Anyway, if someone spends a good deal of time working on a car's engine, doing all the research and testing and putting in quality parts in a modest fashion without a lot of pomp and rice, and then have somebody look at the car and go "gee that's a japanese car, that's so riced out..." -- i see it this as an almost childish attempt to put down someone's hard work, in a rather cruel misrepresentative way. It's not cool.

I agree with that statement. The only thing I laugh at is when someone puts spoilers/stickers/tailpipes/lenses/etc onto a car to make it look fast but doesn't do any actual performance enhancements.

And you're right about the fact that the car doesn't have to be a Honda. There are plenty of American cars whose owners make them fall into that category.

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Tony Fabris