Maturity in Automotive Modification?

I am sure someone, somewhere will take offense at what I am about to say. However, this is just my person thoughts and opinions and I feel like sharing them with you. I want to talk about the concept of maturity when it comes to the modification of vehicles. I know that modifications are always a personal taste type of issue so take everything here with a grain of salt.

When I first got interested into the whole “tuning scene” I was into the more juvenile style of modifications. Large wings, crazy body kits and insane rims seemed to be the pinnacle of modification to me at the time. I thought that if a car didn’t look fast, then nobody would know how fast it really was. I was, unfortunately, the typical “ricer” kid and I am still a bit ashamed to admit it.

After I learned more about how modifications work and what they are, my tastes matured. I started to think that the “JDM” scene was the most incredible thing I had ever seen. Nearly stock cars with subtle changes and well done Japanese parts were my new high. A RHD Civic Type R conversion was my favorite car at the time. It just had to look clean and be basically stock. I still actually like and respect that look to this day, but it is no longer something I would want to own or aspire to accomplish.

After a bit more time I started to really dig the whole drifting and VIP scene. VIP cars were the type of cars that you would think a businessman with a penchant for over-zealous tuning would own. Now I was into slick sedans with crazy camber and insane power plants. The dream car of choice was now either a widebody Trueno or a Supra powered Soarer. I am actually still really interested in the VIP scene and admire the look but it has taken a back seat to my new love.

This brings us to where I am today. Although I still love the import cars and I still really like to see the different tuning styles that are out there…I don’t think I could ever own one anymore. I almost feel like once you mature to a certain point, you just cannot justify driving a hopped up Evo to work every day. At this point, I feel a mildly tuned Euro is the epitome of car modification. Although I am sure that I am a bit biased due to the fact that my wife and I own an E36 M3, I just feel like you cannot beat the feel/power/look of a Euro-Tuned vehicle. I would take a nice S4 over an Evo these days without blinking. It is also what brought me to my current love of the sleeper car. There is nothing more satisfying then having a stock looking sedan that has over 400HP lurking underneath the hood. Seeing the face of another person when you rock them in your Audi S6 Avant is something that I plan on enjoying someday in the near future.

It just strikes me that as a professional businessman; there comes a time to put away the childish toys. Would you take someone more seriously if they showed up in a lightly modified BMW M3, or a slammed and kitted Acura Integra?