I just got my 2012 Elantra, Limited with Nav. First thing I thought was that the stereo was under powered. I was looking forward to it sounding at least pretty decent. I used to have a 2008 Accent GLS and it sounds only slighty better. Sometime it feels pretty solid but varies wildly. Some songs just sound so raw with the speakers.

360 watt... I think not.

 

Well I think I found the issue with mine. The stereo sounded pretty ****ty because I was streaming from my iPhone. When I finally put in a CD or USB after a month it sounded way better.

Give it a try.

 

Hi, I bought a 2012 Elantra Limited with the tech package 12 days ago. I agree that the car stereo does not sound like it is coming out of 350W amp. It's okay I can live with it, but I have a problem with AM/FM reception. I have noticed in the morning when the temperature is near or below freezing, the reception is terrible. I only hear static noise from AM and very bad sound mixed with static noise from FM. After driving about 20 minutes, the sound gets better but still not good quality. On the way back home in the afternoon, the sound is much better though I am still not satisfied with the sound quality. The XM recetion seems to be okay all the time. I am not sure if there is something wrong with the antena or antena booster or something. I have never had a problem like this with any cars I owned before. My wife has 2011 Kia Sorento with 650W (maybe 750W) stereo and it always soung so great and I love it. I am planning to take the Elantra to the dealer soon to have it checked. I really wonder what could be the problem..

 

Regarding the Elantra Limited with tech package stereo: I don't understand why if I'm listening to tracks on a USB drive, why doesn't the system remember if I want the tracks random after I turn off the system? It only plays random until you turn off the car. Once you restart, the random is gone. And this one is even worse: the default is to NOT show track info for mp3s (artist, title, etc). Yes, you can hit the button on the screen to "show info". But it will only show until you advance or seek to the next song. Then it goes back to only showing track title. WTF? I have to hit a button for every song in order to see the track tags? Just brought home a 2012 Elantra Limited with Tech package and this almost makes me want to take it back. This is just basic design of an audio system. How many iPods would Apple have sold if the default was to not show you the name of the song you are playing?

 

I had a similar problem with my 2009 Elantra. On cold mornings, the AM/FM radio would not work. The CD player and XM worked fine so I know it wasn't the antenna. If I made a stop on the way to work, the radio would start working again when I restarted the car. The radio would not work even once warmed up unless the engine was restarted. The dealer had no clue, never heard of anything like it. Just traded in on a 2012 Limited so we'll see if it happens again.

 

The factory settings need adjustment. On the Nav display when you play music, there is "Sound" button on the lower right corner. Increasing Treble, Mid, Base to your liking, you can get a decent sound. Back to my static noise and bad reception from AM/FM radio in the cold morning, it turned out to be caused by rear window defroster. Any time the defroster is turned on, it causes static interference. Hyundai dealer replaced the rear window under warranty and the radio works good now. I am not so sure about 350W, but it sounds pretty good and I am happy.

 

That would make sense. One morning I went out to warm up the car and the radio worked when I first started it. I went out a few minutes later after turning on the front/rear defrost and the radio had stopped working.