The fine line between style and Chav!

obi_waynne

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How would you define the difference between a stylishly modded car and a Chav car?

Is it based on how much money a person spends - with the Chav being the cheapskates?
 
Chav cars are generally only have colour coded kits, no re-sprays. The chav car will be Corsa or a Saxo or some other 1.2 variant. There will be no performance upgrades, just exterior. Racing stripes, unless on a Dodge Viper, look chavvy.

A chav look isn't based on how much you spend but what you spend it on. Chavs tend to pick out the worst body kits!
 
yea the ones that dont look like they dont fit right, also they tend to buy big alloys, which look smart but on a tiny corsa the extra width of the tyre looks dumb, also lets not forget bucket seats, HUGE backbox and chrome wingmirrors! style is when everything looks like it belongs, i.e. leather seats would look nice than buckets in alot of cars in my opinion, unless you have an evo or something :lol:
 
So is it the car or the parts that make it Chavvy? A skyline with a stick on carbon fibre sticker on the bonnet and plastic wheel trims would look chavvy.

A widebodied Corsa with some nice alloys and cool paintjob can look great? (Or can it?)
 
So is it the car or the parts that make it Chavvy? A skyline with a stick on carbon fibre sticker on the bonnet and plastic wheel trims would look chavvy.

A widebodied Corsa with some nice alloys and cool paintjob can look great? (Or can it?)

The Skyline wouldn't look chavvy it would just be styled really awfully! The Corsa may look ok, but you'd bet all your money on it being a 1.2...therefore making it chavvy!
 
I think its when people buy crap for there car that really doesn't suit it, i.e 50ft wide bodykits (ok slight exageration) therefore ruining the look of the car rather than enhancing it i.e angel eyes, maybe a custom respray.
Lots of young people modify their car, some i.e the chavs spend a small amount and buy poor fitting kits as they want their money spent to be noticed, others the style icons spend what they have on quality parts.
But with the never ending saga of rising petrol and the usual costs of tax, insurance etc, many people dont have the money to spend on 19" alloy wheels, lambo doors, engine conversions and a full on custom respray!
And whoever can and does actually have them done is very lucky indeed!
Totally of topic sorry.
 
So is it the car or the parts that make it Chavvy? A skyline with a stick on carbon fibre sticker on the bonnet and plastic wheel trims would look chavvy.

A widebodied Corsa with some nice alloys and cool paintjob can look great? (Or can it?)

personally i would say their cant be a fin line between style and chav as every 1 has different tastes so what looks chavvy 2 1 person looks great to another
and as for a wide bodied corsa ive seen 1 a van totally smoothed with a white pearl paint job banded steelies stretched tyres and a redtop conversion and to me it looked great but to others probably look chavvy
 
"apparently" my wheels are chavvy because they were in max power magazine.

1. Is max power magazine chavvy?

2. I thought they suited the car and didn't look chavvy!

3. So are my wheels Council Housed And Violent?
 
Hayley1: "So are my wheels Council Housed And Violent?"

I don't think so. Unless they're shod with crappy Nexen tyres and full of parking dings and chips. What I personally think is a bit tacky is fitting huge open alloys when the front discs are tiny and the back has drum brakes.
 
"apparently" my wheels are chavvy because they were in max power magazine.

1. Is max power magazine chavvy?

2. I thought they suited the car and didn't look chavvy!

3. So are my wheels Council Housed And Violent?


1 imho max power is a crap magazine

2 like i stated above what looks chavvy 2 1 person looks great to another if you like them then keep them

3 now thats just stereotypical not right i have worked on a millionaires house and on his drive had a beautiful m3 and spoiled it with 20" chrome spinners :sad2:
 
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Basically, a low performance car that has no possibility of being a high performance car with cheap styling mods only on the exterior is chavvy. This same car will have no interior mods (maybe a nice headunit and a bass box in the boot) and no performance mods. The drums at the back of the car will openly be seen through the halfords alloys. The drums will also be painted to make it look more obvious that no performance mods have been done. Typical cars used are the 'bubble' Corsa, Saxo's and old Fiesta's.
 
im sorry but this word chav has been blown all out of proportion dont forget we all have to start somewhere i mean the cars listed above are all cheap cars to buy and mod performance and styling wise but what you have to consider is a 17 year old just passed his test buys a 1.4 corsa b totally standard insurance is going to cost him £2,000 or their abouts so to mod it he has to do it on the cheap eg lexus light £30 of ebay imo look rubbish but to him look nice and are cheap, the callipers and drums are looking a little rusty £20 on some paint a vast improvement but to the other drivers look awful.
so in conclusion i think chav can be described as young drivers on a budget !!!! ;)
 
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Let's not forget the owners of these cars as well...they are the people who chnage the appearance of their cars to look chavvy...why? Probably because they are chavs themselves.

herb - I think you misunderstood why I mentioned those cars. I didn't mean those cars are chavvy, because as standrard they are not, but when they are modified in the way I spoke about they become chavvy. They are also common cars used for this type of 'styling'. If I saw the same cars modded to a top level of performance then they would not be chavvy.

I agree that some people can't afford to do certain things to their car, but how often do you see these cars pull up next to at the lights having their little engines revved stupidly high? Look over at the driver and the car next time...does it look like they want to just improve the look a little? No, most, not all, will then try and race you!
 
HDI yeah CHAV is a word thats been put in the dictonary yet the older scottish word is NED and its not.

Herb ok your 17 just bought yourself a 1.2 corsa costing you around the £2k mark in insurance would you rather not save a bit of money and spend it on something decent. you mentioned lexus lights, now to me on most cars these look terrible yet like you say they can be picked up for around £50 on eba. now would you by these, or save for a few months and buy a set of lights that really suit the car ?
 
HDI yeah CHAV is a word thats been put in the dictonary yet the older scottish word is NED and its not.

Herb ok your 17 just bought yourself a 1.2 corsa costing you around the £2k mark in insurance would you rather not save a bit of money and spend it on something decent. you mentioned lexus lights, now to me on most cars these look terrible yet like you say they can be picked up for around £50 on eba. now would you by these, or save for a few months and buy a set of lights that really suit the car ?

tbh mate if i were 17 now their is a a good chance i would probably buy some cheap and nasty mods definitely not lexus lights as ive never liked them !! but i look back at my first nova a 1.2 merit in red i kitted it like a sr and sprayed the door handles, the outer part of the wing mirror, the petrol cap, and wiper arms, calipers and disks yellow :embarrest: so i think part of modding is learning from your mistakes
 
:embarrest: so i think part of modding is learning from your mistakes
You're not wrong there - these mistakes can cost quite a bit of money too! TorqueCars was created to help people learn from others mistakes.:blink1:
 
Nothing wrong with Novas. OR MkII Astras. That was the era when hot hatches started to get some real performance for the first time. eg. Astra GTe 16 valve. Up until then it was the Golf GTi with about 115bhp max.
 
OR the Escort RS Turbo. 126bhp doesn't seem much now but in 1986 that was impressive. The cars were also much lighter than they are now.
 
Its all the aircon, gadgets and safety features like crumple zones we have today that make our cars heavier.
 
Chav cars are generally only have colour coded kits, no re-sprays. The chav car will be Corsa or a Saxo or some other 1.2 variant. There will be no performance upgrades, just exterior. Racing stripes, unless on a Dodge Viper, look chavvy.

A chav look isn't based on how much you spend but what you spend it on. Chavs tend to pick out the worst body kits!

I can think of a lot of cars that have racing stripes and don't look chavvy, the Dodge Viper is a bit late in that game!

You do not recall the Dodge Challenger? Charger? The Plymouths, the Pontiacs?
 
i dont think there is a real definition, each to there own if some on has created a horrible body kit but they have made it with skill and time then i would say job well done. If someone has bought a minging body kit fitted it wrong i wouldnt laugh i would say to them maybe that doesnt suit or would you like me to help you fit it properly ect. If some one is ignorant and thinks no doubt fitting a heavy body kit will make me faster and is adimant then maybe they are the chav lol but i would put them in there place.
 
my examples lol

my v6 cav when i got it a month a go (bargain price of £400 due to chavness) now dechaved and put back to (amost) standard

DSC_4066copy.jpg

DSC_4069copy.jpg


my opinion of tastfully modified

my old vec gsi (moddifed but tried to keep it subtle)

DSC00604.jpg
just wondering where the bonnet vents on the cav functional or just stick ons and what does the little yellow badge mean above the gsi badge on the vec cause ive seen it a few times
 
bonnet vents are functional Herb need colour matching though

yellow badge on vec are the st flashes off the supertouring editions (shouldnt have been on mine but i liked them lol)
 
bonnet vents are functional Herb need colour matching though

yellow badge on vec are the st flashes off the supertouring editions (shouldnt have been on mine but i liked them lol)

i was going to say i quite like the vents but think they would look better smoothed and colour coded and those v6's pull really well my mates recently put 1 in his mk3 astra. have you got any engine plans for it cause it fairly cheap to get them upto the 220bhp mark

and cheers for clearing up that sticker
 
Apparently my car is a chavved up Rover! :lol:

Some people eh!

Chavness can be measured by crashing into Halfrauds and coming out with every possible extra attached!

Barryboys is a good place to judge this, if you can stomach it :confused:
 
We just need to remember that we are not barry boys.

We do not take the rise out of peoples hard work and always try and find something positive to say about them.

(Although I have to admit I am pretty stumped for words on some of the sheds on there!)
 
some good points on this thread.
my definition would be that a stylish car is one that is accentuated by its mods, everything looks like it should have come from the factory like it.ie smoothing on corsa's
a chav car is one that has just stuck on tat that looks cheap and nasty. ie jap style bodykits on corsa's.
just my Opinion!
 
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