One Piece at a Time

I'd get it one piece at a time
And it wouldn't cost me a dime
You'll know it's me when I come through your town
I'm gonna ride around in style
I'm gonna drive everybody wild
'Cause I'll have the only one there is around.
~Wayne Kemp

Not exactly the way Johnny Cash sang it, but my new car has been undergoing some upgrades. Since my previous car had been built in the last milennium, I was no longer up-to-date in my knowledge of modern automotive marketing. I bought a year-old Kia Soul, the base model, without any frills. It was ridiculously cheap but lacked a few niceties: Cruise Control, Keyless Entry, a spare tire (!?), but was otherwise nicely furnished. There was a place for "fog lamps" on the front bumper that was filled with a black plastic plug. I found some LED lights that fit, not full-blown spotlights, but ones that will do very nicely as daylight running lamps. The interesting part was taking off and putting back on the front bumper cover. Once installed, I think they look “swell”:



The cruise control was actually easier to put in—the circuitry was already in place! I needed to get a $16 switch for the steering wheel (see below) and a new wiring harness, they were real KIA parts:



I also sprang for a GPS ($80 refurb) which works well (didn't they used to be really expensive?) and doesn't require a smart phone to operate. The key-less entry issue was solved by a $16 unit that came with two fobs. That required a bit more work to install, but there was plenty of help on internet forums:



One feature that is not offered on the higher-end models is embroidered frog headrests:



Don’t they just scream “HIGH CLASS?”

I also found a genuine KIA spare tire kit on Amazon, it should arrive this week. All of these upgrades would have cost over $2000 at the dealer, either in dealer add-ons or installed in a much higher-priced model. I've got about $400 and a couple of hours of my time invested in parts and the frogs.

Everybody needs more frogs, amirite?