I have noticed on this forum that several members have chosen to debadge their cars. Perhaps it's just me growing old, but I don't really get why anyone would want to do that.

Nevertheless, out of curiosity I feel the need to ask, so to those of you who have debadged your Fiats, why have you done this - what's the appeal of not having a Fiat-badge on your car?

some folk may think............''is that the new ferrari'' even it it looks like a panda, the doubt is planted without the badge as concrete proof

panda4x4x4x4 said:

some folk may think............''is that the new ferrari'' even it it looks like a panda, the doubt is planted without the badge as concrete proof

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:yeahthat:

I dont like the badges, looks better without them, still have the bonnet grill one.

I de-badged my Stilo; but only the old-fashioned four-lozenge badge on the hatch was horribly sun-faded. I kept the other five FIAT badges, and wore them with pride!

Some badges do look naff, and can understand why some OCDers may want to get rid of them. I'm all for simple clean lines myself, so a make and model badge does me fine. Incidentally, what is that terrible Slazenger badge doing on the back of the Jaguar XF?

Being uncharitable, I suppose for some it's the old "my-company-bought-me-a-BMW316-but-I-can't-be-seen-driving-anything-less-than-330-for-my-personal-pride" type thing; FIATs are cool, right until your work colleagues trot-out "Fix It Again Tomorrow", perhaps that's why...

I've dedadged all the cars ive ad in my 2 years of driving, dont like any kind of badge/sticker on a car just makes it look ALOT better in my view

And there was me always thinking that its because people are embarrased at what they're driving so try to hide its identity

I don't get it personally either

The Brava has a much phatter-looking bum without them. Plus they had to take them off to paint it anyway

On the other side of the coin, a lot of cars look quite similar to others in their class, you still get a few classic & unmistakable shapes (mini, VW beetle for example) but I wonder how easy it would be for the police if your car were stolen?

On a police prog the other night, the plate came up registered to an Audi A8 but the police driver said 'that's not right, that's an A3'.
Without the badges, they wouldn't have known.
In another example, some bloke had bought some top of the range superbeemer & was simply pootling around in it. The police pulled him for having no insurance (although he'd just bought it & assumed he was OK on his existuing !).
Anyhoo, when they checked the plates, they were registered to a bog standard beemer & not this superbeemer that he'd just bought.
Turned out the previous owner had managed to get hold of some badges & used them to make a fortune. Seemingly the two cars would look identical & the main difference would be in the driving - which you'd not really notice if you weren't used to driving the superbeemer - I think it was supposed to be M3 ?

Because I'm embarrased to own a FIAT. lol

sludgeguts said:

The police pulled him for having no insurance (although he'd just bought it & assumed he was OK on his existuing !).
Anyhoo, when they checked the plates, they were registered to a bog standard beemer & not this superbeemer that he'd just bought.
Turned out the previous owner had managed to get hold of some badges & used them to make a fortune. Seemingly the two cars would look identical & the main difference would be in the driving - which you'd not really notice if you weren't used to driving the superbeemer - I think it was supposed to be M3 ?

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Gutted!

karbineftw said:

Because I'm embarrased to own a FIAT. lol

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Shame on you!

I've taken off my rear badges purely because I like the look of it without. Looks nice and tidy

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Gutted!

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Yep, as the bloke stood there, the police were ponting out the VIN numbers etc. When he realised he'd been taken for thousands his legs just buckled.
Strange thing is, a simple check on the DVLA website would have told him the car was not as badged

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Shame on you!

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I agree, if you're embarassed to own a fiat, why own one?
If you cannot afford to own anything else then you just have to accept that it's a tin box that gets you from A to B & it's a sight better than walking or catching the bus.

I would say the reason for debadging is a some kind of first steps for optical exterior tuning. The first steps before replace the doorhandles with door poppers hide keyholes and petrolcaps and make the car a clear look (EUstyle?), so nothing break the light to enjoy the shiny freshly polished paintwork, also harder to identify the cars spec for example elx sx whatever 16v think so...
Isnt it???

I've removed the badges, except the round Fiat one, on the boot and the side ones, cause i think my car looks much nicer without them, so if you believe it improves the appearance of your car then indeed why not

Hope we've cured your curiosity

A lot of people think that their cars look better without them, and to some degree, I agree with them.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Gutted!



Shame on you!

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sludgeguts said:

Yep, as the bloke stood there, the police were ponting out the VIN numbers etc. When he realised he'd been taken for thousands his legs just buckled.
Strange thing is, a simple check on the DVLA website would have told him the car was not as badged



I agree, if you're embarassed to own a fiat, why own one?
If you cannot afford to own anything else then you just have to accept that it's a tin box that gets you from A to B & it's a sight better than walking or catching the bus.

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Guys I was only joking

Debadging makes the car appear smoother and sleeker, badges add additional lines which can affect the look of a car

That said the RX7 and Bora of mine both have their badges, Thinking about debadging the Bora (for reasons above) but the RX7 will keep its badges while its in my ownership

Also that copper must've had zoom on his eyes to tell a car was an A3 not an A8 from the badge on the boot while it was presumably in motion? (Not to mention the cars half the size... A8's are huge!)

much smoother

GhostWKD said:

Also that copper must've had zoom on his eyes to tell a car was an A3 not an A8 from the badge on the boot while it was presumably in motion? (Not to mention the cars half the size... A8's are huge!)

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I was thinking that, more obviously than badges ones a hatchback and the other isn't lol.