Long timer Lurker/BRZ owner looking for some advice

[Trackrat86]

Originally Posted by Tsuin

First post finally!
About a year ago after going to a Subaru lot countless times drooling at the BRZ's i finally saved up some money and traded my 09 Mazdaspeed3 in on a brand new premium DGM BRZ. Even before buying it i had started making a build list and planning a balls to the wall build. I decided i was going to save for the first year and put a few miles on it before i did any mods, which i have been able to somehow do.
Up until the past couple months as i near 10k miles i am having ALOT of second thoughts on continuing to own this car now however. My life is now going in a different direction as far as my financial priorities go and things change. I keep asking myself "do i really want to dump thousands of dollars into this car just to get it to perform how i want?" As i am sure a lot of other 86 owner's have asked themselves. Don't get me wrong, this car is amazingly fun and a fantastic N/A car, but i find myself wanting more from it. The only way i can stand to own it is to go forced induction i feel like unfortunately and i cant justify the amount of money for it anymore, nor can i dedicate the time and hassle that can come along with going forced induction.

I wanted to see what everyone else is thinking as i'm having a really difficult time trying to make a big decision.
I have figured i have a few options going forward:

1. Trade my car in for a used Fiat 500 Abarth. I have found several in my area with less than 20k miles that are priced around 14-16k and really clean. It's a car that i could live with and i could still enjoy driving on a daily basis. I would pay around $130-$180 a month depending on several factors and save a lot of money for the next year to two years. The goal here would be to buy something really nice with the money i saved that i wont have to dump so much money into performance in order to enjoy. (thinking maybe an STI, maybe the new speed3 if it ever gets confirmed, a newer model used M3, 2015 Golf R..you get the point)

2. I skip the idea of option #1 and go ahead and find something now to trade for. It would be a car i'll like a lot more and not feel the need to spend as much money on to enjoy. I could afford to do this no problem, but do i really want to add more debt and go backwards when my car is already paid down significantly?( been looking at a few things such as a used 370Z Nismo, E46 M3, G37 coupe or sedan, 2015 WRX, EVO 10, Genesis coupe R-spec)

3. Fuck it all, Start modding the BRZ, eventually buy a forced induction setup and stop trying to financially justify the amount of money it will take to do what i want to it.

The BRZ/FRS needs very little done in the way of moding, in the mountains its perfect and around town if your driving it 2nd through 4th gears to 7000 RMP as it was designed to do for your driving pleasure you should be content. Hell I rarely leave 4th gear on the interstate. I think an exhaust that's not obnoxious and maybe TRD springs (nothing more than an inch) you may come to see the light. I personally think over modding this car's platform kills the spirit of it. Believe me, this car's engineers knew what they were doing.

[val_lixembeau]

My two cents:

- we can't really comment on what you will find more enjoyable because desire to mod, go fast, and look good are balanced differently for each person
- we can't really comment on what is more sensible because you didn't give any numbers. Without knowing how much you might owe or pay how can we weigh anything?
- I'm puzzled by your desire for a faster car, when you've said that you aren't even using the full performance of your car right now. Or is it just that you want torque instead of revs?

[raven1231]

Tcoat=Troll!

[Tsuin]

Originally Posted by val_lixembeau

My two cents:

- we can't really comment on what you will find more enjoyable because desire to mod, go fast, and look good are balanced differently for each person
- we can't really comment on what is more sensible because you didn't give any numbers. Without knowing how much you might owe or pay how can we weigh anything?
- I'm puzzled by your desire for a faster car, when you've said that you aren't even using the full performance of your car right now. Or is it just that you want torque instead of revs?

-I didn't ask what i would find more enjoyable i asked what people thought made the most sense in my current situation/ if it was them, if you re-read my post thoroughly i believe you will find this to be the case. apologies if if it came off in another way, didnt mean to cause confusion
-If you read through i did give some numbers after people commented, but yeah i didn't make it obvious in my first post, could have helped. I only owe 16k now and it just now only hit 10k miles. I could afford to trade it in on something around 35k or less if i wanted to though.
-I use the full performance all the time. i rev the fuck out of as it should be driven, not sure where the idea that i didn't was presented. It just isn't exactly enough for me honestly.

Either way though thread is pretty much dead and i'm keeping the car, ordering a shitload of stuff for it in the coming months, and going supercharged hopefully before next summer.
I have it paid down so much now i might as well just up my payment's a little and start modding it.

[Tsuin]

Forgot to add, thank you all for the advice. i have learned to love the car a lot more since considering to sell it. I have re evaluated and started to remember why i bought it in the first place honestly.

[covance]

Looks like you are trying to balance max fun with max value for money. I would first:


-Define your goal for every scenario (the target power you want in the BRZ, the target power you want in a different vehicle that may or may not need mods to get there, etc.)


-Price out each scenario


-Pick the most cost effective


-If you complete the steps above and don't like the answer, follow your gut and knock out that option. I think for the type of people who care enough to join car forums, the emotional/happiness utility of a car can't be weighed as much to dollars as it can for the average joe.