Originally posted by godspunk32@Jun 15 2004, 06:34 AM
Ou ideas are basically that if it looks gaudy and tasteless, as well as has no functional value, it's rice. You can take a Civic Ex, put an agressive front air dam on it, eyt do no work to the engine to need higher air flow, and it is rice. Why? Because there is no functional requirement for it. On the other hand, you can take a Skyline GT-R and put a similar body kit on it, and it will not be rice because there is a functional requriement, namely, the engine needs additional airflow and increased downforce on the front of the car to help steer through turns.
Similarly, if you put a wing on the back of a Nissan Sentra (non SE-R), it will have no functionality. If you put that same wing on the back of a Cobra or a Vette, it will have a functional value, as it will create more downforce on the rear of the car, helping the rear tires stay firmly planted under acceleration and cornering.
We call it rice because people do stupid things to their cars for the sake of picking up high school chicks and because they saw it in 2Fast2Furious. Rice does not look good, it has no class and no taste. Changes are not subtle like most "Euro" looks are. Look at 90% of the body kits for Bimmers, and most of the changes are very subtle. They change the shape of the air inlets or something, but they don't take the car and stick a lower lip off the front of it four feet. Euro styling is pretty classy. It involves tastefully accentuating your car's natural features. Rice is about corny wings, plastic, and gay sounding exhaust.
JR