A Defining Word in the Tuner Movement:
So I was going somewhere the other day, minding my own business when a loud buzzing noise comes from behind me. As it gets closer, I can hear the sound more clearly, and it seems that someone's having serious engine trouble. The motor sounds unhealthy: strained, running at very high speeds, and very loud. ss the unbearable sound gets louder, I can see it's emanating from the huge muffler of a Dodge Neon. The small car also boasts a gigantic, unpainted aluminum spoiler to completely block rear visibility and a front bumper that's almost touching the ground. This car's pointless, tasteless modifications are known as rice.

Interestingly, rice, which can be used as a verb, adjective, or noun, actually began as a mildly offensive racial epitaph. Since rice is usually used as a derogatory term for Asians or things of Asian origin, it was first used to refer to these cars, which were, at least in the beginning, mostly Japanese, as "riced-out" or "ricey." By now, though, the word has lost its offensive meaning and is the accepted word by media organizations and the populace alike to refer to this trend.

A "ricey" car is one that has much more money spent on aesthetics, usually tasteless, than actual performance. Furthermore, the cosmetic modifications are specifically made to mimic a car that actually is fast, to deliberately mislead. Two of the most common modifications are exhaust and wheels. Exhaust modifications do have a root in actual performance; the larger the exhaust pipes are, the more air can escape, which reduces backpressure and thus increases the explosion size and makes more power. Larger, and consequently louder, mufflers also allow more air through quicker, reducing backpressure and increasing power. However, an entire exhaust system is needed in order to make any power. Having a huge, straight-through muffler will hardly help if air is slowed anyway in the rest of your minuscule, bendy, constricting exhaust system. Sadly, though, it's all too often that you see a car with a 4-in. diameter muffler that sounds like a chainsaw making no power gain.

Wheels are also a good modification for the performance-minded. Larger wheels with low-profile tires have a bigger contact patch and less sidewall to get better grip. Lighter wheels and tires save unsprung weight. Unsprung weight is the weight on parts needed to get the car moving and slow it down. If there's less inertia acting on the wheels, they will be easier to accelerate, slow down, and change direction, which will make the car faster and a better handler. However, what some car tuners don't seem to understand is that, firstly, there is a such thing as too large, where ride and handling are adversely affected, and secondly, if the wheel and tire's combined weight increases, the handling and performance of the car gets much worse than stock.

Another common "ricey" part is a new front and rear bumper and sideskirts, in a body kit. While a body kit actually tested in a wind tunnel will help aerodynamics, the majority of "aero" kits sold actually worsen drag levels. Not only that, but these low front bumpers commonly catch on driveways, hills, and bumps, and crack easily. Not to mention how silly a huge front air intake looks with nothing to fill it. Again, the roots of this are in performance, where a huge intake is needed to get enough air to either a huge radiator, intercooler, oil cooler, or some combination of the 3. Even with expensive kits that do help aerodynamics, one wonders if aerodynamics should be the first thing a performance-oriented driver of a Dodge Neon or Honda Civic DX should worry about.

The same goes for the shopping-car-handle spoilers found on the trunks of more and more cars. It's unlikely that these $30 Pep Boys fake aluminum spoilers help downforce at all. On fast cars, such as DTM or JGTC racers, these spoilers are found to help keep the rear wheels firmly on the ground at triple-digit so that they keep transferring as much power as possible to the ground. In very very fast cars, such as LMP racers, these spoilers actually keep the car from flipping at 200+ mph. However, the driver of a front-drive Neon shouldn't worry about not getting full traction to the rear wheels. Not to even mention that a Neon can't go fast enough to need a spoiler at all.

As an interesting side note, in the two-wheeled performance world, "rice" is a term of endearment, with the term "rice-rockets" referring to the insanely fast bikes coming out of Japan each year, capable of 10 second quarter and beating a Ferrari Enzo in 0-60.

1. rice

An automobile that has been equipped with gawdy, unnesecary accessories, such as 3' high spoilers, loud and/or repulsive paint job and body work. Owners of such automobiles feel that these accessories make their car the best in the world, when in fact it is not.

That Prelude over there is nice, but this here Civic ain't nothin but a ric mobile

2. rice

Race Inspired Cosmetic Enhancements. (R.I.C.E.)Parts put on cars to make them look fast, when they have no internal tuning, and are actually slow as hell. Parts usually consist of excessivley angular bodykits, large rear spoilers, neon, sponsor stickers, chrome rims, fake "coffee can" exhaust tips, and loud, annoying paint jobs and/or vynils. Sometimes parts are do-it-yourself installed and are basically duct taped to the car. Most commonly known for being done to Honda Civics, but can also be done to slow domestic vehicles, such as a Chevy Cavalier, etc.

"Yo dog, did you see the Civic that guy was rollin' in? it was so rice."

"This guy's got nothin' under the hood, it's just rice. Smoke him."

"What a riceboy, I bet he thinks his neon adds 50 bhp!"

3. Rice

i) Food staple, ususally associated with asian countries but consumed worldwide.

ii) A car, usually a late model of japanese origin, that has had numerous features added to it that may enhance its looks, but do nothing for its performance.
Examples include "VTEC" and "Mugen" stickers, large spoilers, chrome wheels ( see also bling bling ), large diameter exhaust pipes,
clear brake light lenses and lowered springs.

iii) Individual features of a car noted in (ii) abovei) "I'd like a number 24 with sweet & sour sauce, 3 spring rolls and a bowl of rice please"

ii) Look at that Civic!. It's pure rice!

iii) Don't put that huge spoiler on your car dude, it's 100% rice.

4. Rice

any modification that is supposed to make a car look fast, when in fact it does nothing for speed, and may in fact hurt performance, or any vehicle that has been subjected to this treatment. note that any make of vehicle may be "riced". gaudy, pointless, absurd body modifications and paint schemes, annoying bees hive exhaust tips. asians are the best at "ricing" a vehicle, along with spoiled rich white high-school teenagers.after watching super2nr tv, lets go check out the rice section of pep-boys.

5. rice

A fuel saving Japanese car, usually Honda, that was never built for racing. But some people, for some reason, spend thousands of dollars to add countless number of stickers of performace products that they mostly likely dont have, average of 6 foglights, big colorfull rims(note: big rims are NOT for racing) expensive paintjob.

wazzzzz hapenin, i just spent $10,000 on ma Civic, i'll race your stock Camaro SS for slips, yo! (Camaro won, ricer cried)

6. rice

v. To take a shitty jap car, add some Vtech stickers, spoiler, and f*** up the camber.

I just spent $12000 ricing up a $8000 piece

7. Rice

Rice is a term used to describe a trend in the modern, American, car culture. An offshoot of the true underground street racing scene of the late 80s, where people want to become a part of the scene, though they were never really involved in it at the beginning. So when some one puts what would be considered Rice on their car it is in an effort to fit into the image of the street racer. The cheapest way to look like this way is with purely sensory modifications, Altezza lights, large muffler tips without any exhaust modifications, wild paint, wild body kits, spoilers, mismatched badges and stickers, large flamboyant rims, excessive stereo, etc.
Anything that would appear to add performance, but inreality does not.Though any care can be “riced” it usually occurs with sport compact cars both domestic, and foreign. The ricer modifies his or her car to please others, rather then himself, they are more concerned that their car looks fast, that if it is fast.

"That car is riced out."
"Look at that ricer."
"I dont like that, mod it is to rice for me."

8. rice

Rice (n) , What a asian vehicle is that takes more torque to hold the wheels on then the hamster motor makes.

ying yang put 10 k in his rice mobile and still can beat a stock Fbody.