Tasteless Car Mods

I was inspired by a series of installments on CarBuzz called "Car Mod Atrocities" to create this post, which contains horribly customized vehicles that will command mostly negative attention. "Tasteless Car Mods" is my version of that, except this contains only photos that I have taken of those mentioned in the previous sentence. All of these photos were taken either sometime last year or this year. I guarantee some of these will make you laugh or cry. The only people that I know of who enjoy the way these cars appear below are their respectful owners. I plan on doing another installment of "Tasteless Car Mods" once I snap some more photos of cars (and sometimes bikes) that appear ugly enough to where they should be burned to the ground or sent to the crusher. Vote for the car you think looks the worst in the comments below. Pictured in this specific order: 2009-11 Dodge Nitro (2/17/14), 1990's Pontiac Grand Am (6/7/13), Volkswagen Lavida (Beijing, 6/13/14), first-gen Porsche Cayenne Turbo (Beijing, 6/13/14), 2005-07 Dodge Magnum (3/29/14), 2006-13 Suzuki SX4 (Xian, 6/15/14), 2012-14 Chevy Cruze (Shanghai, 6/20/14), and early '90s Honda Accord (Los Angeles, 7/11/14. I personally think it looks okay, but I have an idea of what some of you are going to think on this one. Speaking of pickup conversions, I also saw a first-gen Scion xB that was converted into a pickup driving on the I-5 during my L.A. trip a couple weeks ago; it looked much worse. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of it to share with you.). In my opinion, the turquoise Chevy Cruze that I spotted in Shanghai last month would have to be the ugliest car in this first installment. Also, I would like to beat the purple Suzuki SX4 that I saw in Xian last month with a baseball bat.

 

 

2003-11 Bentley Continental GT

The Bentley Continental GT is one of my favorite vehicles to wear the Flying B badge. Shown above are photos I have taken of the first generation, which was produced from 2003 to 2011. The sole engine option is a 6.0-liter W12 with around 560 horses and 510 lb-ft of torque. Both generations of the Bentley Continental GT look really nice. However, they both weigh over two tons. Only the Speed and Supersport variants of this generation combine performance and luxury very well; luxury outweighs performance in the standard model. This was also one of the first Bentley products released under Volkswagen ownership. My favorites in this compilation are the second one (in gray) and the fifth one (in black, completely stock on the outside). The third one (in black) looks a little too busy in the front. The rest of them look decent. Like the Rolls-Royce Phantom, the Continental GT is also a favorite among rappers. Overall, the Bentley Continental GT is a classy automobile; however, I would opt for the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class coupe over either generation of this car.

Mercedes-Benz SL63/65 AMG (2013-)

In Beverly Hills, the Mercedes-Benz SL is as common as the Toyota Camry in the rest of the U.S., which is where I saw the two pictured above. It appears as if I had taken them recently, but these were from mid January, when southern California had better weather than most of the country. The AMG variants are the best versions of all the Mercedes-Benz models that offer one (the GLK and E coupe/cabriolet don't offer one), and it's no different with the SL. The main difference between the two SL AMG models, the SL63 and SL65, is that the SL63 is powered by a 5.5-liter V8 churning out 530 horsepower and 590 lb-ft of torque while the SL65 is powered by a 6.0-liter turbocharged V12 rated at 621 horsepower and 738 lb-ft of torque. Another major difference is pricing; the SL63 starts at $147,300, while the SL65 starts at $214,500. These are both very nice cars, even though they can get outrageously expensive when the options start to pile up.

Mercedes-AMG GT Prototype

During my most recent trip to L.A., which took place one week ago, I came across a pre-production prototype of the Mercedes-AMG GT, the successor to the amazing SLS AMG, doing some warm-weather testing. I had never spotted a test mule for a future car on the street and I don't intentionally search for those wherever I go. For those of you who are unfamiliar with test mules, they usually have some sort of camouflage as to not give away what the car could possibly be. Auto publications and forums are always on the lookout for pre-production prototypes and are successful at finding them; I am one of the lucky few who found something like this in a parking lot unexpectedly. It was a very exciting experience, especially since it was a test mule for the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG successor (for those of you who don't know, if I had to choose a favorite car brand, it would be Mercedes-Benz). Unlike the SLS, the Mercedes-AMG GT will not have gullwing doors and the naturally aspirated 6.3-liter V8 under the hood. Instead, the GT will use a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 producing 510 HP and 479 lb-ft of torque. It will be aimed at the Porsche 911 and have its debut at the Paris Motor Show in October. The Mercedes-AMG GT will be one of the most anticipating cars of 2015 and I already know that it will be one of the best sports cars to hit the market next year (along with the Corvette C7 Z06).

Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG (2008-14)

If you didn't notice already, I create compilations consisting of photos a specific car snapped during a specific time period (nowadays that would be this year). I have decided to skip straight to Beverly Hills Car Spotting Part 1, which took place in the middle of January (I am far from being up-to-date with content). I don't know when I will get to do round 2, but I know it will not be anytime soon. In this compilation, only the first two photos were from round 1 of Beverly Hills Car Spotting. The others were taken at later dates. Most of you viewing my website should know that I'm a Mercedes-Benz fanatic. What I have featured here is the outgoing C63 AMG, which has a naturally aspirated 6.3-liter V8 churning out 451 horsepower and 443 lb-ft of torque. The C-Class has been given a redesign for 2015, so there should be a new C63 coming very soon. The next C63 will utilize a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 with around 450 horsepower. Like all AMG products, the C63 is an excellent and good-looking automobile. The next C63 will also be a great car and is guaranteed to destroy the competition (BMW M3/4 especially, since the latter has a turbo V6 and much less HP). Out of these pictured above, I like the black C63 coupes that appear to be 100% stock best.

Lexus LF-A

The Lexus LF-A could easily be the best car to ever come out of Japan. In general, I tend to favor American and European cars over Japanese cars, but there are some Japanese cars along with this one that pique my interest, such as the Toyota Supra, Nissan GT-R, Acura/Honda NSX, and Subaru BRZ. Also, the reliability of Japanese cars in general can't be beat. Back to the LF-A, it has a naturally aspirated 4.8-liter V10 producing 552 HP and 354 lb-ft of torque paired to a six-speed automatic. It can go from 0-60 mph in 3.6 seconds and reach a top speed of 202 mph. Production of the LF-A ended sometime last year, with only 500 units ever built. So far, I have seen three in person and two of those are featured above. The one in white was at the L.A. Auto Show back in November and I saw the one in black almost one year ago. Lexus once pondered a limited production run of the LF-A roadster from a few years ago but it never got past the concept stage. If you are in the market for an LF-A, there are at least a few listings on eBay for a used LF-A, even though only 500 were produced and every unit has had at least one previous owner. The Lexus LF-A is a gorgeous and amazing automobile. Like some American and European exotics, it is in a class of its own and there is nothing out there like it.

Lexus LF-LC Concept

The Lexus LF-LC concept had its original debut at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show and showed up in a shade of blue at the Sydney Motor Show months later. Surprisingly, I really like the LF-LC; for some reason I find it to be a very cool concept. If you didn't know already, the "LF" in Lexus concepts stands for "Lexus Future," and in most of Lexus' parent company Toyota's concepts, the "FT" stands for "Future Toyota." Lexus already confirmed the LF-LC concept would hit the production stages sometime next year. The production version is tipped to revive the SC nameplate and its base engine will be a V8 producing around 500 HP. There will also be a hybrid setup available. I think this concept is gorgeous and brilliant. It would also be much better than any car that utilized the SC nameplate in the past when it reaches production.