what i mean by that statement is, I was doing some research from my credit card history, and in the year 2000, i spend over $5000 at one shop, and $1200 at another, thats $7200, now thats 1/6 my salrey, and what did I have to show for it, well i had a really nice integra, that i loved, and will always remember(she was stolen). granted back then, we did not know what we do now, but damn, i was only making 188hp, and 125tq. im not saying that the figre is not good, i like the way the car felt,and how well it was powered, all im saying is that more 20hp, i spent like $6600, and $600 on suspension. I know that others have the same result going all motor, spending over $4000 on a spec B package and making 185whp.

now I am a fellow enthusiests, and have posted on this board for 2 years, in one name or another, and the reason I bring this up, it because, i am going to start moddifiying my new type r, and i am really exited to start, so as i begin to spend all my money for such a little numeric gain in HP, I ask all my friends on this board am i crazy, why do we do this.


[Modified by Vegeta, 7:51 AM 11/27/2001]


[Modified by Vegeta, 3:27 PM 11/27/2001]

 

Cost efective, I have to say no. But any hobby you have costs money. If you do something to your car and enjoy it, than to me it was worth it. I honestly feel you can't look at any hobby in how much money you spent. You look at it as how much pleasure you recieved from modding your car or in my case going to strip clubs. (Did I say that out loud)

 

Most mods are not cost-effective; do them because you enjoy them.

If you want to be more cost-effective in going faster, save the extra money and use it to trade up to a faster car. Not only will it be faster, but it will retain the extra money you spent by having a higher resale value.

 

Yes, we are crazy - but we are doing what we love. There are much worse things to spend your money on...

If you want to be cost effective by a go-cart (now that is fun!!)...

 

i hate the cost of mods....your being too much for the name too...mostly for the engineers of the japanese parts.

i just hate how ricer parts cost a penny compared to performance parts...thats why u see soo much rice! intakes

$200 dollars! headers 1000$ especially freakin exhaust systems for 500$
all that, and hope that you'll get 5-15hp

if i were ever to get my car stolen, i'd jump to the other side...and gettin a mustang
and just rape all imports hahahahh

 

That is exactly why I'm selling most of my mods! It became a factor of my car owning me more than I owned it. I'm keeping a few basic things, but for the most part everything is going. Before I got into cars, I had no CC debt and a car that was paid for. Ahhh...those were the days!

 

I feel your pain, but let me also add before i had a girlfriend to that quote.

 

if you dont think it's worth it you shouldn't be doing it.

 

at least it's better than drugs...cost wise

 

the most cost effective mods you do are the first $1000.00 you spend.
intake, header, cam gears, exhaust or whatever..
after that, cams get you good power.. but cams are pricey as hell sometimes.

hey doe, you serious about modding the ITR this time? I know every time you're about to do it you get a new laptop or you invest another $5000 in stock, etc..

 

My friends and I used modify cars like crazy. spending 5000-10000 on
modifying a car. When we think back, we feel stupid but we did not
regret it simply because WE HAD FUN. However, we will never do it again
unless we have really excess money. Not only money, time plays a big
role in modifying. Once you start modifying, at some point, little problems
will give you a lot of headache and you will put unlimited amount of
money and time fixing those problems. That's the worst part. I just keep
everything stock now for my car and just have fun driving it and rather
than spend the money on mods, I spend money on tires, brake pads
for the track, which are still mods, but mods that won't give me problems.
I just bought a condo and just the downpayment costs way more than a car
but IT'S WELL WORTH MORE THE MONEY.

Another reason I stopped modifying cars is because I see many people keep
spending money on modifying cars and don't have too much savings and ended
up selling their cars for something else at a transition point of their
life. For exmaple, buying a house, got married, got a baby, all these
things will prevent you from owning a nice car that you want and these are
the things that will make you think that it's worth it to give up the car.
I DONT' WANT THAT TO HAPPEN. Car is my hobby and I dont' think I should
have to give it up for something else. I know at some point in my life,
I will regret that I gave up that hobby just because of MONEY.

Now, I am saving up money for my next car, which is WRX STI, if it comes.
I think I will have more fun when buying new cars than modifying cars.

 

citanest - you couldn't have said it any better. IMHO, unless you set a limit on your mods, things will just snowball and you'll spend more money than you can afford. I'm stopping once I get my suspension in @ 25k miles. Then, it's time to save up for a small house.

 

there is an easy way. buy my car..its done. guy backed out...its still available. he claimed his mommy and daddy said he'd get hurt in it...he actually flew out from AZ to NJ to look at it. ***** to the wall my friend
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/aw-cg...363844&r=0&t=0

 

since when being a car enthusist be cost effective? unless you are super rich. Not to mention the time spent tunning, modding, researching...

so it's like , total costs = cost of paying out per month + (time spent * $ worth per hour of your time) and so on....

in a way, you are buying your JOY of owning a car you LOVED....

 

exactly

 

I couldnt agree more citanest. As you can see from my sig my car is pretty much stock but I spent almost 2 grand getting that stupid LSD installed. Thats the difference between a GSR and a ITR! Now I regret it because I should have just bought a ITR but I couldnt wait for the 5 months waiting list.

Modifying your car deffinately isnt cost effective. But if its what you enjoy then go for it. Cars are an expensive hobby. Me, Im a cheap bastard so Ive deffinately set limits on how far ill go. I wanted to solve the fundamental problems of my car, open diff FWD and wheel hop.. other than, my GSR looks good and handels good enough for me.

Id be happy with a new RSX-R, bone stock... Well maybe an intake

 

and trust me, you will want to try something else after owning one car for awhile. Why people sell their JDM Front End R?? Because they either got bored of the car or the car has become an expense that they can't afford. I am not saying it's not WORTH IT, as long as you have fun, ANYTHING IS WORTH IT. However, just balance your income with the money you put onto the car and you will be fine.

 

If you can win races and get a lot of sponsors, then it's cost effective.......

 

Chris,

It is faster with less mods, just ask Jason and Pat.

 

Check the Sign'ed out! Quote from Fight Club!

 

Modding cars cost money... well, modding anything costs money
Hobbies cost money:

CD collections
RC/Cars
Real Cars
Plastic models
Collecting die cast model cars.
Snowboarding
Biking
Computers
Model trains

just to name a few

Living environments cost money as well cause you mod your house, apartment, condo, townhouse, whatever.

It all comes down to what hobbies you are interested in and how much dedication you have towards that hobby. Also, where you're priorities are.

I am also interested in the WRX STI as I want a 4 door sedan now

-Aoib0t, who has an interest in all those things mentioned, but has to stay on his budget now



[Modified by AoiGSR, 9:57 AM 11/27/2001]

 

I hear your pain!

I was on track...content w/ having the new s2k, and the spec racer...then the honda bug got me again, so instead of my original plan: 's2k for street cruiser & sponsored SCCA spec racer for fun' I'm going back in debt to build an additional EG hatch

But iz all good. good thing my fiance thinks iz all good too!!

fais-goes back to searching for an EG..er...work

 

The real deal is if you started asking yourself these kind of question, maybe you don't enjoy it anymore! I spent few thousands of $ over the years on mods. My last 3 cars, only basic mods to enjoy the track more. A set of wheels, tires, brakes pads and that's it. Cheap and really cost effective and no warranty void for stupid reason.

I love to see nicely nice car with nice parts. It's not every day you see the Mugen or Spoon catalog, cruising on the highway

But not for me anymore! Got a house to pay now!

 

hehe thanks for the quote. check the sig

 

I think powertrain modifications for the Type-R are extremely cost ineffective. I have spent $5000 on handling stuff (16" MF-10s, PZeros, Mugen Lowdown, Spoon strut bars, Recaro SRDs, Comptech SS lines), saving some money by buying some stuff used. I think I have got a lot for my money - the car handles so much better than stock; the seats and brake feel are also quite a bit better.

The only powertrain modification that I have made is the Comptech Icebox, which I think provides very good bang for the buck. However, I find it hard to get my mind around spending $5000 on powertrain modification given the 40 horses or so that I can expect. Too many other cars come to mind when I think of ways of using that $5k in addition to what I can get for my car - 1999 BMW M Coupes are now in the $30k range with low miles, 2000 S2000s are in the $28k range, used early 1990s Lotus Esprits or NSXs also spring to mind; next year we may see Impreza STis and Lancer EVO VIIs in the US.