Car Mods - What Floats Your Boat?

[Steve]

For those who like to modify their car and add their own touch… what mods would you apply to your car first? Wheels, spoilers or performance mods, in which order would you modify your ride? What Top 5 Mods you would do first?

[nc211]

With the VW, the most popular is to have the ecu modified to increase the turbo's boost, jumping the HP from 200 to around 245ish. But, with this latest series of GTI's, the ecu is sealed and required physical manipulation of its seal to do it. I'm not a fan of that idea. On my old one, it was a computer into the obd port and upload software. Tried on the old one with a free 24 hour "test drive" from APR while living in Chicago. Loved it, but decided that it would probably introduce me to the local Oak Tree population at a high rate of speed.....

[25gturbo]

exhaust first, then suspension, then performance

[LEX-SV]

In the case of Lexus IS (compact premium sport sedan) my preferences:

tint, wheels/tires, exhaust

[nc211]

Lets us hope we don't have too many oak trees here in the VA burbs of DC, as I took my GTI in this afternoon to have the ecu "flashed". From the salesman, service tech, and even the mechanic at two VW dealerships have suggested to me for my GTI's to "unlock" them, I decided it was time. Now, I can't figure out why I waited for so long. The difference is simply amazing, a night and day difference in the car. With just a simple remapping of the computer, the engine went from 200HP/207lb to 255HP/300lb torque. The program introduces the turbo earlier, and alters the air/fuel mixture. This all translates into a buttery smooth engine that you can no longer hear or feel when sitting at idle, and a 0-60 time of about 5 seconds (stock is about 6.8 seconds). Not that I drive in a manner that 0-60 times make a difference, but the ability to have the car in 5th gear at 40mph, put 1/2 throttle down, and be put into my seat and to 80mph in the blink of an eye, is memorizing! The 2.0t engine now feels like that 4.3 V8 I had in that GS430 a few years ago. Cruising at 70mph, the slightest input on the throttle, and 100mph comes at you with a kick in the pants without downshifting from its cruising gear (6th). I now know why VW down tunes these cars. If they delivered them like this, they'd present a better car across the board than its more expensive Audi sister.

Hands down, by a country mile, this MKVI GTI is my all time #1 top uber favorite car that I have ever owned!

[MywhiteIS250]

does anyone have any comments on changing a stock navigation to an after market one? I heard it is much better, also i had a friend who has done that and he cut the bottom of the teeth off. However, it has a 2 cm gap from the ac to the unit. Is there anything that i can do with this? or is it even worth it?

[13IS250C]

The first thing I always do is remove any dealership badging! They don't pay me to advertise for them. Second, a nice license plate frame. Multiple coats of Zaino next.

I bought my specific car for the rims, so they stay put. I love them.

I'm also a debadging freak. I hate emblems. I'm thinking about removing my IS250C and getting a dark chrome Lexus emblem. That would go good with my rims. Anybody know a good place to get the emblem?

That is probably all I will do to my car...drive it and enjoy the heck out of it.

[LEX-SV]

Dealership badging is rare in California, thankfully. Certainly that belongs in garbage can.

[13IS250C]

Gosh, I remember back in the olden days when they would actually screw little metal nameplates onto your car.

[Mr.Cap614]

Being a broke college kid i like to keep it simple

Tint- To block the haters....(honda drives, and really anyone not driving a Lexus)

Rims/ Tires- Since i cant put a pair of Jordans on my car i settled for Lexani

Head unit- The gigantic block of a stock radio is laughable, so it got replaced with a pioneer

Amp- This goes hand and hand withe the head unit since you have to bypass the stock amp

Performance parts would be higher on the list, but that would be as useful as Nia Long, Michelle Obama, or Hilary Clinton going under the knife. You just dont mess with perfection