The least amount of editing possible is best. If a photo has to be edited to the sun and back, then it probably wasn't a very good photo to begin with.
If you want HDR, then it needs to be done the right way. With three (or more) different exposures overlaid onto each other.
A good examble of a good HDR photo (not mine)
It is not mega edited to look too much like a "painting". This one used 5 different exposures.
This is about the limit you want to go on HDR.
This is a photo I took. No its not of a car, but it is to show what a photo with almost no editing looks like
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