Audio system for SX4

Hi All, I own a Maruti Suzuki SX4 ZXI, which is about 6 months old and has done 8k kms so far. While I love the car, there is one feature which is irritating. The integrated audio system does not go very well with an iPod. It is cumbersome to navigate through the songs and select a song of my liking. I owned a Getz CRDi earlier, and had fitted it with a Pioneer Music system that was excellent with an ipod. It allowed me to select the starting letter of the Album and was very easy to navigate to any particular Album.

My question is, can you please suggest a good audio system to go with the SX4? What are the implications if I replace the integrated audio system?

  1. Will it spoil the interiors of hte car?

  2. Will the steering mounted controls stop working with teh new audio system?

Looking forward to your suggestions,

Regards,

Vijay

Vijay,

I will not advice you to replace the audio system specially when you have steering mounted audio controls. it will definately spoil the whole look of teh dash board.

Dear Vijay,

If budget is not a question, I would advise you to do the following.

1. Remove the OE head unit. Order a Dash kit from maruti costing 300 odd bucks. This will get you the opportunity to add any aftermarket head unit. However, I would recommend you to fit a double DIN head unit as it looks the best, as a single DIN system will spoil the looks. A touch screen HU will be the best.

2. For the steering controls, again, there is an interface, which will enable you to use them with any other head unit. I cant say the exact cost of this unit as I have not directly beeen involved in it. 

3. Next obviously you can go for components and a subwoofer to make the setup awesome.

Vijay,

I'd suggest a middle approach between replacing the HU and continuing as is. Definitely, the speakers of SX4 need replacement. I'd suggest you to do the following :

1. Replace all the 4 door speakers of SX4 with better ones like JBL/Pioneer or Sony. I think this should suffice your requirements to a great extent.

2. However, if you still feel lack of richness in audio quality of the stock HU, you may then go ahead and get the HU completely replaced.

Happy Motoring!