People love cars, myself included. But for many of us, that love transcends good taste and quickly becomes downright annoying to others who have to witness it.
Here is my list of the most misplaced, tacky, and otherwise useless fads that have cropped up in the past few years.
GTR Badges
Many of the most annoying auto trends stem from an identity crises. Certain vehicles have iconic features that people, either intentionally or completely unaware, choose to mimic on their own vehicles.
The first example of this in the list is the GTR Badge. This comes from the Skyline GTR, a vehicle never sold in the US until it's latest iteration last year. Aside from the source vehicle being itself overhyped(they have tons of potential if you have wells of money to dump into it- otherwise they are heavy and underpowered) these badges just don't make sense. Most often you will find these on (big surprise) older Honda Civics with terrible peeling paint, steel wheels(bonus: an unmatched pair of rims in the front or back), and a driver who looks and acts as if he's constantly late for his shift at the local McDonalds.
The popularity of these badges exploded once knock offs appeared on the shelves of Pep Boys auto stores, and for a year or two you could barely turn your head without seeing one. Luckily for us, this fad seems to have passed: likely only because those mid-90's Civics are now laying dormant in junk yards and impound lots.
Cobra Eyes
Another fad that died out with those junky Civics is the "cobra eyes". These were those LED windshield washer nozzles. Aside from being ugly and distracting to other drivers, many of these were illegal- in most places you cannot have forward facing red or blue lights on a civilian vehicle.
For the most part these have gone the way of the Dodo, but I see one every few weeks or so, and they're just as annoying as they ever were.
Half Assed Customizations
Sometimes we'd love to have a show or race car, but that kind of commitment just isn't in our budget. Most of us accept that and go on with our lives, but a special breed of douchebag trudges on, planning to build that car one peice at a time as he can afford it, while still driving it on a daily basis.
Because of that, you will see these cars roaming the streets with unpainted body kits, incomplete sets of rims, giant ill-fitting wings, and huge mufflers(often tilted as if the installer didn't know what they were doing, though the look is intentional).
These cars are certainly eyesores, but what is truly aggravating about this is that the drivers assume that once that first mod is bolted onto the car, that they are getting the benefit or notoriety that they would with ALL of the mods. This leads to these idiots trying to race anyone who glances at them at a red light, posting pictures of their ugly cars all over the internet, and NEVER finishing the process of making a decent looking or well performing car.
Fake Buick Fender Vents
Last but not least is today's biggest offender. By now, you MUST have seen these "vents" tacked onto everything from BMW's to Ford Taurus'.
Here's a hint to anyone putting these things on your cars... they're an icon of BUICK cars. We're not idiots. We know your Dodge is not a Buick, we know your Subaru is not a Buick, and for the love of God, why would you want anyone to think your BMW or Mercedes is a BUICK? I mean, really... a Buick.
At least the guys with the GTR badges are trying to mimic a somewhat exclusive vehicle.
