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BHPian ads295 recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Front seat:
Rear seat:
I actually sat inside the car for perhaps only the fourth time since I bought it, on 28/11/'23. It was surreal to sit inside and see the new seats, the cleaned dash, and the shiny wooden trim gleaming back at me. The car reeked of a dank smell when purchased - no more.
You'll notice that the rear seat pic above has the front door cards lying on them. I mentioned earlier that one of the front speakers is distorting and tearing at even normal volume. I found a set of 4 speakers from a Kia Seltos that were removed from the car 3 days after purchase (FB Marketplace). The stock speakers are sized at 6.5" and these are 6", so there shouldn't be an issue putting them in. It only costed me ₹2,200 for all 4 speakers including shipping. I need only two for the Sonata; I may use the other two in our Alto which doesn't have a music system.
Now the front door cards will be assembled after testing these speakers.
If only there had been an aux-in port on the current system... I would have been perfectly content with it. I can only play CDs or cassettes right now, and I have none that reflect my music tastes! My mechanic's friend owns a Pioneer dealership and he has a used JVC head unit for sale for a paltry ₹2,500, with aux-in and USB drives supported. It's a direct fit, and the lack of an aux-in port is a major issue, but I don't want to lose the factory look. Plus I won't be able to use the cool retro Hyundai remote control that came with the car! Let's see...
The guy sent half the spares I paid for. I'm praying that he sends the rest soon. Counting clockwise from the 9 o'clock position, he's sent the driver side airbag, indicator stalk assembly, instrument cluster, throttle body with TPS, main ECU, airbag/ESP ECU, and the clock spring assembly.
The OE logo is gold which didn't really blend with the rest of the car. (you can see it in my previous posts). I found an OE chrome one on Boodmo. Not cheap, at ₹700, but I couldn't leave the gold one on.
I'm not putting on any Sonata badges - if people know, they know! The car doesn't need to introduce itself I badly wanted the stock "2.7 V6" badge but it's not available new or used anywhere, and on top of that, it too was made only in a golden colour.
I saw the last gen Honda Civic two days ago (FC2/FC8) and I was struck by the size of the car - it was pretty large. I thought of comparing it to the EF-B Sonata and was surprised to know that the latter is ever so slightly larger in all dimensions. This baby is big! I'm going to have to re-learn a lot of my traffic tactics because I've learnt to comfortably squeeze into any lane or parking slot with our Alto.
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