Why bother?

[JohnBM01]

GTPlanet, hello again. This is John with another topic.

What do these cars have in common? Dodge Neon. Ford Focus. Honda Accord. Toyota Celica. VW Beetle. VW Jetta. They are (besides low-priced cars), mostly economy machines. They are low-priced, so anyone won't have to spend a fortune on bringing them back to their former glory if they are destroyed. But when a boy racer (or a girl racer) has the heart to make their slow machine a performer on the road and the track, he/she mods to either more powerful than it looks, or to compete against tougher cars.

A note about this topic... this is NOT a "bash on tuners" thread. If you happen to own a slow car that you've hot rodded to make it perform or look better, I'm not against you or the car you drive.

So why bother with these machines considering their capabilities? I'll start.

As a Gran Turismo veteran, I've played all three Gran Turismos (and beating only GT1). I know that I didn't have the budget to buy a Mitsubishi 3000GT to smoke the competition. In GT1 especially, the primary thing I wanted to do was mod the car out with engine, suspension and brakes, drivetrain, tires, others, and turbo (if available). If I modded like crazy, I knew my slow car would be a competitor. I can recall buying a Mitsu Mirage in GT2. I know I didn't have a ground-pounding Corvette, a go-kart handling R390 Road Car, or even the almighty Escudo Pikes Peak, but I had a car to work with as my boy racer intents were eminent. As a racing fan, I know that if I wanted to be a racer, I had to WANT to be serious, not just brag about having a machine in the game capable of being laughed on. And surely, street racing a racer does not make. Even I know that after having played Midnight Club and Tokyo Xtreme Racers Zero and 3. So why bother? Why would one even want to make a slow car perform? It is because the machine has capabilities that can be made to be much better with tuning and hard work. American owners of rear-drive ground-pounders know that a front-drive compact will never be as powerful as a Camaro or Mustang. They love to downplay them so much. I think the top governed horsepower of cars in Japan is 280ps or 276hp. Front-drive compacts weren't known to be pure race cars (except maybe the Mini), so why tuning is done is because a person has performance in their heart, and while he/she knows that he/she does not have a pure sportscar, they at least want a car that can perform and perform beautifully.

Maybe sometimes I'm sick of all the ones to poke fun at Hondas because they aren't Mustangs and Corvettes. Or hell. I'll do one better. Maybe they hate Hondas because they aren't even the Saleen S7 or the Dodge Viper. And even the S7 and Viper can beat the pony cars of today. So why does a person bother tuning like they have the most powerful machine in the world? I don't know. I guessed earlier. Show me a person with an under-appreciated car that can best even the top American namesakes, then maybe the critics can be silenced. I heard of a tuned Mazda Miata that can beat Camaros and Mustangs in Super Street magazine. So, why bother tuning? We all have our reasons. Your job is to give us yours. You can do that right now with a reply to this topic.

 

[The Porko]

I believe some people mod slower cars to become fast because of the element of surpise and also must people talk about a pos being fast at a track then say a car that was already made fast. I remeber seeing a Toyota Hiace van running 13s cause of the 13b Turbo. I told everyone about it cause its intent from the show room wasnt to be fast but this guy most of been bored or something.

 

[RWD-Fan]

I tend to agree with your point. Why bother?

I remember Beavis and Butthead saying once that you can't polish a turd. This seems to be your point. It also seems to agree with my poi..., errr, I mean F-Body's point in the muscle car thread. If you want a performance car, buy a performance car. Don't make one from an economy car.

With that said, ppppphhhhhhbbtttttt to the admins for booting me, errrrr, I mean F-Body who's points were valid and all true. Long live F-Body who came, saw, and kicked some serious "views" before being unfairly booted by admins. Read thread "Wow, Touchy" to see my, errrrrr, F-Body's excellent points and opinions.

Later

 

[High-Test]

Originally posted by RWD-Fan
I tend to agree with your point. Why bother?

I remember Beavis and Butthead saying once that you can't polish a turd. This seems to be your point. It also seems to agree with my poi..., errr, I mean F-Body's point in the muscle car thread. If you want a performance car, buy a performance car. Don't make one from an economy car.

With that said, ppppphhhhhhbbtttttt to the admins for booting me, errrrr, I mean F-Body who's points were valid and all true. Long live F-Body who came, saw, and kicked some serious "views" before being unfairly booted by admins. Read thread "Wow, Touchy" to see my, errrrrr, F-Body's excellent points and opinions.

Later

AHH!!!!! it's a celebrity!!!!!!!!! can I have your autograph??

John BM01, I would have to say I enjoy reading your posts, but this is a really hard Question to answer. I would say that most people do it because they want respect, instead of someone bashing them for driving an '83 civic. I bash imports, alot lately because I can't stand them bashing my beloved detroit iron, but we tune american cars. one thing us americans love is a fast car. if you drive a neon, most people wouldn't say your car was that fast. but if you put a turbo in your neon and you smoke some punk in a 5.0 talking trash, you would get (some? i could actually care less about street racing) respect from it. My best guess is that they just have a passion for cars.

 

[Goomba]

Originally posted by RWD-Fan
I tend to agree with your point. Why bother?

I remember Beavis and Butthead saying once that you can't polish a turd. This seems to be your point. It also seems to agree with my poi..., errr, I mean F-Body's point in the muscle car thread. If you want a performance car, buy a performance car. Don't make one from an economy car.

With that said, ppppphhhhhhbbtttttt to the admins for booting me, errrrr, I mean F-Body who's points were valid and all true. Long live F-Body who came, saw, and kicked some serious "views" before being unfairly booted by admins. Read thread "Wow, Touchy" to see my, errrrrr, F-Body's excellent points and opinions.

Later

You didn't prove anything. No one sided with you. When everyone calls you a numb nuts, we're not crazy, your a numb nuts.

You say, why buy an economy car vs. a performance car when you want it to perform. But your the one pounding it out that Civics and everything else, just about sucks unless it's a Corvette, or Mustang, or a Camaro.

So, is my WRX a horrible piece of crap? It's got a turbo, it has to be rice! So, is GM rice for putting the naturally aspirtate SUBARU EJ25 into the new Saab Aero 9-2X? And putting the same exact ****ing engine that's sitting outside in my WRX in the higher trim? Oh my crap, GM is going rice on us, because it's putting a Japanese engine into one of it's cars. Along with the AWD, and everything that Subaru already was. Holy hell. Also, whats this? It costs $3k more. So tell me, you're all about spending less cash on a better performaning car. Which would you take? The rice Subaru, or the Saabaru? And what were they thinking? Buying a a share of a Japanese company. Also, let me dig up video of a WRX tearing a Z06 apart.

Hahaha, and in you previous thread you said something like, "Street power is what matters most. From street light to street light.". Just three words for ya':

Easy there Vin.

Also, enjoy your hour-or-so long stay. The moderators will kill this name too. You'll probably get your whole IP banned as well.

To answer the question asked by John. Civics are economy cars, and probably in the same price range as most high schoolers that don't have rich parents to buy them rides. And as we all know, high schoolers are dumb. Hah, well not all of them, but I know I was. But kids see all of these go-fast movies and they want to do it too. So they try. Most of the time they fail, but they try.

 

[-Fred-]

Because we can. Simple as that, really.

 

[Powripper]

why bother?? well I have no idea why people do it to civics, but I love the whole "sleeper" idea, thats why I drive a RWD volvo...in the future I have lots of plans for it,
its also because its almost kinda fun to see how the mods that you do affect the car...and its your own unique ride, no one has one like yours
I also know someone who droped a 302 cubic inch V8 into an early 90s volvo 740 sedan.....runs high 12's...ultimate sleeper!!

 

[VIPFREAK]

Originally posted by RWD-Fan
I remember Beavis and Butthead saying once that you can't polish a turd.

rotflamo, damn that's a great quote. I'm dubbing that the highlight of my day. Damn, that's so funny I can't comment on the actual topic.

 

[kikkoman]

Originally posted by RWD-Fan
I tend to agree with your point. Why bother?

I remember Beavis and Butthead saying once that you can't polish a turd. This seems to be your point. It also seems to agree with my poi..., errr, I mean F-Body's point in the muscle car thread. If you want a performance car, buy a performance car. Don't make one from an economy car.

With that said, ppppphhhhhhbbtttttt to the admins for booting me, errrrr, I mean F-Body who's points were valid and all true. Long live F-Body who came, saw, and kicked some serious "views" before being unfairly booted by admins. Read thread "Wow, Touchy" to see my, errrrrr, F-Body's excellent points and opinions.

Later

off topic: the thing i dont understand is why you made it so obvious (about you being f-body)

ontopic: err. havent got much to say, but ill get back to you.

 

[240Z freak]

Anyone willing to place bets on how long till he's banned again?

Back on topic, I think the main reason people modify cars like this, at least in the beginning, is because they simply can't afford something more performance oriented. Now, more and more people do it just because it is the "cool" thing to do.

 

[Sage]

Originally posted by RWD-Fan
With that said, ppppphhhhhhbbtttttt to the admins for booting me, errrrr, I mean F-Body who's points were valid and all true. Long live F-Body who came, saw, and kicked some serious "views" before being unfairly booted by admins. Read thread "Wow, Touchy" to see my, errrrrr, F-Body's excellent points and opinions.

Are you really 27 years old? I've got a 5 year old nephew who's more mature than you are.

When you registered to this board (twice now), you agreed to the terms set in the Acceptable Use Policy and Terms of Service. You broke those rules several times over. Since you insist on coming back, you have to prove to me and everybody else that you can be a mature, responsible, abiding member and actually contribute positively to the community (gasp!), and for pete's sake, stop being so damn full of yourself.

One slip-up, and you're gone.

 

[1X83Z]

Originally posted by Sage
I've got a 5 year old nephew who's more mature than you are.

Know who else is more mature?

Dodo.

 

[Sage]

My nephew can kick kiwi's ass any day. (Note the clever double alliteration.)

 

[1X83Z]

Originally posted by Sage
My nephew can kick kiwi's ass any day. (Note the clever double alliteration.)

Dodo can kick anyone's ass at anything. The other day I was just sitting on my couch talking to him and he broke my collarbone by simply looking at it. He's so tough!

 

[Sage]

No bird named after a fruit could be that tough. I'm named after a plant, and thus, I'm a weakling.

Okay, look, you're totally derailing John's thread. Douglas, on topic, now! (You.)

 

[Sharky.]

Well then, why did anybody bother to build this?:

 

[Sage]

Ha ha, that's so cool... even though it's probably dreadfully impractical, I'd want one just because it's dorky.

 

[Duke]

Originally posted by RWD-Fan
I tend to agree with your point. Why bother?

I remember Beavis and Butthead saying once that you can't polish a turd. This seems to be your point. It also seems to agree with my poi..., errr, I mean F-Body's point in the muscle car thread. If you want a performance car, buy a performance car. Don't make one from an economy car.

With that said, ppppphhhhhhbbtttttt to the admins for booting me, errrrr, I mean F-Body who's points were valid and all true. Long live F-Body who came, saw, and kicked some serious "views" before being unfairly booted by admins. Read thread "Wow, Touchy" to see my, errrrrr, F-Body's excellent points and opinions.

Later

I see your new name has the same juvenile attitude and oversized ego.

If I see it again, you'll get banned again. After that each new account won't even get one slip-up. It'll be banned upon identification. You better not show up on my radar.

Get it? Got it? Good.

 

[knightinwhite86]

Cleatus: Hey, Clyde, why are we sitting here doing nothing, lets do something
Clyde: Like what?
Cleatus: Shucks, I don't know, why dont we carve something out of stone, something to help every one
Clyde: Like what?
Cleatus: Well.... We do drag the animal cart around and it makes it very tiring on us, lets build something to make it easier.
Clyde: Like what?
Cleatus: Umm something to make move easier, like a wheel, something that will roll instead of drag
Clyde: Shut up Cleatus, always with your stupid ideas!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why even bother, ay????

 

[animateria]

Gee I don't really get it either though..

I own a 96 Honda Accord and well it's a nice car but....

I would never modify it to go faster or anything because it's not its point. I live on a small budget so... The 10 buck a week plan is really great (Yeah I don't drive much) And I would never modify it to mess that up.....

If I wanted to modify a car I would buy another car that is more suitable for that purpose.

Hell, with the same money going into a Civic I would rather buy a stock Evo or Impreza.....

 

[kart racer]

The reason they mod up econo boxers is the same reason it was done back in the 50's.To be different. Who wants to have the same car as anyone eles?They are trying to make it a part of their personality's.Taking a box stocker and changing it to their taste.When I has a young one,I took a monza 2+2,yarded out the v6 and dropped in a 350.Lowered it 3 inches,and made it a true road racer while my best buddy took a Vega,tubbed it and put in a 327.We did this just to have something no one eles had.That is the reason, I feel. why the young tuners of today like to take a inexpensive car and mod it up.

 

[JohnBM01]

Kart Racer, you are pretty much right. I'm from the 80s, so I wouldn't know how Falcons, Fairlanes, Thunderbirds, or whatever, would even be tuned. To me (and I'm glad you've tapped into some of my beliefs), it is about customization. I believe that nowadays, a person and his/her car should reflect on the road. A normal person with a so-so life and an average car tend to stay... well, normal. A performance-bound American with an American muscle car wants to look to be street legal, and perform as such. And of course, this generation. These "kids" take their compacts and mod them out any way they like. Why bother? Because the owner of the car wants to reflect his/her personality, and if that person happens to love performance or looking like they do, they will mod their car any way they like as long as you don't get the car impounded.

I think young people are artistic and expressive, so the use of fancy graphics and weird paint schemes are a reflection of their youthful side. You can't hate on a young Honda Prelude owner because his/her machine looks too "ugly" to be on the road. I mean, what? Young people (you have to be at least 16 to drive here in Texas) with youthful cars should be relegated to just being normal drivers? Those who can't express themselves? Those who want to stand out even if a highway is full of Porsches and Dodge Vipers?

This is one reason why I appreciate art. It is because people learn to be themselves. And as I like to say, you have to try to "make a statement, without saying anything." If you shut up and have a car, how can you make a statement? Mod it. Sure, your car might not be the sportscars we are all used to, and maybe you want your car to stand out, even if people don't think your car is worth any attention. And that's another thing. I mean, who cares about what cars are compacts, hatchbacks, or whatever? All cars are worthy of some respect. Look at th Mini Cooper, all the way up to the Jaguar XJ220. Almost any car deserves attention even if it is a tuner. And tuner cars are as attention getting as anything else no matter what anyone thinks.

Why bother tuning these cars? To me, if I had my license and a compact, I'd rather have attention paid to me rather than having people look away thinking I'm some "ricer." I'm expressive, I just hope someone can accept me and my ride. I think it's about attention, no matter what attention it may be. So why would I bother? Standing out. I don't care if I have an LS1 in my hood, or a freaking F1 motor. I know that for my age, I, nor my family could afford such machines. So why would I bother? I don't know. I may never know. And neither might anyone else.

 

[kart racer]

You will find out one day.You start out small,just changing alittle thing and then you change something eles. Soon, the hot rod bug bites you and off you go. My days of hotrodding are past,so I have taken it to the tracks instead.Just can't have the hotrod with 3 kids.No room.But what I would like to do to a S2000.

 

[Famine]

Many of the kids (in the UK) who modify their mother's shopping trolleys have a typical behaviour to go with it.

I'll give out a language warning beforehand, but check over some of the dross at http://www.barryboys.co.uk/, then wander around the forums at http://forum.barryboys.co.uk/ to see the typical foul-mouthed, "mine's better than yours 'cos it's in-duh-vidual", law-breaking attitude of these kids.

And why bother?

Why bother indeed?

 

[kart racer]

I just do not understand the attitude that some of these kids have.To me,they are not car lovers,just a bunch of thugs.I don't see that to much from the kids around here. But I'm not saying it dosen't happen. BTW, what kind of car is that?