What Exactly Does "Rice" Mean?
- Justin Sifford
- Nov 26, 2021
- 5 min read
Let's explain the most common phrase heard in automotive culture today, and its implicit backgrounds.
I know that at least some of you have seen the likes of this above pictured automobile when browsing the Internet, or watching television about cars, but this area of car modification bears a specific label in the automotive community that most have heard time and time again, with little hesitation. "Rice".
Rice, often used to reference questionably modified vehicles beyond what is considered "normal" in the automotive industry, is a term loosely thrown around for years as a blanket term for automotive enthusiasts who critique people's tastes (or lack thereof) in car modification. The term "rice" may be used frequently in the automotive community, but it is one of few terms that has an evolving definition. Sometimes it is a personal definition, other times it is based on a mass consensus within the community what is deemed "rice". Either way, we will dive into what it means, where it came from, and what is generally considered such.
What Is "Rice"?
Well, to put it as simple and anti-derogatory as I can, rice is a synonym for "cringe" in the automotive vocabulary book. There are other iterations of what exactly rice means, but I would attribute it to how most would view abnormally modified vehicles, or certain attributes of them. Rice can be viewed in many aspects of automotive culture, not limited to any particular group of vehicles. For example, there is truck rice, JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) rice, Euro rice, muscle rice, and etcetera. To the car community, rice knows no limits as far as to where it may reach, and whoever deems an automobile, modification, or particular action rice, they better be prepared to find swift justification for their claims, because for the most part, rice is solely base on a majority opinion.
So now I hear you ask, "What kind of things are considered rice to car enthusiasts?" Well here are a few examples widely accepted by most:
Scissor opening doors
Exhaust Whistles and other ridiculous gadgets
Outrageously voluptuous body kits and aero
Fake vents, badges, and poorly executed vinyl
The above, but with massive gap between the wheels and the fender arch
Excessive or inadequate wheel offset spacing
Tacky usage of lights, underglow, and LED light strips
Spitting obnoxiously large flames, and deafeningly loud exhaust
and much more...
This is just a shortlist of some of the things that people in the car community consider to be rice, and most of them are fair, but objective points. However, like I stated previously, the opinion of the person denoting the particular object or action being critiqued as rice, plays a very big role in their determination. For example, because of my stance on tasteful mods to high-end cars, I feel that big aftermarket wheels are rice, considering the effort that goes into making these marvels of automotive engineering, it just doesn't make sense to me logically to worsen certain aspects of a luxury vehicle. But regardless of my opinion, what deems rice to certain individuals is based on how they personally feel about said issues, or even if they agree with some of the more common items, as in the list above. Any item of modification to a vehicle is truly one's own decision, but that does not render you immune from critique from others who may not take your additions (or subtractions) too kindly. However, that is the nature of the automotive community, not everyone will agree with everything, but these precedents set forth, most will concur.
Where Did "Rice" Come From?
Well, to put it plainly, the term "rice" is mainly targeted toward Japanese automobiles, originating from the beginnings of the Tuner culture. Seen as derogatory by some, hinting at some ant-Asian hate speech, it's roots can be traced back to the early days of Hot Import Nights, and the Fast and the Furious movies (especially the first), rather than targeting a specific ethnicity of the people doing the modifications. Supposedly. The scenes referenced by "ricers" may have started in Japan, and crept their way through Europe, and Australia through the avenues of AutoSalon, with "show-style" cars (i.e. Sex-Spec) being the hot ticket for the late Nineties and the Millenia. These high end, highly modified, intensely detailed examples of custom automobiles were the inspiration to those in the car scene, especially those who sought to create their own personal renditions of those famous show-stoppers.
Now, given the above, use your imagination what someone with normal budget limitations, and limited access to the same level of tooling, resources, and fabrication knowledge that went into building this one-of-a kind Honda Civic EG hatch would build. The end results usually aren't very impressive, given how much effort it still takes to undergo these modifications that most still do in lieu of where they fall short in those qualities. However, there is a clear difference between rice, and what is shown above, I would like to clear that up in the next section. This Civic pictured above is actually just a product of it's environment. It is a subcategory of automotive modification genres. These cars of this nature dominated the scene in the early 2000's, when the majority of us were still in Huggies®, so it has a very niche following still to the present. It is stereotyped as rice, even though it was the catalyst for the existence of the criticism. Without Sex-Spec, there would be no rice, per say.
Now, it wouldn't take long for you to notice the above Mustang in its vulgarity, but this modification done to it is inspired by the above Honda, and the Sex-Spec Show Car scene. And herein lies the alternative definition for "rice": Racing Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements. As an acronym, rice is a result of what you se above, purely because of an interest in sporty modifications. But, the modifications are truly cosmetic in nature, albeit from a few select areas, such as sound system modifications, exhausts, and "hot air intakes".
"Rice or Nice"?: The Future of "Rice"
With rice having a fairly straightforward definition, one should be able to clearly define all of its attributes when used as a critique for someone's modifications, allegedly. You would think that someone couldn't misjudge what is truly "rice" by definition with a set precedent could you? Well, you would be wrong because of one fact: what is considered "rice", is slowly evolving. The early 2000's show cars like the pink Honda Civic previously being stereotyped as rice is just a sign of the change in taste of the automotive community, and what is considered cool in the present. Given the trends of the past ten years, different scenes like the Stance scene and the days of wild wrap jobs may go down in history as a form of rice, but the consistency of the past provides the grounds of existence. What is considered rice now, may come back into style in the future, as automotive trends follow similar patterns as fashion does. For example, back in the Sixties and Seventies, Gasser style drag racing was the norm amongst all who participated. Long before Pro-Mods, automatic transmissions, and bracket racing dominated the sport like it does today. However, now we see a resurgence of the nostalgic genre of motorsports emerging to a new audience, with some participants being from the referenced time period. Who knows, maybe one day people will put down the RocketBunny kits, Rays TE37V wheels, and the fender-to-lip fitment in exchange for some scissor doors, big woofing stereos, and crazy candy paintjobs with chrome everywhere. We will see how rice will be viewed and where car modifications will take us next in the future.
As always folks, stay safe, be kind, and never stop learning.
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