Badge bloat

6,603 · January 4

I just spotted this egregious example of extra badges on a Facebook advert and couldn't resist sharing it. I have never understood why people feel the need to do this, if it's your own car you know what it is so it must be for the benefit of the general public but why would they care that you have a 3.2 V8 or whatever.

Feel free to share any examples you may have and if anyone can explain the reasoning behind it I would love to know what it's all about.

5,678 · January 4

A previous owner of my old Nissan Almera 2.2 dCi SXE (a letter salad as it is) added a "Sport" badge to the bootlid.

13,121 · January 4

I've put a 60's 'automatic' badge (proper pot metal!) under the 1.8, AVAS hatch....

Good question 🤔.... Forewarned @T/Light launch 🫨

🚙💨

6,252 · January 4

I never understood why people fitted those in the 1980s... It had already been a decade since a 5-speed box was something to brag about !

136,177 · January 4

1 hour ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

I just spotted this egregious example of extra badges on a Facebook advert and couldn't resist sharing it. I have never understood why people feel the need to do this, if it's your own car you know what it is so it must be for the benefit of the general public but why would they care that you have a 3.2 V8 or whatever.

Feel free to share any examples you may have and if anyone can explain the reasoning behind it I would love to know what it's all about.

My mate had a C63 AMG, and said because it was one of the last 6.3 models, it didn't have 6.3 badges on the wings. So he had some made and stuck them on 'so people knew it wasn't a 5.5'

27,957 · January 4

I added this!😆

10,318 · January 4

2 hours ago, Heidel_Kakao said:

Feel free to share any examples you may have and if anyone can explain the reasoning behind it I would love to know what it's all about.

I think it's so everyone knows just how big your dick is.

10,135 · January 4

58 minutes ago, Sigmund Fraud said:

I never understood why people fitted those in the 1980s... It had already been a decade since a 5-speed box was something to brag about !

Ford didn't start offering 5 speed gearboxes until 1982 and some models still had 4 speed boxes in 1991.

4,942 · January 4

46 minutes ago, Rustybullethole said:

I think it's so everyone knows just how ~~big~~ small your dick is.

FIFY

3,983 · January 4

Early 90s Citroen easily wins this from factory

You could also have ABS if your example had an ABS 😄

1,849 · January 5

1 hour ago, IronStar said:

Early 90s Citroen easily wins this from factory

You could also have ABS if your example had an ABS 😄

Came here to upload similar and say the same!

10,715 · January 5

Surely the only badge worth adding to any car?

3,239 · January 6

On 05/01/2026 at 00:12, Imhotep said:

Came here to upload similar and say the same!

I raise you...

January 6

This sticks in the memory. Was wondering if they were trying to get along the whole boot lid...

7,996 · January 6

On 04/01/2026 at 21:10, Sigmund Fraud said:

I never understood why people fitted those in the 1980s... It had already been a decade since a 5-speed box was something to brag about !

Funnily enough still a thing in 2026.

90s motorbikes were liberally festooned in various graphics indicating the presence of various features e.g. fuel injection, ram air, EXUP etc.

10,452 · January 6

I bring you, @JMotor's old Nexia.

Reminds you of the ABS and air bag, just in case you had forgotten.

26,317 · January 6

23 minutes ago, warch said:

Funnily enough still a thing in 2026.

90s motorbikes were liberally festooned in various graphics indicating the presence of various features e.g. fuel injection, ram air, EXUP etc.

My Merc had a 6-speed box 21 years ago! Still does... 😉

8,491 · January 6

On 04/01/2026 at 19:35, Heidel_Kakao said:

I just spotted this egregious example of extra badges on a Facebook advert and couldn't resist sharing it. I have never understood why people feel the need to do this, if it's your own car you know what it is so it must be for the benefit of the general public but why would they care that you have a 3.2 V8 or whatever.

Feel free to share any examples you may have and if anyone can explain the reasoning behind it I would love to know what it's all about.

To anyone who actually might be interested, this just tells them that you've got the smallest engine in the range!

5,526 · January 6

Audi 80 advertising “safety system Procon-ten”

23,656 · January 6

I reckon badge bloat peaked in the 90s.

Having said that, some just looked cool, regardless.

Edit: Cars peaked in the 90s, didn't they? I mean, just look at it. Still a cracking design 35 years later.

7,996 · January 6

1 hour ago, chaseracer said:

My Merc had a 6-speed box 21 years ago! Still does... 😉

I remember it being a bit of a selling point on my 1993 Calibra, as only a few cars had them back then.

@Dick Cheeseburger my Calibra had the slightly less clunky Vauxhall Calibra Turbo 4x4 (all separate badges) cluttering up the tailgate until it got a respray and I decided not to have them refitted. In those days if you had it you let people know about it.

1,015 · January 6

On 04/01/2026 at 21:40, junkyarddog said:

I added this!😆

Someone somewhere is making a whole series of these. Friend of mine bought some Stellantis Jeep thing and the PO had put one of these on the back...

27,957 · January 6

18 minutes ago, MrBig said:

Someone somewhere is making a whole series of these. Friend of mine bought some Stellantis Jeep thing and the PO had put one of these on the back...

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005010688098879.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.1.7b99QLiaQLiafF&algo_pvid=5cb8cecc-a718-4edd-9e02-3b89321ae7a7&algo_exp_id=5cb8cecc-a718-4edd-9e02-3b89321ae7a7-0&pdp_ext_f={"order"%3A"-1"%2C"eval"%3A"1"%2C"fromPage"%3A"search"}&pdp_npi=6%40dis!EUR!4.15!4.15!!!33.12!33.12!%402103834817677101116083107e2b07!12000053196311362!sea!IE!0!ABX!1!0!n_tag%3A-29910%3Bd%3A3de7bd52%3Bm03_new_user%3A-29895&curPageLogUid=1IgxCDa98Gev&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch|query_from%3A|x_object_id%3A1005010688098879|_p_origin_prod%3A

18,642 · January 6

Years ago I did work for a local country estate and one of the tenants had run Rovers for years, going back to the days of the P6. There was always a slight whiff of giffer-mods about his Rovers.

One day about12 years ago he showed my his latest. As expected it had Rover emblems on the bonnet, bootlid, C-pillars, on the lower front wings, and on the wheel centre-caps. He'd also put that chrome edging right round the wheel arches. Fair enough, it was his car, nice bloke, if that makes him happy.

The only thing was, it was a fuckin Omega.

66,110 · January 6

Fairly crap pic of my dad's old car wearing "Sierra Sapphire 2.0i GLS" badging from the factory, almost reaching the boot lock. Later cars dropped the 2.0i badging for some reason

48,869 · January 6

4 hours ago, warch said:

90s motorbikes were liberally festooned in various graphics indicating the presence of various features e.g. fuel injection, ram air, EXUP etc.

I agree, 1980's ones as well. As an avowed fan of (almost) any motorbike made outside of Japan at the time, I used to take the absolute rise out of any mate who turned up on a Japanese bike festooned with 3 and 4 letter acronyms. European motorbikes tended to be thankfully free of such tat.

Here's a set of decals for a 1986 Suzuki GSXR -

SACS (spelt out in full as well (Suzuki Advanced Cooling System) in case the acronym was not enough), R Super Sport and the absolutely brilliant, unflushable Full Floater. I mean who would ride a bike with 'Full Floater' on it?

4,054 · January 6

6 hours ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

I bring you, @JMotor's old Nexia.

Reminds you of the ABS and air bag, just in case you had forgotten.

I'm sure mum's Tacuma bragged of dual airbags as well.

Volvo had form for this with SIPS as well didn't they?

2,811 · January 6

We have a WINNER!

The Toyota Celica GT-Four 165 isn't a car undergoing any sort of identity crisis. Oh no, the Celica GT-Four knows what it is and and it isn't shy about telling you. However, the Celica GT-Four also knows beauty isn't just skin deep. What matters, truly, is what's inside. Unlike most cars, however, the Celica is perfectly happy to tell you all about that, too. Turning to a profile shot:

Full text reads GT-Four 2.0 Twin Cam Turbo Charger Full Time/Four Wheel Drive. That's ten words, one abbreviation, two numbers and a decimal point!

3,983 · January 6

15 minutes ago, Missy Charm said:

We have a WINNER!

The Toyota Celica GT-Four 165 isn't a car undergoing any sort of identity crisis. Oh no, the Celica GT-Four knows what it is and and it isn't shy about telling you. However, the Celica GT-Four also knows beauty isn't just skin deep. What matters, truly, is what's inside. Unlike most cars, however, the Celica is perfectly happy to tell you all about that, too. Turning to a profile shot:

Full text reads GT-Four 2.0 Twin Cam Turbo Charger Full Time/Four Wheel Drive. That's ten words, one abbreviation, two numbers and a decimal point!

I love this era of Toyota!

18,611 · January 6

I thought this thread was going to be about the actual size of the maker's badge nowadays. Presumably as manufacturers lose their individual identities to some degree, they have to increase the size of the badge to continue to be easily recognisable?

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