Chevy Spark

[routeforty]

Anyone on here flat towing a Chevy Spark? Looking at a 2021 manual transmission. Looked at Jeeps yesterday-really overkill for what we will use it for, most of the time it will be sitting in the garage waiting to take a trip. Decided $35-40k was more than I wanted to spend to not use it. Can buy 3 sparks for that. Just want something to run around in while on the road. Gary

[Geeze]

routeforty wrote:
Bought it yesterday-2021, manual trans. Had to drive about 400mi to get it. In Ohio the only ones I could find were black or dark gray(manual transmission). Found one in the DC area(toasted marshmallow color, 5 sp manual, can flat tow). Drove nice on way home. Decent car, not much room inside, but for what we want it for it will work. Get base plate on sometime before spring. Haven't decided it I want to tackle it or just have someone put it on for me. After retirement I've decided to pay others to do what I used to tackle fearlessly,

I put the Blue OX base plate on our 2018. Reinstalling the front fascia was the worst part of the job. There are some weird clips that attach the front fascia to the fenders that are a real p.i.t.a.to get snapped back into place. I ended up breaking one and had to order a replacement online. I couldn't get the panels to line up properly and ended up taking it to a body shop. They even complained what a lousy design it was. I put the Demco Stay N Play duo on and let me tell you there is no good place to mount it under the hood. I ended up mounting it to the frame rail on the drivers side just ahead of the transmission. After I mounted it and had it working Chevy came out with a recall/bulletin stating the negative battery cable must be unhooked when towing to prevent the front wheel brakes from locking up. Now when I disconnect the battery via battery cutoff switch I installed the Demco brake won't work. The car is light enough that it hasn't been a problem so far. We will look hard at a tow dolly with surge brakes next time around. I know they have their disadvantages but you can tow just about any vehicle using a dolly and don't have the added expense to setup another vehicle when you trade.

[Geeze]

We have a 2018 Spark manual. It's a fun little car and will keep up with traffic just fine if you keep the RPM's up. First gear is geared a little two high in my opinion. If you pull away from a stoplight with what I would consider normal engine speed its a dog. The only downside to any manual transmission is they are a P.I.T.A. driving around town. We will probably upgrade to a Chevy Equinox just to get back to a automatic and more room. Our Spark gets about 40 mpg most of the time and we've had zero problems in 20,000 miles. They seem to be well made.

[routeforty]

Bought it yesterday-2021, manual trans. Had to drive about 400mi to get it. In Ohio the only ones I could find were black or dark gray(manual transmission). Found one in the DC area(toasted marshmallow color, 5 sp manual, can flat tow). Drove nice on way home. Decent car, not much room inside, but for what we want it for it will work. Get base plate on sometime before spring. Haven't decided it I want to tackle it or just have someone put it on for me. After retirement I've decided to pay others to do what I used to tackle fearlessly,

[bob_nestor]

Thought Chevy and Ford were getting out of the car business and there weren't going to be any 2021 Chevy cars.

Did have an RVer stay with me via Boondockers Welcome and they flat towed a manual Chevy Spark and said they never had any problems. Based on that I looked at and bought a 2019 Spark but it was a CVT automatic. The Chevy documentation indicated it was flat towable, but I questioned that and had the dealer verify. They came back with a different story that only the manual was flat towable. I did buy the automatic and trailered it to Alaska and later drove it back to Texas. It was a fun little car that wasn't a race car or capable of doing 0-60 in under 5 secs, but I never felt it was underpowered for what it was. I ended up trading it in on a new Wrangler after selling my old Wrangler to a friend in Alaska.

I might have to look at a 2021 manual Spark.

[wildtoad]

We used to tow a Chevy Sonic and all was good except when we wanted to go somewhere the Sonic couldn’t such as Monument Valley. When we got home we bought a lightly used Jeep Wrangler and now we can go where we want when we want. Easy to setup for tow, easy to connect and disconnect. Check into a Ready Brute tow package.

[routeforty]

carringb wrote:
The Spark is a fun little car at low speeds, but ultimately it's cramped and under-powered, especially in the torque department (94 ft-lbs at 4400 RPM). You might find it dangerously underpowered at high-elevations.

Is new a requirement? Have you ever seen a Ford C-Max? It's one of my favorite toads. Crossover-ish seating position, 40+ MPG, good handling, reasonable power, and with the Energi model; 15 miles of all-electric range. Towing it 4-down is simple. No special programming or wiring needed (other than rear lights). It even has double tail-light lenses, so one can be converted to dedicated tow-vehicle-powered lights without diodes.

Getting one coming off a 2-year lease will cost less than a new Spark.

yes, rather have new. Don't really care about lots of power. Probably the only time we will use it is to go from a CG to run errands or local touring. Since we're in the east we probably won't see too much high elevation(did that last year and the high altitude was not kind to us} so I think this will probably work. Had a chevy sprint(3cyl) years ago, when you turned on the AC it was like the car downshifted, so lots of power isn't too important to me.

[azdryheat]

Try the ford Fiesta for size.

[carringb]

The Spark is a fun little car at low speeds, but ultimately it's cramped and under-powered, especially in the torque department (94 ft-lbs at 4400 RPM). You might find it dangerously underpowered at high-elevations.

Is new a requirement? Have you ever seen a Ford C-Max? It's one of my favorite toads. Crossover-ish seating position, 40+ MPG, good handling, reasonable power, and with the Energi model; 15 miles of all-electric range. Towing it 4-down is simple. No special programming or wiring needed (other than rear lights). It even has double tail-light lenses, so one can be converted to dedicated tow-vehicle-powered lights without diodes.

Getting one coming off a 2-year lease will cost less than a new Spark.

[Lwiddis]

Good Sam says the 2020 is four down towable with the manual transmission.

https://images.goodsam.com/newmotorhome/towguides/DinghyGuide2020.pdf

[Lwiddis]

Does GM say the 2021 Spark is four down towable?