damnboy

Great thread and good to know there are some people like this in CL.

GS was my first Lexus, I changed out new wheels, spoiler, suspension, HID, breaks and Muffler etc.. Looks good on the road but very high maintenance cost.
Decide to trade it in for RX and love it. No more worrying about curb scratches.

Now I have the IS and will keep it stock for awhile. It looks sporty enough for me and drives a lot better than my old GS. I may mod moderately later but who knows.

jadu

iTrader: (42)

on my DD, my whole engine is stock. It's a 5 speed with the only modifications being HID's. clutch and flywheel, shocks springs, and rims and tires. 85K+ miles and still going strong, so +1 Im all for keeping a car mostly stock

cliffud

iTrader: (3)

I just came up with another reason why having a modded car is sometimes a drawback...

I'm 30 years old... I drive a 1998 GS300... when I go over bumps with my daizen sways squeaking like a cheap bed... and there's a girl in the car... it is just so damn embarrassing... especially if she's 22 and more mature than most 22 yr olds.

*sigh* My next car is going to be stock... but it'll be nice enough to not need any modding.

muhbuhtuh

as i grow older my desire for more power will slowly go away and will ill not end up modding my engine. but whenever i get a car i will always buy suspension and wheels and perhaps a body kit. thats about as far as ill go modding wise

IS-SV

I tend to be careful with mods for 3 reasons, IMHO:

. They are a sinkhole for money
. You will never get the mod money back in resale value
. Some mods actually lower resale value of the car vs. OEM or stock.

cliffud

iTrader: (3)

Believe me man... if you saw how I spent my New Years Eve, you would have thought I was 60. What did I do? I sat in front of the computer setting up a web site.



But it's for the greater good... I wrote an eGuide on how to start a side business so others can benefit.

MrG4Life

iTrader: (14)

For anyone who's use to modding, there will be something that will have to get modded. It could be the smallest of things.

More like a blackhole. Some guys will try to sell their mod parts to get some kind of cash back.

DASHOCKER

iTrader: (2)

I have my limitations when it comes to modding. I will never splice factory wiring to add performance or swap engines even on a used car.. Say bye bye to reliabilty if you do & have the fire extinguisher in the trunk... There are many factory tuned machines that do not require cut & pasting.. Caddy CTS-V, M3, IS-F, E63, C63, RS, S, Evo, STI & others... Sport pack cars from many manufactures address the suspension tuning, seating etc... Out of the box for me for the hardore stuff.. I will only go as far as window tinting, lighting & maybe wheels this time around.. Hey, I am older than you Cliffud by years. You just turned 30?

cliffud

iTrader: (3)

Dashocker - Yeah, just turned 30. haha. I'm so old!

Meowcat- thanks for the compliment man. I agree with your list above.

After reading a lot of these posts, and reflecting on what I've been personally searching for as a replacement to the 98 GS3, I think what I've realized is that although I want my car to be stock, I STILL want something that is unique.

For example, yes, if I buy a Honda Accord, I will probably want to mod it. BUT... if I were to buy a Cayenne GTS (not saying I will, but it would be fun) then I think the natural uniqueness of the GTS removes that desire to mod.

And the one thing that I thought about after taking a 2,000 mile drive with MRURMIL was the perception of people who mod their cars. While many will say "you shouldn't care about what other people think about you", the fact of the matter is - perception is king.

Sometimes, it's good to not be seen as someone who dedicates too much time to a particular hobby. For example, I wouldn't ever want my boss to see my car or hear my car squeaking (damn sway bushings) over a bump because I don't want him wondering how much attention I put into my car and start weighing in his head whether or not Clifford is capable of handling more responsibility at work with a promotion...

Haha. My boss would probably say - "Clifford's too busy being a kid, I'm going to promote the guy driving a camry hybrid."

IS-SV

Yes, like selling used furniture, getting pennies on the dollar.

19psi

anybody who mods a car and thinks about the money needs to find a new hobby. for that matter, any hobby costs a ton of money if one really gets into it; and it's money that you never get back except for in terms of personal satisfaction.
to me, that personal satisfaction of having something exactly teh way i want it is worth more than just a dollar amount. i really don't care about how much money i've spent on mods that i don't get back, it's not an investment, it's for fun. it's not about the money it's about how satisfied you are when the project is accomplished.
it's taking a blank canvas and making my own art out of it, it's taking something that looks and performs just like every other cookie cutter vehicle and making it my own.
so like i said, if anyone goes into modding a car expecting to get any of their money back, they should stop now and take up basket weaving.

ExTrEmE99

iTrader: (6)

I would probably continue modding my current car, as well as my next car as long as i have the money and the desire to find that specific "look"

I've even modded my parents car! sure LEDs and lights count

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

Tell me about it. All the hobbies I've had are expensive. I collected jewelry for a while. I tried coin collecting. I had a sunglass collection habit until I started wearing glasses last year....high end sunglasses. Why can't I find a cheaper hobby?
Someone brought up age. I'm 50 and I will always change wheels. I may start sticking to 19's but I will change wheels. I just can't stand having a car that looks the same as everyone else who buys that car. I love music too so I'll always beef up the sounds. Now it's conservative...just one amp and one sub.

Jujharoo

Most stocks wheels are too ugly I think and most stock suspensions are too soft for me.

pingu

I have pretty much given up on messing with my daily driver. It's not worth it to try and turn the car into something it wasn't meant to be. Instead I decided to work on a nice auto-x/weekend classic that will be free of any smog b.s. the CA liberals impose.

I think it is really about finding what you like though. I could care less about $10k watches. I would rather put that money towards a nice 355 or testarossa.