I just mentioned there, that is a two liter direct injected inline four cylinder, 147 horsepower at 6,200 RPM. 132 pound feet of torque coming in at 4,500 RPM. Power sent to the front wheels through an IVT that stands for an intelligent variable transmission. So it's like a CVT that you're probably used to. Zero to 60 time coming in at approximately 8.2 seconds with MPG numbers coming in at 31 of the city, 41 on the highway for the LX. And then slightly reduced to 29 in the city, 39 on the highway for the LXS and the GT line taking regular unleaded fuel. But so then there is that other engine configuration of course belonging to the GT trim levels. That one is powered by 1.6 liter turbocharged four cylinder engine, 201 horsepower at 6,000 RPM, 195 pound feet of torque coming in at 1,500 RPM. Power sent to the front wheels again through a seven speed dual clutch. That's an impressive transmission right there or a six speed manual obviously as explained at the trim level of course. Zero to 60 time for that one, approximately 6.7 seconds with MPG numbers coming in. It's still a very impressive 27 in the city, 35 on the highway for the dual clutch at least, 22 in the city, 31 on the highway for the manual transmission. But again, taking regular unleaded fuel. Gotta love that. So then before we do any kind of fun acceleration test here in our Forte, I wanted to mention to you guys the drive modes. There is a button actually labeled drive mode just to the left of the shifter. When you press that, you're going to get normal, sport and smart. Now remember reviewing this car two years ago when it was just normal and sport but now they've added a smart drive mode. So that is pretty cool. So ultimately adjusting things like the shift points of throttle response and the steering sensitivity as well. So now have you got all of that out of the way? What do you guys say? Let's go ahead and find a straightaway. Let's put the acceleration here to the test and let's see how quickly we can get our base engine configuration here up to speed. All right, well might as well do it here just pulling out onto the road. All right, it's actually not bad as far as acceleration goes. You're not going to have any issues emerging onto the highway. Having said that, you can clearly tell it's a continuously variable transmission or as Kia calls it an intelligent variable transmission. So it's kind of got that rubber band effect. So I wouldn't have minded if they adjusted that a little bit to kind of simulate more of an automatic transmission because I think that's what most people prefer these days. But having said that, again, as far as acceleration goes, it is definitely plenty fine. So not going to have any issues there even with the base engine configuration. Obviously that upgraded engine is going to be quicker but this will certainly get the job done. But anyways, to go along with that acceleration as always, braking is equally important. So upfront, you will find 11 inch ventilated front disks in the back 10.3 inch solid rear disk. And with the GT trim levels, it's actually going to be bumped up to 12 inch ventilated front disks and then 11.2 inch solid rear disk. So overall as far as braking feel goes, brilliant. I love it. I love it. Definitely on the firmer side of things, it's not a softer, squishy braking feel whatsoever. So that's definitely a good thing. So when it comes to braking feel, definitely 100% on point in the forte. Then touching on suspension and handling upfront, you're going to get a McPherson strut front suspension either way in the back force and beam rear axle for the non GT trim levels like we have today or an independent multi link rear suspension for the GT trim levels. So obviously you're going to get a little better handling with those GT trim levels because of the independent multi link rear suspension. Overall though, as far as ride quality goes, we're coming up on a little bump here. It's all right. It's pretty much as you would expect a compact car to ride. So I honestly personally don't have any issues with it. So definitely perfectly fine for me. Let's go ahead and put it in sport driving mode. You can instantly tell the steering feel does get a heavier weight to it when you put it in that driving mode. But having said that, even when you put it back in normal driving mode, the steering feel is actually still really good. A good bit heavier than actually my Hyundai Sonata, believe it or not, wouldn't have minded this steering feel in my Sonata. But I know it's weighted more towards on the heavier side of things, I guess you could say. So it instantly points you in the direction that you want to go. Not the very heaviest steering feel obviously because this isn't a sports car or anything like that. But honestly, it's pretty darn good. I definitely don't mind it there. And touching on cabin noise, I am going 35 miles per hour right now. And guys could probably tell there isn't a whole lot of exterior wind noise or actually even road noise coming into the cabin. So that's actually not too bad. And touching on visibility, this is a perfectly shaped sedan. So looking out my rear view mirror here, definitely no issues there. And actually those second row headrests tucked down pretty decently into the rear seats. So that's even better because sometimes that doesn't feed visibility there as well. So good to go there as well. But ultimately that about rounds out the performance segment of this review guys. Let's now go ahead and take a look at the exterior of our brand new 2023 Kia Forte. All right, so here she is you guys. The new 2023 Kia Forte finished in current red paint is the exterior color name. And by the way, that is a $295 paint option. If you do indeed like the color that we have here today, but let's go ahead and start up front. Of course you have that new Kia logo and actually that started last year for the 2022 model year. But it still looks good of course. Of course you have that gloss black front grill in the center. You're actually going to get some red accents on that front grill. If you were to go with the GT trim levels, along with some GT, some red GT badging in the upper corner as well. I do like the silver accents found just below that. Also underneath those front headlights there as well. Of course that front grill is a tiger nose design in typical Kia fashion. I should also mention that body colored front lip. I do like that. That's for the non GT trim levels. But if you were to go with the GT trim levels, you're actually going to get a gloss black front lip. So I did want to mention that to the sides. The lighting is going to differ amongst the trim level. So let me go ahead and mention that real quick. Projector beam halogen headlights for the non GT trim levels, but then LED headlights for the GT trim levels. And of course they come with LED daytime running lights. Also the automatic feature. And get this, this one's impressive, get ready. Automatic high beams come standard for every single trim level across the board. That's rare. That's still rare right now. Even for 2023 model year cars on other manufacturers up there, you a lot of times won't get that. So essentially what that means is if you have your high beams on at night and it senses a vehicle coming in the opposite direction, it's going to automatically dim them back to low beams. Then when that vehicle is gone, it's going to automatically then bump it back up to high beams. So very nice, very convenient feature there. If you wanted LED fog lights, go with the GT line trim level or one of the GT trim levels. So you can actually get it on the GT line. So I do like that. And just moving in a little closer, I wanted to show this to you guys as well. Look at this design on the upper portion of the headlights. I just noticed that. That is a pretty cool look. It's all about the attention to detail. And actually Kia did a pretty darn good job with that attention to detail, at least on the front end here. So definitely a fan. But anyway, it's pretty much rounds out the front end here. So now I'll go ahead and make our way to the side of the Forte. All right, so now I'm making our way to the side of the Forte. Black windows surrounds will come standard gloss black side skirts for the GT trim level, but you will get body colored side skirts if you go with any of the other trim levels, obviously, as you guys are looking at right now. Take a look at the side mirrors. They are body colored power adjustable side mirrors. That's the standard setup. But if you were to go with the GT line trim level or one of the GT trim levels, you're actually going to get gloss black side mirrors. So a little more aggressive look, I guess you could say. Heated side mirrors with LED integrated turd signals then coming with the GT line trim level and up. Or you could go with an optional package option that we have here today on our LXS and get that as well. By the way, in case you were curious, that is the LXS technology package. It goes for $500. And that does give you heated outside mirrors with LED integrated turd signals, along with a bunch of safety features as well. So then taking a look at the wheel configurations. Again, differing pretty substantially amongst the trim levels, 15 inch steel wheels with covers coming with the LX trim level, 16 inch alloys coming with the LXS. That's what you guys are looking at right now, of course. 17 inch alloys for the GT line trim level, then 18 inch alloys for the GT trims. And you're going to get some red accents on the center caps for those GT trim levels as well. But they're pretty much rounds out the side profile. Let's now go ahead and make our way to the back. All right, and so now since we are around to the back of the Forte, you will find a gloss black shark fin antenna all the way to the top. If you wanted a rear spoiler, go with the GT line trim level end up that will give you a gloss black rear spoiler. LED taillights, again, coming with the GT line trim level end up. I like the satin aluminum badging as well. I just noticed that it's not chrome, like you typically find on a lot of other manufacturers, but rather like satin aluminum. So it's a very cool, very high-end look to the badging at least. And then it's probably not a feature in itself, but I didn't want to overlook it. Down below then, if you were to go with one of those GT trim levels, you will get a gloss black rear diffuser. Obviously we don't have that today. Single exhaust outlet tucked away on the passenger side underneath there for all trim levels. But the GT trim levels, because that is going to give you dual exhaust outlets with chrome tips. So of course that's not what we have today. So what do you guys say? I think you know what we have to do next. Let's go ahead and turn this thing on and here's the exhaust clip. All right, so for now, since we are around to the back of the Ford today, when it comes to opening that rear trunk, I will say it's a smart trunk for the GT line trim level and up, meaning just walk up to the back and wait maybe three seconds. It's going to automatically open up for you as long as the key fob is on you. But other than that, there's actually no button on the trunk itself to pop the trunk. The buttons are going to be on the key fob and also kind of by the driver's side left foot kind of towards the seat. You guys know what I'm talking about, but once opened up, the cargo capacity comes in at 15.3 cubic feet. If that was not enough space, there's a 60-40 split, meaning the rear seats do fall down for a good bit of extra space then. If you needed it, there is some cargo lighting back there as well, of course. And if you were to lift up underneath of that cargo floor surprisingly, there's a decent amount of in-floor storage. I wasn't expecting to find that, but there's actually good bits. You can put an ice scraper or tire inflator kit back there, stuff like that. So that is definitely very nice to find. You typically find that on SUVs, but very rarely do you find that on sedan. So wanted to emphasize it. But anyways, then making our way to the rear legroom, then I just going to commit it 35.7 inches. So for reference, I'm in even six feet tall. This is how much space I have back there. We don't have rear ventilation today, but if you were to go with the GT trim levels, you will get rear ventilation. Rear center armrest with cup holders is going to come on the GT line trim level and up. And passenger side seat back map pocket coming with the GT line trim level and up as well. Then making our way up to the front seats, manually adjustable cloth seating for the LX and LX S trim levels, syntax, cloth combination for the GT line trim level and the GT trims, 10-way power adjustable driver seat is going to be optional for the GT line and GT trim levels. Heated front seats for the GT manual and ventilated front seats are going to be optional for the GT line and GT trims. But overall, as far as seat comfort goes, it'll definitely get the job done. Honestly, of course, not the most comfortable seats I've ever sat in, but certainly not that bad for what they are. They're manually adjustable cloth seats. You can't expect too much, but I personally wouldn't have any issues driving this on a regular basis. I'll just put it that way. But they take a look at the steering wheel. It is tilt and telescoping. It is leather wrapped for the GT line trim level and up. And if you were to go with one of the GT trim levels, you're actually going to get a flat bottom steering wheel with the GT logo found at the bottom as well. So that's pretty cool. But now let's go ahead and make our way to the startup. Let me start by showing you guys the key here. It's actually a pretty cool key. Essentially you got your key logo on the one side and then all of your buttons are located on the side of the key. And that's going to be lock, unlock, and that button to pop the rear trunk there. But it is all keyless entry with a push button start if you were to go with the GT line trim level and up. So we don't have that today. So essentially all I'm going to do here is simply put my front of the brake and turn the key. And so once started up, tachometer is all the way to your left, speedometer all the way to your right. And of course there is a small digital display front and center to control what is on that digital display. There are steering wheel mounting controls found on the right side of the steering wheel. And that gives you things like how many miles you have left until you hit empty. There is a digital speedometer available. That is pretty cool. Here's how many miles you have left until your next oil change. There's tire pressure for each individual tire. That's pretty cool as well. So outside temperature, pretty much everything you could possibly want on the digital portion of the gauges more or less. Then making our way to overall interior quality, there is a power sunroof for the GT manual transmission that comes standard on that one. That's why I was mentioning that at the beginning of the video there's more actually as well. The GT manual gives you some added features that you don't get on any of the other trim levels. But that power sunroof is optional though on the GT line trim leveling up and the GT dual clutch, but standard on the GT manual. Overhead sunglass holder is going to come standard. There is a black cloth headliner for the GT trim levels. Otherwise you can get this kind of beige headliner which is perfectly fine for me. Alloy foot pedals coming with the GT line trim leveling up. Wireless phone charger for the GT trims. Otherwise just in front of the shifter you're going to get some rubberized kind of bottom here where you can simply store your cell phone but it's not going to charge it of course, but you can charge it. Just plugging into the USB charging port I guess. Dual zoom climate control coming with the GT line trim leveling up. 12 volt power outlet as well. Just in front of the shifter there's actually two of them. Some more rubberized storage. You got dual cup holders just behind the shifter and within the center armrest. Plenty of storage there as well. So overall as far as interior quality goes there is some cheap silver plastic found on the doors and some black plastic found around the shifter. But I honestly don't mind it. I think it's perfectly fine. Maybe it's because everything is so crisp and clean right now on this thing but I actually don't mind it. I would be perfectly fine driving this thing but now let's go ahead and make our way to see the infotainment screen because I remember when I reviewed this car a couple of years ago it didn't have all that this car now has. I'll put it that way. So eight inch color touchscreen display coming with the LX and LX S trim levels. That's what you're looking at right now but GT line trim leveling up comes with a 10 and a quarter inch color touchscreen display that used to be an eight inch screen just like we're looking at right now just two years ago. So you can now get a 10 and a quarter inch screen. So that's pretty cool. Bluetooth and audio streaming of course coming with either screen Android Auto, Apple CarPlay, same thing. Factory navigation system though coming with the 10 and a quarter inch screen. Although you don't really need it if you have a Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and some data on your phone anyways but there's also a voice memo system where you can record your voice and then play it back at a later date if you didn't want to forget something. There's also quiet mode. So let me go ahead and press that real quick. Essentially it's going to limit the front volume to 25 and then completely cancel out the rear volume. So if you have kids that are asleep in the back that'll help keep them asleep. Honestly, I'm not a hundred percent sure if you would even need that feature on the Ford tape because it's not like it's a big vehicle like the Telluride but still it's there if you wanted it but you can also of course check out your radio information. So when it comes to the sound systems they will differ substantially amongst the trim levels. Again, four speakers for the LX and LXS. That's what we have of course, six speakers for the GT line and GT trims and then there's an eight speaker Harman Kardon sound system for the GT manual with 320 watts. I remember testing that out two years ago when I drove that one. It was pretty darn impressive but we do have the four speaker sound system so the polar opposite here with us here today. So what do you guys say? Let's go ahead and turn on the radio see what we got playing today and let's test out the clarity of this one. Yeah, it's four speakers. I mean that last sound system I remember testing it in 2020. It was amazing. It sounds like a four speaker sound system. So I'll just put it that way. It'll get the job done though. But last thing I wanna mention to you guys on the infotainment screen of course is when you do put this thing in reverse you will find a rear view camera coming standard across the board for every trim level which is always going to lead us into safety. And so to start front side, side curtain ear bags do come standard in the back you're gonna have latch AKA lower anchors to tether to children for the rear car seats. Rear child door locks, tire pressure monitoring system but also coming standard. A forward collision avoidance assist system with pedestrian detection, driver attention warning lane keep assist, lane following assist. The GT line trim level then is going to add a blind spot monitoring system with rear cross traffic alert or you can go with the LXS technology package for 500 bucks which is also gonna give you that as well. GT trim level then is going to add adaptive cruise control with stop and go and highway driving assist as well which is kind of like a level two autonomous driving systems. That is pretty cool as well. So overall when it comes to my final thoughts excellent pricing on this thing the car we are driving today is listed for under $20,000. That is definitely remarkable. I love that. You get America's Best Warranty as well being five or 60,000 miles but about for 10 years 100,000 miles on the powertrain. If you drive less than 10,000 miles a year you're gonna keep this car for 10 years it's gonna be under warranty. So that is incredible. Wireless phone charger is nice when you get it we don't have it today but I love that it's available on this thing. Great styling. This thing is definitely not short on style. It looks pretty darn good from the exterior. I will say that as far as room for improvement goes. One thing I always kind of look for on a less expensive cars is at least the availability to have homeland control. So for up to three different garage doors typically is how it's found on a bottom portion of that rear view mirror. I knew some of the other compact cars like Corolla at least offer it but wouldn't have minded if Kia at least offered that. I know we could just buy the garage door and open it from Lowe's but still definitely wouldn't have minded seeing that. But anyways that is about it for this one you guys. Let me know what you think of the 2023 Forte in the comments section below. I always read your comments because I love talking about cars but anyways feel free to hit the subscribe button if you're in a new car reviews that is what we do here on this channel. After all do appreciate you guys watching more than you know and I will see you guys all in the next video. Stay Gold.