History has a way of repeating itself, and this was the case here. For the second time, I set off on a crusade in emerald green. This time, the task was more challenging. In addition to replacing the light bulbs, I also wanted to upgrade the backlighting of the driver’s door control panel. It bothered me that only the LOCK and AUTO buttons were illuminated. It turned out that the board had connectors for the other LEDs as well, so I soldered the missing resistor and three LEDs. Since they differed in color from the original ones, I decided to replace those two as well:

The Forester arrived in the land of the Vistula River with a highly advanced car audio system. Unfortunately, the level of sophistication was negatively correlated with the car’s age. And so, the CD changer module integrated with the Clarion navigation system (which must have been a futuristic device some 20 years ago) was replaced with a modest storage compartment, and the radio was upgraded with a Bluetooth dongle. That was the best 50 PLN I’ve ever spent, without a moment’s hesitation. It was completely plug-and-play with the factory unit, powered via quick-connects from the cigarette lighter wires, and with the AUX option added to the radio settings, the driving experience improved tremendously. The only thing I regret a bit is not trusting Chinese technology enough to buy the version without a microphone.