You wouldn't believe how many times I've written this post trying to keep it concise and to the point.
The very first thing you need to do is figure out where you want to go with your car. You're going to do very different things if you just want it to be a fun and good looking street car vs a autox car, vs a fun track car, vs competing on the race track. If you're going to compete then you need to know the rules that you need to abide by and what to do to optimize what you have. If you're going to make it a fun daily or open lapping car then you're free to do whatever you want.
I bought the car knowing I would be competing in my local time attack series and having a short deadline to get ready for the next event. The car came with a few mods which didn't violate the rules or cost me performance points (Injen intake but no tune, black roof wrap, Perrin shift knob, 'drift' ebrake button). The intake I could take or leave. It's probably not making a performance difference but it doesn't seem to be hurting anything either. If it weren't for my classing rules I'd likely throw a cup kit or something at it and a computer tune. I haven't because I know they would cost me way too much in class points.
What I did do I would recommend for anyone:
Brakes: I recommend everyone do a fluid change and pad upgrade.
Tires: I got a fun new set of daily wheels/tires as well as a track set of lightweight 17x9 wheels wrapped in 255/45/R17 Hankook RS4's (this is where the alignment comes in)
Alignment: Everyone seems to recommend getting camber bolts and then they say 245 tires are the widest that fit with the stock struts. I bought camber plates as well as the bolts with the intention of maxing out the plates and then adjusting using the bolts (for maximum strut clearance). I may not have needed the bolts but my timeline was short and I did fit 255 tires on the front end with stock struts and -3* camber. I also had SPC control arms installed in the rear and adjusted to -2* camber
This is more of a maintenance thing but if you're going to track your car then you should definitely run a 30 or 40 weight oil. Ask me how I know...
Now the looks department is where things get a bit more personal and I recommend starting out small with this stuff.
The black roof wrap my car came with may not be small but it does look good with the sterling silver paint.
Small interior dress up stuff (such as a shift knob) can be good fun and won't (likely) hurt anything.
I happen to have a bunch of led wedge bulbs (and some festoons) left over from my previous car so I've started down that route as well.
I'm wrapping my DRL's and fog lights in yellow lamin-x. I might recommend handing off the DRL's to someone else to fight with wrapping; or find some yellow tint paint. I'm probably going to wind up doing it twice since I didn't.
I'm starting to look for a cat back exhaust that I like (can't do headers for class reasons, front pipe is a grey area).
Tail lights are an easy way to personalize a car as well. I'm thinking of Valenti red editions.
I can't do any aero mods without costing me points or I might consider a splitter and duckbill spoiler.
Some pics for reference:
Daily shoes
Track shoes (bad pic)
