i was looking at a 370z. because of the economy, i decided to spend some money on my 2003 WRX, which was already paid for. i did all of the labor myself.
complete ground control shocks/struts, replaced the bushings with 'performance' (not solid and not softer rubber) units, sti lower aluminum lower control arms, stiffer steering rack bushings, whiteline ALK. kept wheels and tires stock size.....
evoIII 16g turbo, larger injectors, up and down pipe, cobb turbo back, larger turboXS topmount, larger fuel pump, cobb access port 2.
i tuned it myself. i can run e85 or high test or a mixture. i use a wideband 02 and a laptop running access tuner race...
on e85 i run around 21 psi max boost. its a fine daily driver, the stock wheels/tires combined with the upgraded suspension gives me all the grip i need on the street. its quicker than the 370.
the 370z obviously would be a 'nicer' new car. but from a performance standpoint the wrx is better and it is in a daily driver.
if i had started with an STI of course the results would have been all the better...
my opinion about the 370z is mixed. the engine feels 'strained'. it has the oil issue and finally if it had 400+ hp (or there was a version that had that hp) it would be a killer and i would buy one. in the end, with the economy, i felt it came up a bit short on performance, though its a good product for its price.
my opinion about subies, WRXs and STIs and tuning is that theres some good stuff left on the table if you dont get greedy. many MANY folks get greedy with boost/power and very quickly get in way over their heads monetarily. often these cars go back to stock and on the market making it a bit risky to pick a used one up. but anyway if you are conservative you can up their performance to a level that is equal or better than 99 percent of whats available on the market OEM (i leave out z06s, cobras, vipers, 911s etc).
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