I'm soon to be one of you. LOVE ME
 

So I'm a 19 year old who just put a deposit down on his first new car, a 2016 BRZ Limited. Now I just have to eat away at myself while I wait for that call saying it has finally arrived at the dealership! Not to mention that I have a friend who (at the same time) put a deposit down on the same car. Damn is it going to be fun having an identical canyon buddy >:)

Let me start by saying that this is going to be a car I have for a long time, and one that I do plan to learn to work on (and mod heavily).

I plan to spend 2000 almost right out of the dealership lot. My question is should it be spent on one big mod combo (Headers + Tune, Wheels + Michelin PSS, Intake + Catback + Headers)

OR

Should I spend it on many little things that will be cosmetic and scattered. Such as:
-Motul Trans/Diff Flush
-Tail Lights
-Intake
-Cat back
-Window Tint
-Dynamat
-Cosmetics Etc...

I live in the LA area so I am surrounded by lovely canyons in every direction that I do plan to take advantage of, and that is a reason why wheels + Michelin PSS is my number one option as of now.

Looking forward to what you all have to say and to learn more from you!

Don't throw out brand new tires man.

I'd suggest keep it stock. Do an exhaust if you need that sound. See where you feel it is lacking. Check out other people car with the mods you plan. No reason to change a bunch of things without even trying the stock car.

Honestly just drive it for a while. See what it can do straight out of the box.

I read up and researched the car for two years and thought I had it all figured out by the time I got mine, but cut my wish list down, after realising its totally fine in many of the area's of moding I thought it needed the most.

I agree with above, you need to drive it around for a while and figure out what area would you like to upgrade on.

First off congrats.
I'm also 19 yo and I no longer owe anything on my brz.

For someone your age I suggest saving that money for the first car payments and insurance.

But for 2k, best bang for the buck would be
Option 1 performance :
Openflash tablet : $500
K&n air intake : $50
Transmission fluid : $50 I recommend redline or motul
Wheels: $ 500+ go for xxr if you want cheap and looks
Tires : $500+ make sure you haggle when buy tires. Vulcantires, tire discounter etc have decent pricing.
Total: $1600 with an extra $400 wiggle room for Tires and wheels.

Options 2 looks:
Tint $200-300
Sti (Ts) replica bodykit $300 best looking imo.
Roof wrap $100
Wheels+tires: $800+
Tailights: valenti: $300 buddy club: $500 Toms : $400? Spyder:$300
Total $1700 with lowest price items.

Mix or match however you want.

Exhausts: $500+ go for invidia if you want cheap and good sounding ($500+ shipping) there's a whole thread on exhaust. Just search on google.
E85 mod $700
Head unit : $300+. I recommend an android headunit. Most are only $300. Make sure it's a quad core with 1gb or more ram.

Opticoat: N/A great for your paint.
Clear bra : $200+ got mine for $150
Coilover : $700+ there's a tein coilover that sells for 650 I believe .
Lowering springs : $200+ go for trd or rce yellows.
(Go coilover if it fit your budget)
Led lights conversion : $ 60 at most. Don't cheap out on leds.

*There are a ton of more stuff that you can do to the car but don't dump all your income onto your car!! Sorry for saying this but car hobby is a very expensive hobby and I had to learned the hard way. If your going to school then please focus your income on your studies first.

**DIY is always cheap than paying someone but don't do anything that you don't know how. Just because it look easy in the video doesn't mean it's easy in reality.
*** This is solely my opinion but I'm just listing things off to help you go on with your modding hobby.

Always be safe and enjoy your new car!

Congrats. I too have placed my order on a 2016 BRZ. And like you, I can't help myself with the research and daydreaming (and I'm 53, lol). That said, I think the advice to drive it for a while in stock mode is smart. Granted, I will do the tint, and probably a paint protector immediately. After about 6 months, I am thinking wheels and tires, along with a catback. I do plan on tracking it a little in the interim, so I can learn some fun driving techniques and truly get a feel for the car (I have teenage boys too...planning on teaching them how to drive a manual with this car). My thinking with the tracking is I want to wear the stock tires down so I don't feel so guilty replacing them sooner, lol. Good luck!

Get 3m or some other type of clearbra/paint protection film. The paint sucks on these cars (and every other new car) so protect it if your keeping it forever

I would go:

K & n filter (intakes are not needed for this car w/o FI)
Cbe: I suggest Perrin resonated
Header: there are many to choose from but don't go cheap
Open flash tablet
Wheels/tires
Tails: Valenti red/red or toms red

Many say to do wheels/tires first and that's fine. I would like to let you know that I personally sold the tires alone without tpms for $400 with 5000 miles on them. They aren't cheap tires and retail between $170-200 brand new. If you're going to sell them, don't sell them to other brz/frs owners because you will most likely receive more money selling to regular economy cars.

Like others said, be careful with how much you spend. Many people haven't kept these cars over two years or even more than a year and lost a ton of money with the mods they put into them. We don't know your income, or financial responsibilities, but be cautious and don't throw all your money at your car.

My OTD Price was $30k and my loan was about $25k starting May 2014 for a 6 year lone. I bought wheels/tires/cbe/filter and decided to pay off my car instead of buying more mods. I'll be done my payments this coming may. 6 year loan competed in 2 years.

If you think of it this way.....the interest you save by paying off the car sooner is "free" money for mods.

My final suggestion, and probably the most important one, your first mod should be the k&n filter. After that, wait a little while. Drive the car as is, and figure out exactly what you want to improve. Learn the car before you modify it.

Before looking into any mods I would drive the car stock for awhile. I know thats hard and I'm still doing the same, but you will love your car so much more when you realize it's weak points and upgrade from there.

If anything take it to a autocross day or take some driving classes in the car to become a better driver and learn your own car's weakpoints.

If you spend money right away on a part and then realize you want a different part you have wasted money.

search and see what other members have.
oh boy..i was like OP when i was 16 lol

Drive it stock. This car has SO MUCH going for it that you will miss out on if you start modding right away.

I had planned on doing some ST coilovers, and 18x9 NT03's with sticky RS-3's right away.
I decided not to after driving the car and realizing that it would likely lose a lot of the liveliness.

I've decided to buy Swift springs, and some nice OEM Subaru BBS and running, *gasp* more stock tires. I like how fun and lively it is!

Drive the stock setup for a while, stock setup isn't comfortable on the street but it's very comfortable on road like GMR.

One thing that's good about stock tire is that it give u nice little warning sounds well before it starts to let go. :D Good for practice/knowing the limit of the car.

So you don't own the car yet, but want to change the oils immediately?