Many of us have done some form of upgrades to our cars at different times in our lives. It may have been for appearance, handling or power. With all upgrades, there will be some level of Return of Investment.

I have never done an upgrade with thoughts of getting more for my car the day I sell it. Not that I dont bring up said upgrades when selling or trading the car in to get the most for the car. In my youth it was more about upgrading the stereo / speakers and better flow mufflers (NOT A COFFEE CAN exhaust...yuk).

Upgrades for our F's in the line of headers, exhaust and a tune are all pretty desirable. As a good number here know, these are not cheap upgrades. Our cars are already pretty amazing. Those upgrades would definitely kick it up a notch.

The return part of ROI is just that. What did the upgrades return or give to you? More joy or satisfaction? I could easily see that better sound from the exhaust and engine response would be SMILE worthy and that is a nice return IMO.

Convincing the wife of the ROI for me is another story. XD

 

Yes, it does really kick the driving fun factor up a lot with upgrades like bolt-ons, tune etc. It is also addictive. I always think I will do another 1 or 2 mods and then it would be perfect, but then there is more that comes up I want to install on the car slowly. I have modded it over 5+ years and I am glad everyone of those mods has really been positive in every way. In other words, all of them make me go "this is how it should have cone from factory". I only do some basic bolt-ons. The return on investment for all of that money spent, is more smiles per mile.

 

Originally I had a catback exhaust, was fun and brought a smile to my face. Eventually went FBO and now I cannot wait to drive the car everyday. It truly made the car better (for me) and re-ignited my love for this platform/engine. Next up is the Ohlins R&T coilover setup from Figs, pricey, but I think it'll be a similar "ROI" to the exhaust, more fun, more smiles, more enjoyment out of the car.

End of the day I don't plan on selling the car ever, but if I do, parting out seems like the best way to get a decent amount of your money back on these expensive upgrades. Quality parts seems to hold pretty good used value (LEMS, Tom's, Ohlins, Blitz, etc), atleast that's how I justify it haha.

 

I have always viewed mods as an expense since I never part-out when I sell but in reality they are more likely to be a liability.

Don't take this too literally but the analogy I think of (as real estate accounting/finance guy) is that like cash from a real estate loan or second mortgage, the mod will give you an infusion of something beneficial such as better power/handling/looks.

The trade-off is that you will carry that as a liability on your balance sheet until its time to sell when it will, generally, reduce the value of your asset (car) as a loan would need to be paid off when you sell a property. Modded cars sell for less than stock ones, generally, but if you remove that liability before you sell (return to stock and part out), then you are getting rid of that liability, like paying down a loan before you sell.

Also, while you have that liability, there is some "debt service" in the form of more/better tires and alignments from more aggressive wheel setups, tightening bolts on aftermarket exhausts or changing suspension components due to increased wear and tear from a lowered vehicle etc.. All part of the fun.

 

I think that ROI for mods is not the way to think about it. The car as "hobby" versus the car as "transportation" versus the car as "investment" versus the car as "status symbol". Hobbyists don't care about ROI. Transportation folks expect depreciation. Investors do care about ROI. Status seekers don't care about ROI. So only one of 4 buyers care about ROI. But if you are an investor, there are lots of other cars (or investments) that will garner better ROI.

 

The more you mod your car the more its value drops, even if you spec'd it to an enthusiast's wet dream and tried to sell it to said enthusiast. The reason is 2-fold.

1) Enthusiasts know a modded car means it was driven hard.
2) KBB objectively lowers its values with aftermarket upgrades.

That said, people throw a lot of money away on a lot of stupid things, but I would not consider a car that you enjoy to be one of those things at all.

 

First let me preface this by saying I am extremely new to this Car ( like two weeks ) , but I have been around and building Toyota's since 2000, I am hear to learn not get flamed for an opinion.

Maybe I am reading this differently, or maybe I was expecting something else, I don't think the OP was asking for what mods gave the best financial ROI ( like resale) , but rather what MODS are the best to get for the amount of money involved. Being new to the car ,I looked for a thread like this for that reason. In the Supra community something like strut tower braces are pointless due to the geometry of the suspension, so it has very little ROI. Now open the exhaust from the Down pipe back and hard pipe the inter-cooler and that is a good ROI mod.

I think from a power stand point the RC-F is pretty solid, with little gains to be had for the amount of money involved ( like a 600 dollar AEM CAI for example) , so basic power adders seem to have a low ROI. unless you go forced induction.

So what about Suspension mods? Sway-bars, end links , etc. Do you get a good ROI from that. stainless steel brake lines? better brake fluid?

 

For me, the best mods for your money are
1)figs bushings. The handling really needed to be sharpened up a bit. These do that for cheap money.
2)invidia exhaust. Maybe I was just learning how to get the most out of the car at the time but I felt like this really opened up some power and it sounds so good without having drone. Coincidentally, it’s the most affordable exhaust for this car.

If you’re asking ROI for resale? I’ve always felt any aftermarket hurts the sale. Maybe not an exhaust for this car though because any potential buyer might get wood from hearing it and they’ll be dreaming about that V8 sound. I mod all of my cars and will return them to “mostly stock” before selling. First, I buy everything I can 2nd hand, 1/2 of the original price is fair and my goal. Then when selling I sell it for what I paid if second hand, or sell it for half the original price if I paid full price. The only downside to the rcf is that there aren’t a lot of used parts out there. Like, why would I buy a new intake or strut braces when a used one would perform no different.

 

Expect to get 30% return on mods still attached to the car when sold or 50% if removed and sold separately.

The appreciation of mods is in the enhanced driving experience during ownership.

 

Personally I would not buy a modded car unless I know who installed it audit has the exact specifications I wanted.

Besides...part of the fun is doing it yourself.

 

That’s how I feel about motorcycles. I’ll even pay up to 50% of mods cost if they’re still mint. But for cars I’m old fashioned and like 100% OEM. So if a car is modded I want it put back to stock. Or I expect a discount to put it back to stock. Depends on the customer I guess.

 

For me, it's an expensive hobby.
There are many things I need to consider financially before clicking that mouse, but it still gives me joy and self satisfaction.
I always save stock parts since the car's value drops significantly with aftermarket.

 

x2

This is my hobby of modifying the RCF for the fun of it and slowly making it more extreme in a subtle way while sticking with the OEM theme. It is also a lot of fun to take my wife and kids just to really experience how much of an overkill it has become, but that is what makes it so much fun. So far I have spent about $10K on mods since 2017 when I purchased it (and counting). I can afford the mods + all of the RCF expenses (I also purchased it outright) so ROI is a non-issue for me. I would recommend it only to people who can easily afford in addition to having the passion for it. It is not something you would monetarily see a return on. Having 510+ HP and counting, is all for the fun of it. I would not buy a modified car, but since RCF is my permanent car that will not go anywhere.

 

I won't buy a modded car. I bought my used RCF because it was a lease return and it was stock. The only thing missing was the first aid kit.

That said, I have done some mild mods on mine. Best 2 were axle back exhaust and 2 piece brake rotors. The car sounded way to tame when I bought it. Sounds much better now. Lexus should have built a better sounding exhaust from the factory. 2 biggest complaints of the car were the factory exhaust and the Nav-infotainment system.

 

Why were the 2 piece rotors so high on the list? What difference have you noticed.