[Nikhilb2008]

Focal damping was only used on the plastic door panels. The other 2 layers on the front doors were Roadkill itself. Roadkill was also used on the rear parcel tray's metal base. The plastic panel was damped with focal.

The rear doors have only Roadkill.

As I said, I am sharing my experience here. I have no other benchmark. This review I hope will help others make a correct judgement. If the general consensus is that I was ripped off, then while I may be at a loss, overall, the community benefits.

I believe that a person/business true ethics are revealed when they are trusted. If someone is trusted and then takes the customer for a ride, it shows his ethics. A good business that cares for it's long term future will never take the customer for a ride even if the customer gives a blank cheque.

The wiring that was used was AIV cables.

[Safari_Beast]

Hello Nikhil
Installing two pair of compenents in a car will never give a perfect sound stage. Sound should always be always be up front, instead driven should have suggested for good co axials which could have been installed in back door panels. Also Rs 60000 was spent on accesories, dampmat is equivalent to noise kill and whole box would have costed Rs 8000. Then Aiv these are overpriced cables, same amount of copper quantity and quality is being used in rockford fosgate speaker cables which cost Rs 900 per pack. As per me this is ripoff, two pair of compenents in a car will never give a perfect sound stage as single component and co axials would have sounded. Pioneer touchscreen headunits are not great SQ headunits which you had paired with costly SQ components, so that's why i have mentioned to go for single set of compenents.

[StarScream]

I think Driven is phenomenal. I got four speakers changed in my Vento TSI to Focal's a couple of weeks ago - simple install, no HU change or amp addition (wanted to keep it as stock as possible till the car is under warranty). And they did a competent and neat install. Didn't try to sell me any damping, even though I asked for it, as the Vento doesn't require it, they said.

Highly recommended shop and I can safely say they are the best installers by far in Delhi of the ones I have been to, including Elegant in Lajpat Nagar.

[fine69]

Mr. Rana, as couple of you pointed out, is a thorough businessman. Its a good thing because that's his job but its not good if you are going to Driven looking for an ICE setup "advice" from him.

Speaking from my limited experience in dealing with Driven, he usually starts by pointing out the most expensive stuff of the lot. He's no expert on ICE and can be quite confident in telling you something which might not be true, and this is not just for audio equipments.

Once I went to them to get 110/90w philips rally setup and when I asked Mr. Rana whether the holders are ceramic he said that philips stopped manufacturing ceramic holders long back and now everything is plastic.

I stepped out towards my car on hearing that and was trying to get info on the holder material from google and I see the installer behind me asking me to open the bonnet. I told him that I haven't even decided on the purchase but he says that he's already taken out the holders & bulbs from the sealed packet and I should go ahead with this without having to worry about anything. I mean I ask a question about a product and the next minute I see the installer on my head. I told him to give me a minute but I couldn't find anything much on google and the 3g connection was acting up so I thought why not give it a try.

I ask him to show me the holders and no points for guessing, the holders were ceramic! I asked the installer that the holders are ceramic and not made of plastic as Mr. Rana suggested. The installer just smiled (I don't know what that meant) and got on with the job.

As for the ICE installation, the installers at Driven do nothing extraordinary and can be as careless as the Lajpat Nagar fellows i.e. they soil the interiors during installation, they would put plastic panels on the floor carelessly where scratches are inevitable etc. I can say this because I got my ICE setup done from them.

If the owner or Mr. Rana is paying attention to your car you might get a better service else you are strictly at the installer's mercy.

As for my ICE setup, Mr. Rana had initially assured me that all the equipments I chose would be managed within 35k however when I was handed over the bill it was ~43k. He told me with a straight face that wiring, cabling, dampening etc. is "obviously" over and above the ICE cost. I wanted to educate him that when a customer comes to you with a strict budget you must mention if there are any hidden costs which haven't been accounted for because an ICE noob wouldn't know what all is over and above the cost of the primary equipments but that wouldn't have changed a thing and he had other customers sitting there so I didn't want to create an awkward moment for him.

And there's a reason I didn't vote - because I'd go to them again only if I know exactly what I'm looking for and its an item that doesn't require ripping the car apart or the equipment is simply not available elsewhere.

Otherwise, I'd rather go to Motor Concepts. Its not a place that I've been to so far but it doesn't have highly contradicting reviews either so I'm assuming the consistency is there for some good reason.

[Grr7]

Pardon my noob-ness, but I always wonder what magic can a daily wage non-technical guy employed at ICE shops can do that I cant!
Ok, they may gain some experience over the period of time, working over various cars and learning in the process. But, then that can only make a difference of speed of work. For eg, I may take 10 minutes to open a door panel on my swift after carefully locating the screws and hooks while that boy on ICE shop can do it in 2 minutes. But then looking at the age and professionalism of those guys, I feel I can do a much better job provided I have time in hand. Because that boy at ICE shop dont know the value my car holds for me. That guy may put up some irreversible scratches and dings and at max may offer an apology. And luck forbids, if the ICE boy is under pressure of piled up work after your car, then you can only pray!
I always feel that spending a sunday on my car and doing damping and installation is much preferable that giving it hands of some ICE monkeys who would rip it apart like there is no tomorrow.
From my observation, I feel ICE installation does not require very many fancy gadgets and most speaker/amp/HU kits these days are almost at the level of plug and play.
Be it Rs.1800 worth JBL co-axials or Rs.18000 worth Rainbow cross-overs, both of them are held by the same 4 screws provisioned to hold them. So, unless I am looking something way out of OEM(installing XX inches speakers in doors etc), I would wish to do it myself. Ultimately, its the quality and engineering of audio manufacturers that would do most of the magic in ICE.

Regards

[fine69]

Originally Posted by Grr7

Pardon my noob-ness, but I always wonder what magic can a daily wage non-technical guy employed at ICE shops can do that I cant!

Its the same magic that a carpenter, painter, Electrician, AC installer, Water Purifier Installer etc. do. I think everybody on this planet can build a rocket too, you just got to give them the right tools, knowledge, resources etc.

We are going off-topic with this discussion but I think I'm able to put my point across.

[devilwearsprada]

Originally Posted by fine69

Mr. Rana, as couple of you pointed out, is a thorough businessman.

Otherwise, I'd rather go to Motor Concepts. Its not a place that I've been to so far but it doesn't have highly contradicting reviews either so I'm assuming the consistency is there for some good reason.

I would say the only reason driven is working good enough is because of Gunbir and BBW's technical knowledge, and people trust them so they go to driven. But, trust me if you are going with a budget there don't even approach.
I would suggest you to try MC once, they are good guys and confirm things with you before approaching. Aman would suggest you not to get the work done when there are a lot of cars already. To him, customer satisfaction is more important than a sealed box of a product.

[GT500]

Originally Posted by Grr7

---

I agree with fine69 here, that, given the right knowledge and tools and patience we can pretty much do anything on our cars, it's just the convenience and experience of doing it day in day out makes things quick.
Whether the mechanic screws up the job by laying scratches and pug marks on your car and you end up paying for the services, is plain dumb.

Originally Posted by fine69

---

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

---

So even after 3 years of my experience with them it seems that things are pretty much the same.

1.Their boys leave some kind of mark(read:damage) on your car to remind you that you've been "driven", we are paying a premium for workmanship, do scratches and dirt marks, jugaad-baaji come free? Use protection, for the car. What's the difference between them and lajpat nagar shop's- except that they stock exotic brands.

2. The manager, Rana is a true salesman, will push whatever is in stock and provides them the highest margin, learn some fancy jargon to impress the customer, lacks technical knowledge, diss brands like Sony, JBL etc. - lack of professionalism- they are apparently selling "high-end" audio.

3.They shove down the highly priced extra's to inflate the bill after you've decided on the amp,HU and speakers, which is what happened with Nikhil, fine69 and couple of people I know,

Now some might be of the opinion that these are totally optional and the customer is free to choose whatever he wants, but, come to think of it, why would one buy the amp, HU, speakers from them and get them installed using their own speaker wire, couplers, aux cables etc. just because you feel that you get a better deal on them rather than the over priced stuff they stock.
You usually trust your vendor for such things-that they should provide the best product for the money you spend, like Nikhil did.
Whether Nikhil feels that the same level of performance could be achieved by spending less at a competitors shop, say Motor Concept is up to him to decide, in this case he trusted the dealer, I'm not sure of the break up 50K worth of optional extras, but boy that's high.

4.On the point when you tell them your budget - they go over board with the overheads without warning the customer about the costs and when the setup is complete, the customer can't just pull out the system post install and return it just because he wasn't informed of the potential hidden costs.
@fine69 , you're not alone when your budget overshot by 8K on a base of 35K without your notice ( a small margin is natural and understandable). They practically sold me extra speaker wire to the extent that I could mount my components on a parallel parked car. ( of course the excess loom had been neatly tucked under the rear seat carpet)

I'm not sure what part of " this is my budget I don't want to exceed this" they do not understand. If the install is not in the budget, a simple no takes half a breath. "Sir itna to hota hai" attitude, really? (again, only small variations are natural)

The ultimate case is with Nikhil, The guy is spending close to 1.5 Lakhs and they're charging for bits like coupler and aux cable which would cost them all of 1000 tops. Spare the man some discount yaar, its no biggie . He just spent a small Nano's worth. For a person who's going in for a budget install it makes sense to charge for these. But this is subjective and depends on the courtesy of the shopkeeper. Again we don't have the break up of the bill so this maybe wrong.



Disclaimer:I don't want to generalize, these are merely my observations and opinions

GT

[Grr7]

Originally Posted by fine69

Its the same magic that a carpenter, painter, Electrician, AC installer, Water Purifier Installer etc. do. I think everybody on this planet can build a rocket too, you just got to give them the right tools, knowledge, resources etc.

We are going off-topic with this discussion but I think I'm able to put my point across.

Thanks for the correction, I was indeed deviating from the topic of discussion.

Just a last line to the topic: there are two kind of professionals: the artisans(carpenters, tailors, statue makers which learns the art as an intern or inherited within family) and the professionals(ac mechanics, electricians gaining knowledge with diplomas, degrees). I feel, the young chaps at ICE installer falls in neither of these categories.

Pardon, I shall refrain from going OT any further.

[blackfire_9]

@Nikhilb2008: From the figures you have quoted, it appears that close to 55K was spent over & above the price of the basic equipment & in all honesty, it does appear extraordinarily high. Heck, its almost 50% of your equipment cost but before we jump the gun, it would be fair to look at that bill to understand what went into your car that contributed towards this 55K.

Would it be possible for you to post the bill details here please.

[Nikhilb2008]

I do not have the detailed bill right now. Sorry for not updating here.

Anyway, now it's been 4 months or so since the install.

I am enjoying the sound. Very much. Thanks to Gunbir and BBW. If I go back to Driven, (unlikely as I have shifted back to Bangalore now) it will be ONLY due to Gunbir and BBW.

Also, while overall the experience left a bad taste in my mouth, I have to be honest. No new rattles or sounds have started in the car. Even after 4 months and maybe 10,000 kms.

So, guys, do go to Driven if you are being guided by Gunbir/Jasdeep Brar but keep your budget firmly in check and make sure you are not being overcharged for your accessories.

I decided to trust Driven completely. I regret that but overall, I'm not as pissed as I was a few months back.

More than Subhan, my sincere thanks to one guy called Mukesh and the other installers. They are the true heroes.

Edit: I am not sure if the cables for which I paid 8k in total are genuine. These are the cables that connect my phone to the HU and make appradio work for the iPhone 5. When my phone is connected to the HU, if I move the phone a bit at a traffic signal to check some SMS or make a call, the connection gets cut for a fraction of a second. This results in the HU shifting to the "USB 1" input and my music not playing. I need to again navigate through the Source button to the radio mode or USB2 mode or whatever I was listening to.

I have experienced this kind of shitty connection on fake Chinese cables.

[kumargandharva]

Originally Posted by GT500

So even after 3 years of my experience with them it seems that things are pretty much the same.

1.Their boys leave some kind of mark(read:damage) on your car to remind you that you've been "driven", we are paying a premium for workmanship, do scratches and dirt marks, jugaad-baaji come free? Use protection, for the car. What's the difference between them and lajpat nagar shop's- except that they stock exotic brands.

2. The manager, Rana is a true salesman, will push whatever is in stock and provides them the highest margin, learn some fancy jargon to impress the customer, lacks technical knowledge, diss brands like Sony, JBL etc. - lack of professionalism- they are apparently selling "high-end" audio.

3.They shove down the highly priced extra's to inflate the bill after you've decided on the amp,HU and speakers, which is what happened with Nikhil, fine69 and couple of people I know,

Now some might be of the opinion that these are totally optional and the customer is free to choose whatever he wants, but, come to think of it, why would one buy the amp, HU, speakers from them and get them installed using their own speaker wire, couplers, aux cables etc. just because you feel that you get a better deal on them rather than the over priced stuff they stock.
You usually trust your vendor for such things-that they should provide the best product for the money you spend, like Nikhil did.


4.On the point when you tell them your budget - they go over board with the overheads without warning the customer about the costs and when the setup is complete, the customer can't just pull out the system post install and return it just because he wasn't informed of the potential hidden costs.
@fine69 , you're not alone when your budget overshot by 8K on a base of 35K without your notice ( a small margin is natural and understandable). They practically sold me extra speaker wire to the extent that I could mount my components on a parallel parked car. ( of course the excess loom had been neatly tucked under the rear seat carpet)

I'm not sure what part of " this is my budget I don't want to exceed this" they do not understand. If the install is not in the budget, a simple no takes half a breath. "Sir itna to hota hai" attitude, really? (again, only small variations are natural)

The ultimate case is with Nikhil, The guy is spending close to 1.5 Lakhs and they're charging for bits like coupler and aux cable which would cost them all of 1000 tops. Spare the man some discount yaar, its no biggie . He just spent a small Nano's worth. For a person who's going in for a budget install it makes sense to charge for these. But this is subjective and depends on the courtesy of the shopkeeper. Again we don't have the break up of the bill so this maybe wrong.


Disclaimer:I don't want to generalize, these are merely my observations and opinions

GT

How I can miss this. Everything here listed happened with my car. Am trying to sort out the matter though. Nothing has changed, in fact it has become worse.

Deliberately not going into details at this stage but highlighting 3 major issues with driven, with a sincere hope, that Subhan, Rana Ji and team read this, and take this with positivity to improve. Otherwise they are bound to loose business for sure:

1. Jugaadbazi (Short cuts): Using kitchen knifes leading to frayed edges, always keeping a sharp screwdriver and tools in hand while installing delicate equipments, is bound to leave scratch marks all over the car and equipment.

2. Pushing for inefficient and supposedly high margin items: If you haven't done your research, you are surely in for a ride. High margin items or any random product which will be shoved before you know it. If you prefer something which is not available with them, it will be termed as bad, inefficient and faulty.

3. Highly priced extras: Small bits essential for install like connectors, wires are like hidden price items. Once you get the bill, you realize you have overshot the budget by a long margin. Then the classic reply is bound to come, "Itna to ho hi jata hai" (This much extra expense is usual).

Am not giving in, neither will allow anyone to take me for a ride. It's my hard earned money, not to be wasted down the drain on shoddy installs.

Will post detailed report with pictures later. Probably in a separate thread. Though I have nothing personal against them, it is my fault that I trusted them blindly and went ahead with a high end install, which is still unsorted.

I repeat, do your research, and just in case, you want anything remotely close to high end, do not rely on their advice. Instead rather speak up with Gunbir or JB first before taking the plunge.

Not recommended, keeping in mind the current condition and mindset of people there.

[Nikhilb2008]

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008;

I do not have the detailed bill right now. Sorry for not updating here.

Anyway, now it's been 4 months or so since the install.

I am enjoying the sound. Very much. Thanks to Gunbir and BBW. If I go back to Driven, (unlikely as I have shifted back to Bangalore now) it will be ONLY due to Gunbir and BBW.

Also, while overall the experience left a bad taste in my mouth, I have to be honest. No new rattles or sounds have started in the car. Even after 4 months and maybe 10,000 kms.

So, guys, do go to Driven if you are being guided by Gunbir/Jasdeep Brar but keep your budget firmly in check and make sure you are not being overcharged for your accessories.

I decided to trust Driven completely. I regret that but overall, I'm not as pissed as I was a few months back.

More than Subhan, my sincere thanks to one guy called Mukesh and the other installers. They are the true heroes.

Edit: I am not sure if the cables for which I paid 8k in total are genuine. These are the cables that connect my phone to the HU and make appradio work for the iPhone 5. When my phone is connected to the HU, if I move the phone a bit at a traffic signal to check some SMS or make a call, the connection gets cut for a fraction of a second. This results in the HU shifting to the "USB 1" input and my music not playing. I need to again navigate through the Source button to the radio mode or USB2 mode or whatever I was listening to.

I have experienced this kind of shitty connection on fake Chinese cables.

Ok. Further update from Bangalore.

It has been more than 9 months. A slight rattle has started but I would be a fool to blame this on Driven!

I replaced the HDMI/Lightning connector with another one I bought at an Apple Store and now my phone doesnt have a loose connection with the HU. I still feel the one I got from Driven was a fake Chinese one but I will honestly be in a better position to judge only after a few months of use of the new cable/connector.

Overall, I'm even less pissed than I was initially. I'm happy I went to Driven and they have done a very professional job. After spending so much money and driving for so long and enjoying the music for so long, the money starts to become less of an issue because I havent had any issues.

So, I would again like to state that the installation was done well (with the exception of the stupid Dash kit, but this was out of their control). I may have been overcharged but as of now, it matters less to me and I value the quality of their installation more.

This is just my frank and honest opinion after a few more months of usage.

[StarScream]

I'm very surprised by some of the comments here and I think it boils down to two things: the knowledge of the customer and the complexity of the work.

In the case of both my speakers and the HU, I knew exactly what I wanted so there was no question of trying to sell me extra/more expensive stuff. In fact in the case of the HU, Driven matched online prices and I got more value because installation was thrown in. I found the installation of the speakers and HU quite good (but then the Blau 835 is a plug and play job.)

The installers may have been more careful because I was standing next to the car. I liked the fact that they covered the seats and carefully handled the uninstalled door panels - I haven't seen other installers behave like that. Other than that it's conveniently located and is a clean shop with enough place to sit.

[shady_lawyer]

Went to Driven a couple of days ago and came away pleasantly surprised. The ICE system installed in the car finally shed its last input mode (read Tuner) and become mute for good. Being the el-cheapo that I am, I decided to go to Khan Market, buy a cheap head unit and have it installed from there itself.

A word of caution, please do not go to Khan Market for installations, it started at 3 PM and ended at 9 PM in the meantime all sorts of cabling was torn, the left and right channels were interchanged, so on. The icing on the cake however was that as soon as I started off from there the entire HU started vibrating like bats trapped in a tin can. Yes the fault is mine that I did not test before paying up, but that's what 6 hours in the Delhi sun did to me.

Without waiting for any more madness, I called up Mr. Rana and requested him to fix the installation. I was asked to come as per my convenience and landed up at 11 AM. Mr. Rana and his tech. Mukesh looked at the system understood what the problem was and after instructing Mukesh went back into the shop.

Hats off to Mukesh who took the next 3 hours cleaning up the mess left behind, attaching screws that were missing, replacing mounting and bushings that had been taken out and most importantly reattaching cables correctly. He then took multiple test drives to ensure the rattling was gone. Which it has and feels much better than before.

So in sum, good visit, extremely professional job done (not that its difficult) but well executed. When I asked Mr. Rana as to the costs he said "jitna dena hai de do" (pay whatever you think is right) types. So i paid Rs. 500 which he said would be all right

Super happy with their work and would gladly go back to them.