Deck up your car

Car accessories are becoming more and more fashionable.

Your car is not just a car, especially if you are driving long distances from Thane to Nariman Point or from Greater Noida to Gurgaon. Commuting 30-50-odd km everyday is not unusual nowadays and spending four hours on a daily basis in your car is not unheard of.

Which explains why an increasing number of people are equipping their vehicles with the latest accessories. From state-of-the-art audio systems "" two- and four-speaker audio systems with FM radio and cassette player are passe "" to brilliant LCD screens fitted in cars, driving is becoming increasingly pleasurable.

And if you want to soak in the pleasure of the awesome weather, pull off the sunroof, another accessory that's gaining tremendous popularity.

Speaking of accessories, it's fashionable to install your car with stereo systems which don't require the mandatory cassette or CD "" instead, there are preloaded songs you can listen to. Sony India offers one such product.

Alpine has an audio system which can set you back by a whopping price tag of Rs 1 lakh. Yes, you heard that right. Alpine IVA-D310E has the option to play DVD, CD, MP3, FM and even an iPod.

The traditional remote control is old fashioned and this product has a special pulse-touch display that allows one to use fingertips to select the mode of playing.

According to Abhijit Paul, product head, mobile electronics, Sony India "We offer many options for in-car entertainment and no two systems are alike. The trends for the industry are moving towards products that not only look stunning but are truly flexible."

Some of the advanced systems have large colour displays and dozens of little buttons operating the deck's various features. Prices of decks range from Rs 4,500 for a basic FM/AM cassette player to Rs 1 lakh for a DVD-capable, double panel, colour display unit.

Along with high-end audio systems, a new trend of getting video and television systems installed in cars is catching up. The screens may be installed on the dashboard or even at the back portion of the headrest of front seats.

High-end systems come with their own LCD screen attached and cost Rs 16,000 upwards. Sony has a unique display device which has a 9-inch, thin film transistor screen and can be used both as audio and video systems.

Because these systems divert your attention from the road, it is advisable to install such a system only if one have a chauffeur-driven car.

Security systems in cars have become hi-tech and keeping keys in the pockets doesn't look too exciting anymore. Instead, cars like Skoda Superb have factory-equipped, keyless entry system that lock and unlock vehicles without using any keys.

While car alarms are not new anymore, Global Positioning System (GPS) accessories are becoming very popular. Pune-based Transworld Technologies offers an automated vehicle location system, AVL 2000, under which a unit is installed in the car to transmit parameters like date, time, speed and location using SMS service.

A GPS receiver connected with your mobile is installed in the car to help you locate your car easily. A vehicle date logger helps in keeping a record of over-speeding and rapid acceleration while a special alarm buzzer warns anytime someone else overspeeds while driving your car.

Hands-free kits are also becoming popular these days. All leading mobile phone manufacturers offer such devices, which either link themselves to cars' audio systems or come with independent speakers.

These devices allow passengers to connect their mobile phones to speaker systems with Bluetooth wireless technology. Motorola offers several such devices through which a microphone is installed near the driver's headrest with a remote that can be attached to the steering wheel.

The kits cost anywhere between Rs 8,000 and Rs 18,000, though a lot of cheap Bluetooth technology kits in the market are also available. Our suggestion: these are not recommended.

One of the most popular accessories in vehicles are sunroofs. Webasto is one company which offers different types of sunroofs especially for cars liek Chevrolet Optra, three models of Skoda "" Laura, Superb and Rally and also all the Mercedes cars available in the country.

Says Arvinder Gill, president, Webasto, "Sunroofs are niche products but there are lots of options for the masses too." The price for installing a sunroof starts typically at Rs 16,000 and can scale to Rs 1.5 lakh. These can be electronically or manually operated.

With a sunroof, an excellent audio system, a state-of-the-art security system and lots more, decking up cars with accessories is a fun experience. And we don't need to add that the journey from Thane to Nariman Point won't be as tedious and taxing.