Hey now, I drive a Toyota as my daily driver. I used to love it when I'd be telling a guy from hs how stupid his Del Sol was with all the stupid things that were added to it. Then I'd always get the response, "Well, what car do you have?", where I'd gladly say my '73 Challenger for obvious reasons....Then would come, "No, I meant what do you drive now?" and I'd say the Corolla and he'd get all worked up that I drive rice, too. It's here where I'd have to explain the whole meaning between rice and an Import. (mine being solely for cheap transportation only.) Some guys always hold a grudge and I can say I will at certain points, but remember rice is best described as a car where all cosmetic 'mods' are done and nothing really special has been done to the engine. (NOTE: Rice can include both Domestic and Import autos, though most of them are 4 door Civics and other not so fast cars with two foot wings added to them.) On the other hand, there can be some Import autos or 4 cylinder Domestics that can be very quick, yet not look so stupid because the owner understands what we refer to Rice as and they too hate all the cheesy things done to most of these cars.
The bottom line is we all have a passion for these older cars here, but there are some newer cars out there that another group of enthusiasts enjoy just as much as we do. (mostly cars originally equipped with turbos from the factory.) I have friends who are like me and love the brute force behind a V-8 powered straight-line street car, but I've also met a lot of guys who love their newer cars with upgraded turbos that can run well through the corners and have decent straight-line speed. (one happens to be a '98 Eagle Talon ASI (AWD) that is just crazy at anything over 15 lbs. of boost.)
I can't believe this topic escaladed this much. From now on how about we keep these responses out of the threads and keep them within PM's or e-mails? (I usually only see or hear of this junk in chat rooms.)