RX-7Impreza

i think you are misusing the term rice or misinterpreting our usage. the bottom line is that we all have our own preferences and some of us like go and others like show. neither one is right or wrong. i consider "rice" not to be a car that looks faster than it is, i consider it one that has money poured into it to make it look faster than it is.

it is irritating seeing guys run around (running their mouths too) about how fast their cars are because they have resonated tips, "cold air intakes", and pieces of plastic bolted allover their car with 90lb chrome rims. not only is the pissed of bumble bee sound making me cringe but then they dont know $hit about cars and they try and brag about their fast ride that gets High-centered on speedbumps. many of these guys wouldnt know a piston from their girlfriend's D1LD0

but i awont tell someone what to do with their car. i will just live with the irritating noise and enjoy taking money out of their hands when they think they can beat me.

MY $.03

Justin

FEDREX

I don't care how fast it is - I don't want to ride around in a trashy-looking car...

I'll take looks and suspension.

UniqueTII

I'd rather have something under the hood than a bunch of bling bling. I guess right now I have a little of both.

B00STED-300Z

It's safe to assume nobody would go ALL 1 way or the other...Most people try to get a blend of both....If not, your a ricer! All show, no go! :p

ChrisV

Not even slightly. I'm trying to get people here who tend to be teenagers or barely older than that to think about things in other than a testosterone addled form. There's more to life, and definitley more to cars, than getting an adrenaline rush.

I'm not saying that's bad, but for those of you who say "all performance, no looks," 90% of the time, you're not using that performance.

What the basic point is, maybe those who choose to work on their car's appearance are already satisfied with the performance! But you NEVER think of that.

peejay, I've lived with daily drivers that have an inch and a half of ground clearance. Thereare a LOT of places where that can be done without a problem, or the car becoming "unuseable" on the street. Yeah, my daily driver back in Seattle wouldn't have lasted a month out here in Baltimore, but I wasn't HERE then, so it was perfectly sufficient back there. I knew guys that would drive down from Vancouver BC with cars that had less than a half inch from ground to frame. Yes, it's illegal, but they made the 3-4 hoour drives routinely.

Impossible? In certain areas, definitely. In many areas, possibly. In quite a few areas, not even slightly. My Falcon was lowered 4" and still rode like stock, and could carry the garbage cans to the landfill (garbage service was $60/mo, landfill was $6 every 2 weeks...), and carry5 people without scraping on anything.

Street rodders and custom rodders drive across country in cars that are "appearance modded." Low buck and high end.

On top of that, even with performance as your goal, it's easy enough to go so far that the car becomes unstreetable that way, too, at least to most of us. What good is a 9 second drag RX7 that can't be idled around town and can't pass emissions anymore? Sure it's a track car, and massive fun. But your argument about appearance mods can easily be used against performance mods if streetability is the objective.

How many of you who say function over form is preferred would not be caught dead in a stock looking AMC Pacer that was as fast as your RX7? Performance would be the same, but the appearance would be all wrong, wouldn't it? How about a Pontiack Aztek that ran 12s? What would first impressions be when you're not racing?

Truth is that most RX7s here are not really beat up. They are well styled cars from the factory, and only take a bit of clean-up to still look good. But that's a big part of why you have them vs an ugly car that is fast. So you've already made a choice based in at least a good part on appearance. Appearance counts. And if you're satisified with the performance, then making the car LOOK more to your tastes is a viable step.

ChrisV

I was also responding to that widebody kit picture. they were saying that it's rice if it doesn't back up it's looks with performance. Since the N/A RX7 looks really the same as the TII (other than the scoop and spoiler), but doesn't have the performance, then doesn't it "look faster than it is" as it looks like the faster TII?

I do understand your last sentence, but most people simply don't express it like that, and truth be told, don't even think it like that until cornered.

I'm trying to get people who are quick to jump on the "speed over appearance" bandwagon, and the "anti-rice" bandwagon, to see how their statement can be used against the cars they may already have and like. I really want them to think about it, and understand why they shouldn't be so quick to put down other automotive genres.

I come at this from a custom car background. Cars as rolling sculpture and individual artistic tastes. The beauty of a design like the stock 1963 Ferrari 250 Berlinetta Lusso to a top-level '50 Merc custom. Restyling and design are important to me as an artist to make a mass produced compromise match my exact tastes, or to incoporate styling and design cues from other eras or genres, while trying to blend them harmoniously.

I'm not cutting down performance cars. I've had race cars. I love road race and autocross. But I but I don't need my car to provide me with my daily doseage of testosterone.

skotter

Appearance and handling. Taking corners at high speeds won't draw as much attention as blasting from a light and passing everyone...cops tend to give tickets on those. We are talking about cars that can handle really good already and can be awesome for super cheap. Performance mods break cars and need maintenance...looks last longer and who really cares if you car runs 6.5 0-60 or 6.1? You can improve looks and handling all in one shot!

UniqueTII

Is it safe to say that a ricer is the opposite of a sleeper?

MaxRX7

your car is already looking good, all you need now is speed !

peejay

Absolutely.

Droops83

That is a valid point. But it is a given that almost any RX7 handles well; that's a given. If you have an RX7 that "runs 11s" (and is streetable), that is damn impressive. It handles great AND is fast as ****.

To answer the original question: speed over looks, any day!

Peace

AreExSeven

I'll second that.

But I think its ok to do looks too. I mean, stuff thats sensible. Not Huge wings on a FWD vehicle, or stickers, or light up wiper spray nozzels. That kind of stuff is lame. But theres good ways to make your car more unique and clean.

amemiya

you have to earn your looks with HP. Do this and will get respict, do it not and you see alot of tail lights............and get laughed at.

BLUE TII

iTrader: (9)

To me (if the car is not in disrepair) SPEED=LOOKS. Form follows funtion. Most the "looks" people tack on cars make it look like cheap Sears jeans someone took a Dedazzler to and so thinks they look good now. Looks for me- forged alum/mag rims, a lower front lip, obvious weight savings/simplification/strengthening. If you think "personalizing" a car means putting on body kits and rims, remember- everyone is doing it; mabye you are doing it to be part of a group?

ponykiller

Performance comes first, there is no doubt in my mind. If you want to pick up girls with your cars, then go for the performance, and just understand which girls you should go for.

Or, have one of each, like me

Kris

FC~Crazed

i say speeeeeeeeed... but if u want girls...looks...testoserone... SPEEDos

Barwick

ok who's the joker who actually voted for "looks fast"?

MasonX

No chick wants to be cruisin in the losin car. Ya just gotta balance it out. First thing I worry about is paint, its gotta shine. Thats assuming of course its running nice. Then get some rims and a stereo. After that it'd be all performance stuff for a while. I hate seen these 7's with like 350rwhp with them ugly stock rims on, that just ain't cool I don't care what anybody says. Don't think I'd ever put on a body kit though, I'd rather do somethin like what that one dude did when he took out the molding, that **** looked sweet.

R1Outcast

Balance you must have, my young rotary dude.
(in very mysterious voice)

peacekeeper

BTW, a stock N/A RX7 in good shape looks like a fast car. In fact, it looks very cimilar to the turbo version. But they only run 15s. Which isn't really all that fast. Does that then, by what seems to be the definition here, make the stock N/A Rice? I mean, it looks faster than it is. It cannot back up it's "looks" with the performance of the faster version.

I think its funny how everyone thinks they are slow. Sure they are not the fastest car in the 1/4 mile. Still I had yet to be beaten by a civic or any other car for that matter on the street. There is a guy here that has a stock 87 TII that couldn't even put out the same times as that N/A I had. One thing to remember is that the N/A wasn't meant to be a straight line car as is with the TII. They will beat anything in a corner. NO mustang, camaro, firebird, trams am, or even viper could hang with these cars through a turn. the only cars here that can hang and even beat an RX-7 through the twisties is Porche, and Ferrari. They are fast, will always be fast so stop saying that they are slow. How many cars on the street can say they have the speed we do? BARELY any.
So please stop saying they are slow, its ignorance speeking.
peace out,
Charles

Terrh

iTrader: (7)

I'd rather run 14's and have a sweet lookin car
then run 11s and have a car that looks like *** (allthough, stock looking 7's don't look like ****... heheh)
if I had a car any faster than 14's I'd lose my license within a week or two...
14's is more than fast enough for the street.
Besides, I'd rather work on the handling, going around a sharp corner at 60+ is alot more fun than accellerating fast....

mprime

All show and no go makes you a lame poser.
Do the best you can at making what you have as fast as you can and handle the best it can and then work on looks. Thats why people hate civic ricers cause they pull up to you acting like they will blow your doors off then they back off when you are ready to go. Happened to me yesterday with some kid in a riced up probe. He pulled up acting fast I floored it and left him and he just slowed down and blended into traffic.

KenshinFC

vrooom vrooom... speed baby speed. Looks come and go, speed is forever!

- Kevin

XimbueX

I think it depends on what you're using your car for. If its your daily driver and primary mode of transportation all that speed could hurt you in terms of reliability and gas mileage. The more HP you're pumping out, the more you're going to need engine rebuilds. The more HP your pumping out, the more you'll have to spend on gas and higher octanes. I'm a college student, so I look at it from this point of view.

Now if its a weekend fun car that you just use to blast around back roads, and do track schools, drag racing, autocrossing, etc. You might want to make it a speed deamon.

If it were my daily driver I would probably do minimal upgrades keeping the stock turbo. This can get you into the 13s without too much reduced reliability. Then maybe I'd get a nice set of lightweight rims or something. There's not much you can do to the RX7 to make it look better, its already a pretty car. Save for Soul Assasin's (major $$) kit, I don't think there's any kits out there that necessarily improve the looks more than just making them different. The flip side of all the modifications is not having money for that rainy day later, but if you got the cash, mod away.

-Matt Ford
XimbueX

MaxRX7

speed !!!