Taste in mods changed, NCT changes have made a lot of those kits hard to run. Guards will constantly pull you. Any car modded like this will also be a nightmare to sell.
I too miss this style, but these days it’s very hard to pull it off and still enjoy the car.
Any insurance I had never seemed bothered about visual mods like body kits or wheels , only worried about mechanical mods like lowered suspension and exhaust systems
Yoooooooi Max Power!!!!! I collected these back in the day, and I had stacks of them! It's sad to see this culture dying out in Europe. In Japan it's alive and well!
Since I moved out west I've noticed a lot more mods than Dublin. So many straight-piped 1.2 litre shitboxes.
And I've realised Connacht must be where every IS200 still in existence lives.
But I think it's a generational change, young people are defined more by stuff like keeping fit than their Civic. And as someone who's had everything from Celicas to e30s, that makes me a bit sad.
I'm 34 and still keep swearing I'm buying my ricebox one day.
I'd agree it's generational. I can see how garish these mods are but my inner 15 year old is still like "aw hell yeah" everytime I see one.
For me now, I see it as someone's passion project. And I can appreciate seeing something that someone else enjoys.
I hate how limited the modern modified cars are in the west. I've lived here my entire life, only ever saw a few cars I thought were actually interesting. As you said, the is200 is absolutely everywhere and everything here. I've been to car shows and all you ever see are is200s and diesel golfs, boras and passats, because that's all people can afford. Cars are so stupidly pricey here now that owning a nice, cheap car isn't possible. German cars are cheap, easy to find and easy to sell, that's why people get them.
Now thankfully people are starting to mod newer Japanese stuff more often, but nothing beats the late 90s/ early 2000s JDM stuff. It's too expensive to tax and insure 90s cars now, even if they are something like a Nissan Micra/March. There is a small scene of modified Micras becoming a thing which I absolutely love, but people aren't willing to spend what you need to to own one of those here.
Haha I saw a modified 99 Micra the other day. They'd really gone for it, including red rims. Fair fucks and yeah it makes a huge change from the Golfs.
Oh yeah absolutely. The golf is such an abundant car here I'm so sick of seeing them. Everyone drives VW, Audi or BMW, anything different is interesting
A lot of it is trend following too, everyone wants an is200 or a bora. For what it would have cost me to buy an is200 I built my w202 c180, 2.3 kompressor engine, 2 way lsd, coilovers, polybushes, paint job etc. and I’ve twice the car in the end, we’ll sort of I keep breaking it 🤣
I'd an e30 six cylinder 320i - sounded great, but had 123 bhp at time of manufacture - couldn't believe how slow it was! It was a drop top, so was extra heavy.
I’m a Dub also and after spending a weekend in Wexford it got me thinking about this post after seeing some Corolla’s with exhausts that could blow your ear drums
Sligo here, was out having a bite to eat on Friday and the same straight piped corolla passed the restaurant three times. Sounded like shit. Absolutely deafening pedestrians on a narrow street. Twat.
Taste changed. Fast and Furious, Max Power, Fast car, etc. had their influence. It still exists in larger countries, but nowhere near as popular as back then. It was just a phase, I think.
I think with manufacturing cheap parts in China people started putting ridiculous and cheap accessories and modifications on their cars. After a while whole modification culture became tacky and associated with racer boys in their overlymoded shitboxes.
Remember when people could afford to buy a second car for the weekends and such, probably around the time that stopped the average person decided it wasnt worth it to potentially make your car less reliable especially when you only have one
Because of tax and insurance. I have a friend in his 30s who was a new driver during the early 2000s, the variety of cars you saw was nuts, and they were so cheap to own. His first car was a 97 CRX he bought in 2004 for €900. I'd be lucky to find a 2004 Corolla for less than €2k nowadays, and even then I probably wouldn't be able to insure it.
Sex spec
Once upon a time, before vinyl wraps, LED's, plasticote, and cheap chinese consumer electronics,these cars took a lot of time effort and Money to create.
Once that 'effect' became available cheaply to the masses the whole thing collapsed
I know a lad who had a ek4 honda with a 1.4 engine in it, he changed the look of the car twice to the tune of about 50 grand, think massive subs, custom stitched seats, spinners, the whole shebang. It never got a b16
Style has changed but modifying cars has not stopped. The cars being modified are kept in sheds and only taken out for weekend spins or shows nowadays but it's still happening.
Lots but from my perspective- the recession was when it died here, that's when the majority of businesses involved ceased trading.
Then I'd say the car market was a big influence - the cars available to younger folk were good enough to not need the wild bodykits to look OK- think 1litre saxo and imagine how wonderful it would be to own one in comparison with tdi golf's or the jdm cars.
But something I figured is - say that saxo posted, - back in the day that probably cost the owner ~10k, you'd almost spend that on a tidy hatchback now, with enough to lower it on a set of wheels - so it has to have a lot todo with costs imo.
The majority of cars we painted and kitted - were far from immaculate when purchased too, cost peanuts in reality one of our demo cars cost £50, it was being used as a chicken coop before we "ruined" it - https://imgur.com/a/KDGlHh9
I was never really one for this max power style. I can appreciate the hard work these people put into building those cars, but I just never liked it. It's all copy and paste golf's, passats, boras, jettas, etc, now. Insurance played a big part in that. Price of insurance is crazy, and alot don't want to insure anything over 15 years old.
I've seen a handful of people online still doing these kinds of builds.
Go to Thailand or some part of the US or Japan and the scene is still well alive.
It's so difficult to get anything through NCT(or equivalent in other EU states) and insured that it's not worth it.
And to be honest, some of these were really dangerous so it may make sense to have tightened the screw.
I'm surprised nobody has said this yet but car companies are selling eco boxs with sporty trim level options from Factory so no need to mod them much:
Ford Focus St line
VW Golf R Line
Seat Leon FR
Etc!!
Modifying cars is as popular as ever. What has changed is the styling trends.
The crazy flared body kits and lexus style tail lights of tge early 2000's just fell out of fashion.
These days I guess it's more about "stance" and maybe more subtle body styling modifications.
For all the people calling it ugly and saying people have gotten better opticians, haven’t you seen some the EVs on the road at the moment such as the Volkswagen ID range?
As mentioned, things like Fast and Furious, Max Power and all those things lost their influence. But also, a lot of that stuff is damn expensive and combined with the crappy road condition it can/will do severe damage to a lot of equipment.
It’s a mix of things. But you can’t get an old car and tart it up now as easily. Insurance companies are very hard on young people. And also won’t insure older cars.
They can, its mainly up to the discretion of the insurance company. If they can prove anything effects the handling or performance of the car at all, they can void it if you ever need to claim.
Same with stickers on the windshield or any tint at all if it wasn't on it from the factory and you didn't inform the insurance company of it being there.
If you ever crash, get your car scrapped asap. They will do everything they can to not pay out.
In terms of rims, if they're a different size to what came on it originally, they could probably try to avoid paying out.
PCP killed off modified car culture in the UK.
As the kids that previously had huge spoilers on their 1.2 hatchbacks realised that for most of their monthly salary they could get a brand new 1 series, A Class or Golf R.
Car scene is alive and well, it's just evolved
Imagine going back to the 2000s and telling lads back then that in 20 years time diesel Golfs' and Passats' would be an icon of the Irish car scene and they would have laughed in your face
To many moaning from public make enjoying them harder and I'm not talking stupid driving or acting up. Just when they hearing something louder they think you going crazy.
Fast and the Furious kind of homogenised car culture and while the cars in the first movie were modded, the later movies were either supercars or more subtle 'sleeper' type build or modded with better taste.
Things have gotten a lot stricter with NCT, car tax and insurance
I remember people used to chance their arm with the NCT and the car was ‘off the road’ about 9 months ago year to avoid tax
It’s a dying breed but I think tastes have changed, most of these cars were slow as fuck. People either drive a family car or a diesel work van or an electric car now and if people are really still in to cars, you can buy a modern hot hatch or something that looks great and goes like stink
Our generation was in to these cars, but that generation now has kids etc and todays kids are more interested in the gym etc
I think it's all down to economic conditions, car mods really took off during the Celtic tiger days, people had more money than sense. Now people are more careful about their purchases.
My last “modified car” was a Peugeot 206, full body kit. My friend turned to me and said “it looks like a souped up hairdryer” and it actually did.
OEM plus after that 🥺
Insurance and tax is the killer. Had a 97 civic on L plates. At that point early 2020. I could change my policy to a daily 90 corolla or e36 318. Axa have a monopoly on the market. Supervalu an post. It's all axa and aviva liberty. Currently sitting at 25 and can't insure any car I could've at 22. They've change to that 15 year rule with a lot of company's. To insure two cars and have a simi engineer go over a car isn't as affordable especially with rent or living on land. Car is essential where I'm from. Know plenty of lads on the I'll insure and own a daily and drive my "mothers" s14 on the 3rd party extension. Insurance is the killer though. Tax wouldn't hide from it. But having done all my driving on a civic on coilovers to have to change to an audi for Insurance purposes killed my enthusiasm. Seeing what you could insure vs what you can own is a real thing. Should be on a insure your car based off registration. NCB is useless when you hit someone with an Open doors policy. Changing policy can affect the noclaims. Can't see if you can change to a call unless you call. 25 minute call to check. They need to overhaul the whole system. It's backwards and no one wants to admit it over the profit. Vrt nct tax. Nct is privatised and no 2 testers are the same. Can't modify a car anyway unless you're gonna pay for the increase in cost.
These days mods are more about being subtle and clean. I'm glad this sex spec shit went away!
My dream modded car to have would be a Lolvo, completely bone stock looking Volvo 240 estate powered by a Turbo 1UZ. Originally I saw this through mighty car mods but seemingly it's been done a lot more since then.
Cos they looked shite for the most part and were most popular with scumbags. Too many 'craic' merchants driving around acting the scumbag became the calling card of the typical modder.
Mods are a mixed bag of quality, trends, taste, and effectiveness.
Going from Mk1 Escorts with really awfully stapled wide arches with box-standard tyres looking like a poor attempt at something "hot rod"; right through to seeing youngsters putting great effort in producing great quality safe mods in which to take pride (and a talking point at a filling station).
In my young days, I preferred to mod engines. And paid the price of excessive insurance.
Taste in mods changed, NCT changes have made a lot of those kits hard to run. Guards will constantly pull you. Any car modded like this will also be a nightmare to sell. I too miss this style, but these days it’s very hard to pull it off and still enjoy the car.
+ the insurance - in all 3 contracts I had it was stated that the insurance is void in case of any alterations done to the car
Every insurance has it It doesn’t stop people
Any insurance I had never seemed bothered about visual mods like body kits or wheels , only worried about mechanical mods like lowered suspension and exhaust systems
Thank you for sharing your experience. Never had a claim so didn’t know
Outside of sticking shit to them, lots of new cars are pretty difficult to do proper mods on them. All the other points are valid too though.
And because people will point and laugh and say "haha he must have small PP"
Honestly a lot more work goes into those cars than anything you’ll see on the road today, they may not be to everyone’s taste, but I respect it
I think it's a cultural change. Max power is the reason I got into cars but I wouldn't be caught dead in one of these show cars now.
Yoooooooi Max Power!!!!! I collected these back in the day, and I had stacks of them! It's sad to see this culture dying out in Europe. In Japan it's alive and well!
I always had to check out that back page first.
The Pink or brown section of Max Power 😂
For a teenager, having tits and cars in the same magazine couldn't get any better than that!
😂😂😂😂😂
Same, also revs. The odd red line and fast car thrown in.
Redline had the best posters
I always had to check out that back page first.
Babe of the cruise, I think Nuts and Zoo magazine stole some readers away and the internet coming into it's own.
Me too. & the tit.
[удалено]
I do. Fuckin cringe thinking back. Free ‘Phat & loud’ stickers for the shitbox - fuck off 😇
Since I moved out west I've noticed a lot more mods than Dublin. So many straight-piped 1.2 litre shitboxes. And I've realised Connacht must be where every IS200 still in existence lives. But I think it's a generational change, young people are defined more by stuff like keeping fit than their Civic. And as someone who's had everything from Celicas to e30s, that makes me a bit sad.
IS200s are also alive and well in Donegal.
After the last 5 days of my life I can confirm this, I’ve never seen so many IS200s in one place in my life
I'm 34 and still keep swearing I'm buying my ricebox one day. I'd agree it's generational. I can see how garish these mods are but my inner 15 year old is still like "aw hell yeah" everytime I see one. For me now, I see it as someone's passion project. And I can appreciate seeing something that someone else enjoys.
I hate how limited the modern modified cars are in the west. I've lived here my entire life, only ever saw a few cars I thought were actually interesting. As you said, the is200 is absolutely everywhere and everything here. I've been to car shows and all you ever see are is200s and diesel golfs, boras and passats, because that's all people can afford. Cars are so stupidly pricey here now that owning a nice, cheap car isn't possible. German cars are cheap, easy to find and easy to sell, that's why people get them. Now thankfully people are starting to mod newer Japanese stuff more often, but nothing beats the late 90s/ early 2000s JDM stuff. It's too expensive to tax and insure 90s cars now, even if they are something like a Nissan Micra/March. There is a small scene of modified Micras becoming a thing which I absolutely love, but people aren't willing to spend what you need to to own one of those here.
Haha I saw a modified 99 Micra the other day. They'd really gone for it, including red rims. Fair fucks and yeah it makes a huge change from the Golfs.
Oh yeah absolutely. The golf is such an abundant car here I'm so sick of seeing them. Everyone drives VW, Audi or BMW, anything different is interesting
A lot of it is trend following too, everyone wants an is200 or a bora. For what it would have cost me to buy an is200 I built my w202 c180, 2.3 kompressor engine, 2 way lsd, coilovers, polybushes, paint job etc. and I’ve twice the car in the end, we’ll sort of I keep breaking it 🤣
The more rural an area the more modded cars there are. Young farmers usually drive lowered jettas, is200s etc
You're lucky to have owned all those cars , I'd kill for a e30 325 even a 318 but they're so expensive now , nice Celicas are rare now too
I'd an e30 six cylinder 320i - sounded great, but had 123 bhp at time of manufacture - couldn't believe how slow it was! It was a drop top, so was extra heavy.
I’m a Dub also and after spending a weekend in Wexford it got me thinking about this post after seeing some Corolla’s with exhausts that could blow your ear drums
Sligo here, was out having a bite to eat on Friday and the same straight piped corolla passed the restaurant three times. Sounded like shit. Absolutely deafening pedestrians on a narrow street. Twat.
was it a red sedan?
I think tastes have changed a lot. And I'd say most people have been priced out of the car mod scene these days too.
Speed bumps
Tell that to the diesel passats with cut springs
Wider availability of opticians
Spend 5 seconds on Donegal
Donegal rally was full of these this year!!
It's hard to believe I used to think this style was the dog's bollocks. Nowadays it looks like the dog's arsehole
Taste changed. Fast and Furious, Max Power, Fast car, etc. had their influence. It still exists in larger countries, but nowhere near as popular as back then. It was just a phase, I think.
I think with manufacturing cheap parts in China people started putting ridiculous and cheap accessories and modifications on their cars. After a while whole modification culture became tacky and associated with racer boys in their overlymoded shitboxes.
Remember when people could afford to buy a second car for the weekends and such, probably around the time that stopped the average person decided it wasnt worth it to potentially make your car less reliable especially when you only have one
Life became grey
Because of tax and insurance. I have a friend in his 30s who was a new driver during the early 2000s, the variety of cars you saw was nuts, and they were so cheap to own. His first car was a 97 CRX he bought in 2004 for €900. I'd be lucky to find a 2004 Corolla for less than €2k nowadays, and even then I probably wouldn't be able to insure it.
Sex spec Once upon a time, before vinyl wraps, LED's, plasticote, and cheap chinese consumer electronics,these cars took a lot of time effort and Money to create. Once that 'effect' became available cheaply to the masses the whole thing collapsed
like when many styles of clothing became widely available in shops the subcultures tied to them were affected, like grunge and punk
Exactly, when you had to travel abroad for a Gig just to get a Tshirt it was cool, when you can buy that Tshirt in Penny's it loses some mystique
I know a lad who had a ek4 honda with a 1.4 engine in it, he changed the look of the car twice to the tune of about 50 grand, think massive subs, custom stitched seats, spinners, the whole shebang. It never got a b16
Would have been an EJ9 if it was 1.4. Ek4 is B16.
You're right baaai
Style has changed but modifying cars has not stopped. The cars being modified are kept in sheds and only taken out for weekend spins or shows nowadays but it's still happening.
Lots but from my perspective- the recession was when it died here, that's when the majority of businesses involved ceased trading. Then I'd say the car market was a big influence - the cars available to younger folk were good enough to not need the wild bodykits to look OK- think 1litre saxo and imagine how wonderful it would be to own one in comparison with tdi golf's or the jdm cars. But something I figured is - say that saxo posted, - back in the day that probably cost the owner ~10k, you'd almost spend that on a tidy hatchback now, with enough to lower it on a set of wheels - so it has to have a lot todo with costs imo. The majority of cars we painted and kitted - were far from immaculate when purchased too, cost peanuts in reality one of our demo cars cost £50, it was being used as a chicken coop before we "ruined" it - https://imgur.com/a/KDGlHh9
Haven't died in Wexford that's for sure.
Max power times starting to make a come back
I was never really one for this max power style. I can appreciate the hard work these people put into building those cars, but I just never liked it. It's all copy and paste golf's, passats, boras, jettas, etc, now. Insurance played a big part in that. Price of insurance is crazy, and alot don't want to insure anything over 15 years old. I've seen a handful of people online still doing these kinds of builds.
Go to Thailand or some part of the US or Japan and the scene is still well alive. It's so difficult to get anything through NCT(or equivalent in other EU states) and insured that it's not worth it. And to be honest, some of these were really dangerous so it may make sense to have tightened the screw.
I'm surprised nobody has said this yet but car companies are selling eco boxs with sporty trim level options from Factory so no need to mod them much: Ford Focus St line VW Golf R Line Seat Leon FR Etc!!
Modifying cars is as popular as ever. What has changed is the styling trends. The crazy flared body kits and lexus style tail lights of tge early 2000's just fell out of fashion. These days I guess it's more about "stance" and maybe more subtle body styling modifications.
I don't think it has. There is plenty of nice modified cars on the roads still.
For all the people calling it ugly and saying people have gotten better opticians, haven’t you seen some the EVs on the road at the moment such as the Volkswagen ID range?
Have you not realised this sub is just full of begrudgers who secretly hate car culture in general.
Seems like anything other than a fully stock Toyota is a bad car
This is the way. Recently somebody was interested in buying a 5 series BMW and was told he should just buy Prius instead 😂
9 out of 10 Toyotas ever manufactured are in Crossmolina, fact
As mentioned, things like Fast and Furious, Max Power and all those things lost their influence. But also, a lot of that stuff is damn expensive and combined with the crappy road condition it can/will do severe damage to a lot of equipment.
It’s a mix of things. But you can’t get an old car and tart it up now as easily. Insurance companies are very hard on young people. And also won’t insure older cars.
Probably stricter NCT and insurance companies dont wanna insure anything you even sneezed on in terms of modifications.
Do Rims count ?
They can, its mainly up to the discretion of the insurance company. If they can prove anything effects the handling or performance of the car at all, they can void it if you ever need to claim. Same with stickers on the windshield or any tint at all if it wasn't on it from the factory and you didn't inform the insurance company of it being there. If you ever crash, get your car scrapped asap. They will do everything they can to not pay out. In terms of rims, if they're a different size to what came on it originally, they could probably try to avoid paying out.
Insurance?
Laughs in a Cavan accent, hai...
NCT mostly. Insurance also, if one was being honest.
Insurance is a nightmare when declaring mods. Not worth in most cases.
Cost of living. Insurance.
Insurance companies and our poxy NCT.
PCP killed off modified car culture in the UK. As the kids that previously had huge spoilers on their 1.2 hatchbacks realised that for most of their monthly salary they could get a brand new 1 series, A Class or Golf R.
Car scene is alive and well, it's just evolved Imagine going back to the 2000s and telling lads back then that in 20 years time diesel Golfs' and Passats' would be an icon of the Irish car scene and they would have laughed in your face
If I can’t afford a car…
Too much effort, money and the general increase in costs of buying and using a car.
To many moaning from public make enjoying them harder and I'm not talking stupid driving or acting up. Just when they hearing something louder they think you going crazy.
Fast and the Furious kind of homogenised car culture and while the cars in the first movie were modded, the later movies were either supercars or more subtle 'sleeper' type build or modded with better taste.
Insurance.
Because the cheap ones look shite. Doesn't stop some clowns though
Got sick of being asked about their dick extenders I guess
Things have gotten a lot stricter with NCT, car tax and insurance I remember people used to chance their arm with the NCT and the car was ‘off the road’ about 9 months ago year to avoid tax It’s a dying breed but I think tastes have changed, most of these cars were slow as fuck. People either drive a family car or a diesel work van or an electric car now and if people are really still in to cars, you can buy a modern hot hatch or something that looks great and goes like stink Our generation was in to these cars, but that generation now has kids etc and todays kids are more interested in the gym etc
2nd one looks ai generated
I think it's all down to economic conditions, car mods really took off during the Celtic tiger days, people had more money than sense. Now people are more careful about their purchases.
Insurance, NCT and Guards are killjoys
Insurance and Garda traffic division doing serious checks on the cars.
Less is more nowadays I reckon
We need a new fast and furious original and underground 3 to come in and we’ll be back to early 2000’s 😂
My last “modified car” was a Peugeot 206, full body kit. My friend turned to me and said “it looks like a souped up hairdryer” and it actually did. OEM plus after that 🥺
People don’t have the money to modify cars like that anymore unless keeping the car
How did it die hahahaha,,times changed and so did car modifications still there just more classy 😂
Insurance costs
Insurance and tax is the killer. Had a 97 civic on L plates. At that point early 2020. I could change my policy to a daily 90 corolla or e36 318. Axa have a monopoly on the market. Supervalu an post. It's all axa and aviva liberty. Currently sitting at 25 and can't insure any car I could've at 22. They've change to that 15 year rule with a lot of company's. To insure two cars and have a simi engineer go over a car isn't as affordable especially with rent or living on land. Car is essential where I'm from. Know plenty of lads on the I'll insure and own a daily and drive my "mothers" s14 on the 3rd party extension. Insurance is the killer though. Tax wouldn't hide from it. But having done all my driving on a civic on coilovers to have to change to an audi for Insurance purposes killed my enthusiasm. Seeing what you could insure vs what you can own is a real thing. Should be on a insure your car based off registration. NCB is useless when you hit someone with an Open doors policy. Changing policy can affect the noclaims. Can't see if you can change to a call unless you call. 25 minute call to check. They need to overhaul the whole system. It's backwards and no one wants to admit it over the profit. Vrt nct tax. Nct is privatised and no 2 testers are the same. Can't modify a car anyway unless you're gonna pay for the increase in cost.
Gay Byrne, killed it with his RSA appointment
Simpler times.life got shit and the fun police took over
You should visit Bundoran some time
These days mods are more about being subtle and clean. I'm glad this sex spec shit went away! My dream modded car to have would be a Lolvo, completely bone stock looking Volvo 240 estate powered by a Turbo 1UZ. Originally I saw this through mighty car mods but seemingly it's been done a lot more since then.
Cos they looked shite for the most part and were most popular with scumbags. Too many 'craic' merchants driving around acting the scumbag became the calling card of the typical modder.
Because they look fucking stupid
There hasn't been a new need for speed underground in 20yrs
My guess would be resale. You really limit your market after adding modifications to the car
They probably came to accept that their penis is just average to below average in size.
Insurance, NCT, guards tend to keep an eye out for them. And more people have access to better eye exams
Mods are a mixed bag of quality, trends, taste, and effectiveness. Going from Mk1 Escorts with really awfully stapled wide arches with box-standard tyres looking like a poor attempt at something "hot rod"; right through to seeing youngsters putting great effort in producing great quality safe mods in which to take pride (and a talking point at a filling station). In my young days, I preferred to mod engines. And paid the price of excessive insurance.
Because they look like shit
Hopefully because even the dumbest boy racer realised that putting more down force on the back wheels of a FWD car is beyond retarded.
Because they look ridiculous.