What is the car culture like in your country?

"Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder" (pabuuu4) 02/20/2014 at 13:36 • Filed to: Question, tuning, car culture, country

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What is your country like if you look at the car culture?

Is the scene big?

Is it versatile (many different subcultures, think JDM USDM EUDM) ?

How are the people?

How is the classic car scene?

How is the tuning culture?

Is your country car-friendly?

I'll go first. I live in The Netherlands.

My country is not the most car-friendly. vehicle tax is expensive. Fuel is expensive.

On the other hand, the roads are generally good. A bit small and narrow at times, but overall it is pretty good.

The whole car culture isn't really big

Oldtimers (cars from before 1987) are cheaper in tax and insurance (max 120 euros a year and around 80 euros for insurance)

For some reason the american car scene is pretty big over here. Not the 90's or 00's cars, but the cars from before 1987. Especially the big ones. Lifted broncos, Chevy G20 vans and other landboats. Most end up being not properly maintained, and many end up being matte black with tribals and skull stickers..

The Japanese car scene that you see in so many other countries is not that big over here.

The classic car scene took a big hit this year, LPG and Diesel oldtimers suddenly had to pay full price.. The second hand sites were flooded with these cars and most were sold or worse.... scrapped...

The tuning scene is small, and not that great..

Mostly 20-somethings still stuck in the Euro tuning scene of 2003.. that means:

Ugly bodykits, cheap rims, eye blinding headlights, big spoiler and loud exhaust. Think ricer, only with german or french cars.. (we need names for that!)

Parking lot meets were shut down and are now rare.

The usual riced cars:

Opel corsa, tigra and astra, Citroen Saxo , Peugot 107 and 206.

Tell me about your country!

Edit: I was informed the US is a bit big, so for those in the US do it about the state you live in.

Casper > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/20/2014 at 13:40

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The US is a bit too big to do the same thing with. I remember visiting the Netherlands and being shocked that the entire country is almost 1/5th of just my home state in land area. Just traveling from one side of the state to the other is like changing countries, and going between states is radically different.

Around here:

Is the scene big?
Moderate. In some areas it's really big, but it has declined from the days of old when weekend street drag racing with old school muscle was common.

Is it versatile (many different subcultures, think JDM USDM EUDM) ?
There are basically the big three, domestic (American), JDM, and European groupings, but people intermix regularly. People are more concerned about performance in my area than where the car came from.

How are the people?
A side from the usual teenager posers, most people are general car people and like to BS with other car people/help each other out.

How is the classic car scene?
Really big, they do lots of gatherings and there are people collecting cars from pretty much every country that are classic around here.

How is the tuning culture?
The tuning is split between the posers and the tuners. There are actually a pretty even distribution between those who are actually tuning and those posing, but the general tuners are actually very much car people so they are very community based/accepting. The posers are posers, no one likes them.

Is your country car-friendly?
Country as a whole probably is, our state is a split between the north being rabidly ignorant eco-hypocrites and the rest of the state. Overall it hasn't become nearly as bad as other states.

DeltawingGothamDeserves > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/20/2014 at 13:41

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The 107?! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I love the 107. I will import it once it passes 25 year, blah blah blah.

Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder > Casper 02/20/2014 at 13:42

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Oh I didn't even think about that... Do it about your own state

GhostZ > Casper 02/20/2014 at 13:43

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I think it would be better to do it by State for US residents.

Goshen, formerly Darkcode > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/20/2014 at 13:47

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I live in Portugal, in the north to be more specific. The car scene isn't huge, but it has a following and people are passionate. The classic car scene is probably the biggest scene, with fuckloads of OG Minis and W123s. As for the rest, performance tuning is dominated by Japanese cars and the US car scene is dominated by redneckmobiles. People are generally older, say 40-50.
Ricing was huge circa 2003-2008 and then fell to pieces, with many former ricers turning into drifting or legal drag racing. Illegal drag racing, in the north, is heavily populated by German manual diesels (and occasionally, wagons), due to the TDIs being supposedly so easy to tune. In the south they race PSA/Honda shitboxes, claiming they'd reach 290 km/h but they'd probably run out of engine and gearing circa 230 km/h.
Rather than personal ownership of vehicles, seeing them in motorsports takes the big cake. Rallying, touring car racing, classic car racing, GT racing, off-road racing, you name it. There are events all over the country. F1 is still very popular despite the fact it doesn't air on public television since 2007 and there hasn't been a Portuguese GP since 1996. The street circuit in the Oporto neighbourhood of Boavista, which was used for the first ever Portuguese GP in 1958 (and then the third in 1960) is currently used for an international revival every two years. There's been a lot of talk about bringing F1 back to Portugal but nothing concrete.

PushToStart > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/20/2014 at 13:51

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"Car culture? You mean TRUCK CULTURE?!?" * takes swig of Budweiser * -Texas

(I'm aware that Texas isn't a country. I was making a joke about how some rednecks here still seem to think it is)

Hoccy > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/20/2014 at 13:54

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Well, I live in Norway, and I guess you already know bits of the car culture here, but I can answer the questions.

The car scene is quite big. Long distances make owning a car a necessity for everyone not living in a city centre. And we have about one city. It's very versatile. The classic subcultures are the rally/rallycross bunch and the "råner" scene, where people don't care about what kind of car you have, as long as it's either fast, low, turbocharged or can go sideways (90% Volvo). GATEBIL is included here, and you know how the tuning is like there..

And as I said, everyone needs a car. Everyone knows something about cars. You don't like everyone. Some are asshats, some are hairdressers, and some drive Audis.

But owning a car in Norway is quite expensive. You have to pay a steep road tax, high insurance, lots of toll roads and so on. At least 50% of the price of a new car is taxes. This means the average age of a car in Norway is about 12 years. Cars older than 30 years old have no import tax, and a symbolic road tax and insurance. The classic car scene is quite big because of this, and you often see old Volvos as daily drivers.

kanadanmajava > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/20/2014 at 14:42

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In Finland the common cars on street are really boring but car culture is pretty interesting and ok. Most cars that enthusiast have are vintage American cars and they appear in huge numbers different gatherings. Modifying newish cars (after 90's) has legality issues so heavily modified cars are usually pure race cars or quite old.

The yearly taxation for vehicles is pretty cheap (100-300€ if it is not a diesel) but insurance vary more. Storing cars is getting a bit expensive for city dwellers but people in countryside tend to have huge fleet of hobby cars on their yard.

Donk cars don't exist here and bro trucks are scarce (tight tire size laws) but nearly are all other styles are present at some level.

Our vehicles need to inspected yearly (there is couple exceptions) and modifying laws are quite strict even for old cars so very radical modifications are impossible here.

The winter in Finland is quite hostile against vehicles so our old cars tend to be in quite horrible condition. Importing old cars is quite affordable and easy but year model sets some limitations. If the car has been registered in some civilized country before July 1987 you don't need any certification papers for registration. After that date some certification papers are needed but American cars will be ok up to mid 90's with their EPA and FMVSS stickers.

MrCrash > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/20/2014 at 14:50

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Michigan checking in. I'm just north of the Motor City. We have a horsepower infestation worse than New York has cockroaches and rats. Old cars, new cars, tastefully done and otherwise. Donks, drifters, ricers, racers (straight line and corner carving), old iron, new plastic, foreign and domestic, etc. If it has 2 or more tires and moves, it's seen around here. Some people are respectful, and others are complete dicks. There is no inspection or emissions testing here, so people go crazy with their cars. If you want to see how crazy it gets here, look up the Woodward Dream Cruise.

ki-ki-ki-kia > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/20/2014 at 14:53

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I suppose I could describe Florida and maybe give all of those Florida Haters a better idea of the culture.

Anyway... in my opinion it is difficult to do at a state level too as many states are pretty large. So I will do my state first and than my region.

The State of Florida

What is your state like if you look at the car culture?

Well as a whole you can see just about everything here. From exotic imports to lifted bro trucks, redneck-ified vehiculars, and than your everyday cars. Generally we have some of the cheapest gas in the nation and on the national level it is some of the cheapest gas in the world. So as for that we are pretty set. Our roads are generally good minus a few bad one and ones people love to complain about although they do not bother me to much. There is a ton of construction going on around the state at an alarmingly slow rate which causes can cause a dilemma when the new road is just as bad as the old road in some cases. The major problem is lack of terrain diversity. Much of the state is flat and few hills can be come by. Curvy roads are plentiful in the north central part of the state but many times these areas are ridden with police officers and county sheriffs looking for an excuse to give you a ticket. The car culture as a whole depends on where you are. Many people think of us as a retirement state but there are still many people who are very interested in cars and modify or take pride in their personal vehicles.

The people in these different groups can be either amazing or terrible. Many of the true off-roaders who take their trucks and Jeeps mudding and trail riding are some of the nicest most down to earth people you can meet. Others who are more into the mudding aspect and have ridiculously large trucks on giant tractor tires can be a bit more menacing or can be younger and possibly less caring. (note I am not saying that everybody is the way I describe them but rather making judgement based off of the people I have met. There are exceptions to everyone that I mention)

Some of the most popular cars you can see almost everywhere include Toyota Tacomas all years, Toyota Camrys all years, any wrangler whether it be YJ, TJ, JK or even CJ. They are everywhere. Traveling throughout the state you also see quite a few Minivans mostly Chrystler Town and Countries but also Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna. Mustangs are plentiful and down south they love there exotic cars whether it be Lamborghini or Ferrari. Throughout the state you are bound to see Ford F-150 and F-250 as well as Chevy Silverado almost all of them lifted and either in bro truck form or redneck-ified.

The classic car culture is huge thanks to the amount of retirees and older folks living in the state. There are classic cars shows everywhere and they are generally well attended.

The tuning culture is another big scene. Many Civics and Integras as well as Accords are "tuned" which really ends up being riced out. Similar to what you said many body kits, rims, HID, fart cans, and Air intakes. Many of these also runs turbos which are tuned so close to blowing that you see a tuned car for sale usually less than a year after it was bought. It is almost a revolving door.

Parking lot meets happen all the time here and I know that the "tuning" culture have races in my area on local bridges so I try to avoid those after 9 pm.

Please excuse this poor woman's language.

ki-ki-ki-kia > ki-ki-ki-kia 02/20/2014 at 14:54

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I actually focused more on my area than the state now that I reread my post so for anyone interested I am in the Tampa Bay Area and this is pretty much that whole area in a nut shell.

Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder > MrCrash 02/20/2014 at 14:54

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No inspection? How many unsafe cars are driving around? Do they cause a lot of accidents?

MrCrash > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/20/2014 at 15:37

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Lets just say if I shouted at every unsafe vehicle I saw daily, I'd lose my voice before I got to my first stop. Lights out/missing, cars totaled yet still moving, windows replaced with duct tape and cardboard, billowing smoke, etc. They made insurance mandatory and called it a day. It's hard to pin a lot of accidents on unsafe cars. A lot of drivers seem to think"I have insurance, so I don't care", so they drive around in their own little bubble with their heads wedged up their own arses.

I guess we make up for all the awesome car stuff by having a surplus of idiots in rolling junk heaps.

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/21/2014 at 08:35

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Malaysia is all about the ricers (at least if you're not at the track). You get all kinds of Protons, Peroduas and Toyota Vioses (Yaris sedans) all fart canned up and ready to shift into D.

Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder > Krieger (@FSKrieger22) 02/21/2014 at 09:03

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I really like the stance scene over there! there are dozens of videos on youtube about stance meets in malaysia!

I like how most of these cars are small kei-car like and other compact cars.

Krieger (@FSKrieger22) > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder 02/21/2014 at 09:22

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Yeah, that's because that's all these ricers can afford now with all their mods.

For every half-decent stance car you have a LOT more ricers with stickers up the wazoo and indecisive sticker bomb wraps. And as a purist of sorts "JDM is not a crime" stickers have always made me want to crush the Proton/Perodua it's stuck on...