I’m not sure if cars that have flashy afermarket headlights, overly tinted windows,etc. are also considered as ricer cars or only extremely modified ones, but I honestly can’t stand them.
For example if I see an older cheaper BMW, but that is in pristine condition, that’s clean and shiny, it will make my head turn, for example a clean 3 series e46 or 5 series E39 that’s well kept.
However if I see that same car or even newer car with cheap sporty headlights, darkened back lights, fake sporty badges like M on BMW’s or AMG on Mercedes’s, it will make me turn my head in the opposite direction and think that it is driven by a 16 year old with no taste.
If I wanted to invest in the look of my car, I’d rather make it look as clean, up to date and OEM as it can, for example a multimedia that fits perfectly like it came with the car, headlights that fit the look, maybe more modern seats, aluminium interior trims,etc, anything that doesn’t say that it is modified, but at the same time makes the car look much newer and better.
I can understand that, but putting black lights, tinting the windows too much, putting loud exhausts that make the car sound like it’s broken, why? Just why?
I wouldn’t say I “hate” any of them. I may think a car done up like that looks silly, but hey, it ain’t mine and wasn’t my money.
the only things I do really dislike are modifications which impair the car’s function and safety, or make things miserable for others. things like stanced or hellaflush wheels, or (my personal pet peeve which will make me rant like crazy) when people take the halogen bulbs out of their headlamps and put HID capsules or LED replacements in there.
edit: louder than stock exhausts don’t bother my (and it would be hypocritical anyway, what with me having owned Mustangs and Harleys) as long as they’re not obnoxiously bad like straight muffler deletes.
Most of that stuff is by people 30 and under. Doesn’t bother me but I certainly would not do it. BTW I am pretty sure people around here are not going to like the term “ricer”
It sounds strange but there are a ton of people who soup up Civics. Lots of parts are available for Civics. I knew a guy who put a supercharger on his civic to increase the horsepower by 50%. And his other car was a Corvette.
I usually just think it looks bad. I mean, there are a few after market mods you can make to vehicles that are either neutral or improvements to their looks- certain wheels, for example. Or maybe certain performance parts- a Chevelle with a supercharger poking up through the hood is cool, for example.
But some junky common-as-dirt Japanese sedan with a gigantic machined aluminum wing, ground effects stuck on with double-sided tape, and a zillion stickers like some kind of low-rent NASCAR racer… yeah, that looks terrible. Or worse, some clowns rice out non-Japanese cars. Nothing looks stupider than a Mustang with ricer garbage on it.
And I often wonder why people do it. Are they working from a different set of aesthetic standards than everyone else or something?
I think ricers look silly, but I don’t hate them, and most of their owners seem to be proud of their creations.
As long as we’re hating on aftermarket parts, I can’t stand single-DIN aftermarket stereos that use the old-style LCD displays (think calculator screens) instead of the newer dot-styles that allow for more detail. I’m trying to upgrade right now (my preferred stereo is on backorder), and that preference alone limited me to three or four models.
They’re not really my thing, but I wouldn’t say I hate them. If that’s what the owner likes it’s no skin off my back.
It sounds strange but there are a ton of people who soup up Civics.
If you think about it, souping up a Civic is sort of in the same spirit as the early hot rods of the 1950s, when people would soup up Model A’s and Model T’s. In both cases, the idea is to take a car that’s common and affordable, and modify it to make it faster.
Civics have traditionally been fairly good handling cars from the factory, and like muscle cars in the '60s, a pretty good aftermarket ecosystem sprung up in the '90s for the sport compact enthusiasts.
I never cared for the sound. 4 cylinder engines have a churlish exhaust note, to my ears anyway, and when the sound is amplified by headers and a low restriction exhaust, they sound like the south end of a northbound large intestine digesting too many onions and peppers.
Well, I guess the look is not for you, and I am guessing the owner of these cars aren’t really too concerned what others think. Maybe the people that participate in their subculture think that their cars look cool.
I knew this young couple that loved working on and modifying Hondas. They didn’t have a lot of money so they would search around for parts and stuff and get thrilled when they found something inexpensive. On the weekends they would drop the kids off at grandma’s and go cruising around before stopping at a Sonic somewhere. Sometimes they would meet up with other like minded individuals in some parking lot and hang out. I personally thought their cars looked tacky, but it sure made them happy.
Indeed, I remember a friend who moved from a pretty immaculate late 70’s V-8 Camaro to a late 80’s Civic. That ED chassis hatchback was great, even in stock form. It was quicker than the Camaro (no lie), and handled circles around it. It was a blast in stock form, and there were already plenty of folks making go-faster parts for it, from mild to crazy.
A few years later, that chassis was pretty much the chassis to have in Street Touring in SCCA competition. Double wishbones up front, and a fairly nice multi-link in the back. Other than looking askew at a few folks who have REALLY loud exhausts (and I’m a true hypocrite, ages ago I had a 351W with straight pipes that you could literally hear a mile away when I floored it), it’s their car. They didn’t make him for ME!!
I know we’re just talking about cars, but I think it’s past time we retire the word “ricer”
That being said, I blame Pep Boys for all of these ugly ass, cheap ass car mods rolling around America. Young guy buys his first inexpensive car and pops in to Pep Boys for a new pair wipers or a replacement headlight and what does he see sitting on the shelves close to the door? A whole slew of shiny, tacky, cheap plastic crap that can be affixed to your vehicle with little to no effort or skill. And the best part of all is the fact that you can afford to buy damn near all of it with your brand new minimum wage job! So you get visions of people complimenting you on your beautiful car, modified by your own hands, while completely ignoring the fact that you have no taste.
Yeah, been there, done that. It’s almost like a modern right of passage for young car enthusiasts.
Modifying cars is as old as cars. When I was a kid, the thing was to jack up the rear, put huge tires and wheels (Cragars were popular) on the back, swap in the biggest engine that would fit in that car (anything from a 283 to a 454 would bolt right into a Chevelle or Camaro) and add a loud dual exhaust. Engine mods to increase power were expected.
I can’t say I would ever do to a car what these kids with the Hondas are doing, but as long as they don’t wake me up with their fart pipes they can do what they want. Donks are another slice of automotive excess- the 25" wheels (rims as they’re called these days) just look ridiculous to me and sometimes make me laugh out loud. I have seen some nice vibrant paint on some of them, though. The world could use some colorful cars again. There are far too few colors available in new cars.
Donks might be the worst auto-trend we have in the US right now. It’s seems like you ruin every bit of performance that car was ever capable of and I still haven’t met a single person who think they look good.
And let’s not overlook all the ugly ass jacked up pick-ups on the road right now. Why someone would look at Bigfoot and think " I want to drive a cheap, cobbled together version of that to work everyday!" is just beyond my ability to comprehend.