Looks-wise, the recessed headlights give the car far more character, no arguement. The smooth ones look very bland beside them, IMO.
And BTW let's remember looks do serve a function when finding sponsors...
However, as well as aerodynamic, there is a weight penalty with the JDM recessed ones as they are all of the pop-up type (electric motors, extra brackets, etc).
So eventually when I get a spare mo' I hope to swap my recessed and flush ones between my cars, so the track car has flush and the road car recessed pop-ups...
The best of both worlds!
Though the recessed ones with lexan covers look like a damn good option I might now do instead if I can find a spare non-pop-up header panel...
PS - the flush ones are very hard (and hence $$) to find in NZ (as are non-pop-up header panels, damn it); and perhaps more importantly I can't see that they are easy to adjust at all - any ideas?