Smelling different parts of the headliner, it doesn’t smell. The AC definitely has the cologne smell in it still, but I’d be surprised if that was making the entire car smell all the time. My best guess is around and underneath the seats, or deep in the suede of the seats themselves

Good information. My current to do list is to remove the seats and scrub the carpets, buy a new nice cabin air filter, spot clean the headliner (replacing does not seem realistic in terms of pricing) and look into cleaning the evaporator again. I understand the best method is to unplug one of the AC lines and foam directly into the evaporator to clean it, I just have no idea how to do it

1. I bought the car in June, windows were down basically every day. Haven’t used a big fan but at this point probably not that effective
2. Not familiar with activated carbon, recommendations?
3. I had it professionally by a guy who only does ozone’s, highly recommended. To be fair I don’t know what equipment he used, but can only assume
4. If you’re referring to the direct method of cleaning I did not. I only used the air intake and drain plug(s)
5. Cabin air filter was one of the first things I did, but been thinking of replacing it with a nice one. Was thinking maybe the filter had captured some of the smell, but I removed it and there wasn’t a scent. Any manufacturer recommendations?
6. Good to know
7. On the to-do list now
8. lol
9. Detailed by a guy who did my last car (trusted), and I’ve gone through it a couple times myself. The only thing I haven’t touched is the suede since it’s delicate. Had my window re-tinted by a random shop after a recent break-in, and the guy left his bottle of soapy/water on the seat. Left a big water stain after it dried, so apprehensive there. Probably need to steam them again
10. I’ll check them out

I really appreciate the long list of information and resources, thank you

Thanks, right? Brief story of the experience. The day of sale, I brought up a detail service to the salesman, and he called over some guy and said “this guy right here, he does all the detailing for all of our cars. He does an amazing job, I don’t recommend anyone else” lmao, and it was some grungy dude who sprayed shine everywhere