[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

... As far as I know, adding remote capability for stock HU would not be possible.

The OE HUs have a very simple means of interfacing steering wheel keys. Wonder why they would give steering wheel keys and not connect them!

[joybhowmik]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

V variant would have audio controls on steering.
As far as I know, adding remote capability for stock HU would not be possible.

Agree. It has. Since at least 2009. In case one is interested to change HU, there are few steering wheel interface manufacturers that can help integrate the choice of HU to the stock steering wheel.
One such manufacturer was chosen for my install, please read the referred post above. I did not need to change the steering wheel. Tauba tauba!!!

[Buffetfan]

Originally Posted by sukiwa

V variant would have audio controls on steering.
As far as I know, adding remote capability for stock HU would not be possible.

I have a 2009 VX and actually bought a generic steering wheel interface in the US for Toyota cars...it was installed along with a Pioneer 4200 player. I did not like the speakers (tinny/no depth or decent bass) and ended up upgrading to components in both the front and rear (infinity). Now the sound is much better

[Buffetfan]

Originally Posted by floyd

Thanks for the reply, Joy. Interestingly, I was just reading your Delhi to Kolkata travelogue in another thread. Hats off to you guys, especially uncle-Ji for this trip. I've been motivated for a Bangalore to Ranchi/Jamshedpur (our hometowns) trip sometime.

Well, the stock speakers are just OK. There's something that's not very appealing to the ears with the frequency response of these speakers. I am not an audiophile, but I do prefer decent audio quality, and hence would like to replace these with JBL or Polk.

I have 6.5" infinity components in both front and rear (yes, I cut the door pad to install the tweeters in rear..but has held up for 4 years now, no trouble).

I went through this step by step, first I just upgraded the speakers, but the improvement was not to my liking (slighly more than half way through though) to ...then I upgraded the HU and finally the sound improved significantly....This is with the 2009 VX model. The new model has a different HU so you might have better luck.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Buffetfan

The new model has a different HU so you might have better luck.

Thanks. My variant did not have any factory-fitted HU. I added an Alpine CDE100 after-market. I'm pretty sure that the head unit is decent enough for my needs, but the speakers need improvement.

[floyd]

I haven't updated this thread for sometime, so let me share my experience so far. I upgraded by stock speakers with Rockford Fosgate Prime, from Evo. Sound quality is better than the stock speakers, for sure. However, I'm somehow not able to get the exact quality that I'm looking for.
Satya, from Evo, mentioned that upgrading the HU would help, as this particualr HU (Alpine CDE100 EUB), was inferior, in his opinion.
I have since then upgraded the head unit from the Alpine to Blaupunkt New Orleans 220 double-DIN. The exact "sweet spot" is still elusive, but at least the Blau has a parametric EQ, which will help in fine-tuning the soudn the way I like it... need to play around with it a bit.