I'm saying that labeling some piece of vehicle design, or even an almost expected feature in a performance car (read: aluminum pedals), as rice is a stupid thing to do. A red glowing gauge is rice? HOW? Aluminum accents are rice? HOW? It has nothing to do with the component or design piece, and everything to do with how it is applied to a vehicle and the attitude that comes with it.
Worrying (or not) about tire rubbing in a wheel well because you want the biggest, heaviest, stupidest rims in the world, RICE. Worrying about tire rubbing in a wheel well because you want the widest contact patch you can find, NOT RICE. Cat-back because your B18 needs a 3-inch exhaust with 37 resonators to sound less like a hamster wheel, RICE. Cat-back to improve airflow with a tasteful exhaust note, NOT RICE. Adding a body kit because it has useless vents and grills and faux-carbon fiber everywhere, RICE. Adding a body kit because it has a front and rear diffuser for aerodynamic benefits, NOT RICE. Slamming your car because haha it's pimp check out how full (and rubbing) my wheel well is now (but I can't get over speedbumps), RICE. Getting new springs for handling reasons that also lower your car a bit, NOT RICE.
It's not WHAT you do to your car that makes it rice, it's WHY you do it and the attitude you do it with. The features on our car that people are calling rice are nothing of the sort. They are design elements, accents, details that set the car apart. They are applied tastefully and sparingly and without being gaudy or garish. We do not think our car is the best because of a back-lit gauge or our rear-spoiler.
I can appreciate people wanting to improve their car's looks, and I can understand people going for visual enhancements instead of performance enhancements if they want. But you and everyone else on here can tell the difference between a well designed car with visual appeal and rice. It's never one part that gives it off. It's the total package and the attitude of the owner that comes with it. We've all seen the slammed Civic with the beat up 19s and the black painted hood, the fat dual tip exhaust, the two tone paint job, the underglow, the blue LEDs on the washer nozzles and valve stems, the 6 or 7 degrees of camber because they did a budget lowering, and the Type-R sticker on the back (but not in the right place). We know what rice is, and it isn't any one single individual part on the car.
