My car currently has 2600 miles on it and I'm at the point where I'm having trouble deciding if I should go for suspension (coilovers, bars, etc) or power at this point.

Currently the car has:
Tomei Upper Intercooler pipe
AEM CAI Box
H&R Springs
15mm spacers H&R
Cobb AP V3
Defi BF Boost gauge

Opinions?

 

That all depends on what you're planing to use the car for...Unless it's a typo and you meant to say 26K because if you really only have 2,600 miles on the car, you should drive it more and you'll be able to answer your own question.

 

i meant 2600 miles, i bought it in late January of 2014. The car is mainly used to drive to work since I work 5 days a week and study on the weekends all day in the library. science takes up too much time, damn mcats.

 

You could get some exhaust and EBCS and utilize the AP Stage 3 maps

 

Yes I was thinking of getting AMS downpipe, AMS resonated testpipe, greddy catback, grimmspeed 3-port and an innovative LM-1 wideband gauge and have it tuned by Baka, since he can tune the MR SST tables as well, that outta be fun as I want to keep it around 320 awhp. But at the same time I'm afraid the reliability of the car might go down.

 

What are your plans for the car? As are you into drag racing, carving canyons, auto-x, or road course? What you do, or want to do with the car will help people point you in the right direction. From what you wrote…. You’re working your way through school, I’d say go to a racing school of some sort. You’d be beating on someone else’s car and will learn to get more out of your car as is. In California you have some crap gas and emissions that can be a real pain. Also the more you modify the more it will cost you to maintain and run your car.

 

Reliability isn't going to change..

 

I do mild canyon runs and would like to hit up a road course or two a year. But for the most part I'm just commuting to work 44 mile round trip on the highway. I really do think the car needs more power than the stock 200 awhp though.

 

Well if you think you need more power then go that route. Advise your tuner what you mainly use your car for and the power you're looking to make. Let your tuner help you with the direction to go with mods, as they know what power they usually make safely with certain mods. This should help you a little down the road so you're not that guy selling your old mods so you can get new ones. Also with a bit of added power you might want to upgrade the brake pads, lines, and fluid if you're going to take it to road courses.

 

Maybe keep the car stock(-ish) for a while and spend that money on self-improvement or invest in some fixed income financial products (as stock market is quite risky right now)?

 

Different people have different answer… so it depends

 

To quote jeremy clarkson "poooooowa"

 

I would have to say go for the power, with that being said some exhaust work would compliment your setup quite nicely.

 

^^^^This guy has it rt! Wait till you have 25k on it and you will be grateful you did later. Affording a car payment and mods with other incurred expenses due to mods and being in school is a bad combo.
I know you want it all and you want it now--but it can wait till you are a little more financially sound--( not trying to sound like a DAD)..
Good Luck.

 

True this, I have a well paying job. And only thing I'm buying is exhaust and intake and saving the rest! Plan for the future, get the mods later.