I'm in the market for a new car. While it's not going to be the critical factor in our purchase decision, it would be nice to get one with a good selectivity/sensitivity AM radio. Does anyone have any insights? We're currently looking at Subaru, Kia, Hyundai, and Honda, but would be interested in any information anyone has on this topic regardless of make.
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New car radios for AM DXing
- Thread starter wildthangjim
- Start date
I'm interested in this question too. I am heading back to Montana plus likely a loop to Idaho Falls or Twin Falls in June or early July, and will not be using my 22 year old, 200,000+ mile Hyundai Santa Fe for obvious reasons. My plan is to use a Hertz or Enterprise rental SUV.
How are the stock radios on the following vehicles...2020 and later?
- Nissan Rogue
- Nissan Kicks
- Chevy Equinox
- Chevy Colorado (yes, I know, a truck)
Ideally, I would like to know if the FM reception is excellent, selectivity is good (no bleed from locals a few miles away), and whether the AM is decent enough. Also if the stocks have RDS.
Thanks!
How are the stock radios on the following vehicles...2020 and later?
- Nissan Rogue
- Nissan Kicks
- Chevy Equinox
- Chevy Colorado (yes, I know, a truck)
Ideally, I would like to know if the FM reception is excellent, selectivity is good (no bleed from locals a few miles away), and whether the AM is decent enough. Also if the stocks have RDS.
Thanks!
I think a lot of newer model cars have great FM selectivity compared to vehicles from the 2000's. But, if a local station has HD, no radio can drown out the hiss from a few miles away.
In our 2016 Kia, the FM receiver seems to be permanently on what used to be called the "local" setting. I'm on the Gulf Coast, land of the year-round tropo, and the Kia's radio brings in none of it. I've looked through the settings menus and can't find any way to disable it.
Agree! 23 Elantra here- great AM. I routinely grab the 50kW Chicago stations midday from Dayton OH, about 260 miles, exact opposite of you! Great night DXing too as well as critical hours.
My 2023 Toyota Yaris GR Sport hybrid has what seems like a decent AM radio, in that it receives what little is left on the local AM band including some fairly distant stuff (Radio Caroline on 648 from >180 miles away). I'm surprised at the performance of the very tiny "shark fin" antenna on the car's roof at such low frequencies. I've not spent a lot of time listening to FM but it seems to pick up low-powered locals reasonably well. DAB isn't relevant here, but I'm impressed with the performance there, too.
I remember a 2010 Toyota Corolla my family rented years ago had an EXCELLENT FM radio receiver...extremely sensitive, high-range antenna, pulled in both KRBM-90.9 Pendleton and KVTI-90.9 Tacoma right next to KYPL-91.1. Multiple Seattle FMs in and out all day from my grandparents' home down in the Lower Valley.
I wonder if they are still excellent today.
I wonder if they are still excellent today.
Just to see how my 2024 car stacks up, on a drive from a bit east of Palm Springs to North Hollywood in the LA metro yesterday, I tired listening to three stations I am familiar with from hundreds of similar trips; KFI, KNX and KTNQ.
I had not listened to AM when driving to LA since prior to the Pandemic. What I found was all three stations had usable coverage reduced by about 25% due to higher noise levels. Whether that is the radio or just a general deterioration, I don't know. Once I got to a good signal area, all three sounded cleaner and clearer.
I tried tuning between stations at the high end of the dial, such as 1460 and 1480 and 1430 and found the radio more selective.
Prior vehicle: BMW X3 from 2014, New one: Porsche Macan from 2024.
Conclusion: biggest issue for AM is the ongoing increase in noise on the whole band, caused by newer electronic devices that emit RF on the AM band.
I had not listened to AM when driving to LA since prior to the Pandemic. What I found was all three stations had usable coverage reduced by about 25% due to higher noise levels. Whether that is the radio or just a general deterioration, I don't know. Once I got to a good signal area, all three sounded cleaner and clearer.
I tried tuning between stations at the high end of the dial, such as 1460 and 1480 and 1430 and found the radio more selective.
Prior vehicle: BMW X3 from 2014, New one: Porsche Macan from 2024.
Conclusion: biggest issue for AM is the ongoing increase in noise on the whole band, caused by newer electronic devices that emit RF on the AM band.
Did you notice any electric cars going by and their effect?
I can't test AM in the car because the AM antenna in the Santa Fe is disconnected...but the old Hyundai Elantra I had (RIP) was pretty decent on AM. However, the 1996 Chevy Suburban my family had when I was little was *really* good. Delco stock radio. Good reception at night from even regional frequencies. At night, 600khz was an easy mix of KGEZ Kalispell and CJWW Saskatoon, after CKBD went defunct (and long before CKSP).
Terrible AM on the old Santa Fe stock radio anyway.
Terrible AM on the old Santa Fe stock radio anyway.
Yes, there was a little buzz if a Tesla went right by for a second or two, but I don't instantly recognize other electric vehicles so I could not make a broad observation. The worst in-car noise was from the power lines of the LA "subway" light train system where it runs in the middle of the 210 freeway from Pasadena to about Azusa.
I used to have a commute that partially went under electric tram lines like this - AM was absolutely impossible, FM was almost completely wiped out apart from the strongest stations. It was worse when there was a tram nearby, you could actually hear them approaching on AM radio, which was handy while parked near the tram stop waiting for it in the rain!
When I lived in San Francisco, I lived on a street with both a streetcar line (1 wire) and a trolley bus line (2 wires). I was on the third floor of a three-floor building; the lines were just about at floor level. I never noticed any interference from those lines.
I have a 2021 Toyota Hybrid Avalon and the JBL/HD®SXM radio is wonderful; on both the AM and FM band both the sensitivity and selective is great…..such an improvement over the radio in my 2007 Corolla And previous Dodge/Plymouth products. Also the Shark antenna for the SXM seems superior to the smaller flat disc antenna previously used for SXM; had both cars and about 5 days and did a lot of comparisons on the SXM’s reception. Also Tampa has a Motown/R&B/Rock station - WTMP-1150HD (HD turned off at night) and its stereo reception is good in Tampa/St. Pete south to Palmetto, Parrish and Bradenton, though the sound is not as good as FM stereo (that should go w/o saying) it is certainly heads and shoulders above the sound on all the other market FM stations. Recently was out of town and rented a 2024 Honda Accord and very disappointed in the FM reception compared to the Avalon. AM reception was about the same, but no HD.