2023 Kia Forte Owner’s Manual

Kia has a thing for providing affordability and doing it right, an ethos quickly becoming a thing of the past in the American automobile market.

The tiny Kia Rio is one of the five cheapest cars available brand new today in the United States; the brand’s mid-size family sedan, the K5, offers some of the best bang for your buck in that category, while the Forte offers a go-between, bringing a car that is sized between those two that inherits all of their frugality, wrapping it in a handsome silhouette that looks more expensive than it is.

The Kia Forte is unchanged for 2023, except for one thing: the GT Technology Package is no longer available. This package used to add FCA Fusion, a combination of driver-assist features, to the Forte GT models with the free dual-clutch automatic transmission. Now, FCA Fusion is standard on those models, removing the need for the addon package.

Elsewhere, things remain the same, with the 2023 Kia Forte offering two engine options: a 2-liter four-cylinder with 147 horsepower and a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder with 201 horsepower.

The 2-liter engine, standard on the Lx, LXS, and GT-Line trims, can be paired with either a six-speed manual or a continuously variable automatic transmission. The turbocharged 1.6-liter is available on the GT and GT manual trims, pairing either with a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic or a six-speed manual transmission.

However, the GT trims are the obvious choice, not just for the higher-powered engine. The Forte GT also doesn’t need many extra features because it comes standard with a lot that significantly ups its value proposition. With these trims, you get 18-inch wheels, sport seats, ambient interior lighting, and a wireless smartphone charging pad at no extra cost.