A (hopefully informative) DD build

[Wawazat]

Hi everybody! I've read quite a few topics and have learned a lot while being here. Now I want to share what I've got and hopefully give some good info to the community myself!

As the title states, this is my daily driver (and only car) and all the mods are my attempt to make the car look or feel nicer (and hopefully not be too ricey).
I'm a recent graduate and not made of money and have a feeling I'm not the only one. So I'm not going to be shy - I'll share what I paid for everything, where I got it and how to install it (to the best of my memory). You can decide for yourself if you think it was a good buy or not, but I've been happy with all my purchases and prices so far!

**I'm also going to make a disclaimer that vendors may not keep the same prices or promotions and that's neither here nor there.**

I"ll actually start the thread when I figure out where I put my first pics of the car

Hope you enjoy the read!

[Wawazat]

Well better late than never right?

First thing's first; to mod a car you gotta buy one! This car is praised for being a great driver's car for under 30k and you'd think that after a couple years, you'd be able to pick one up very easily and at a good price. Optimistic. The first one I found was a 2013 black M/T at a dealership on my way to work. They wanted way more than I could afford even after hours of haggling. I decided then to start actively looking around and actually found an awesome deal on a BRZ posting a bout an hour away. They couldn't hold the car because another party was showing interest in it. So I drove over to see if I could buy it first. Well by the time I got there another salesman was already making terms and selling the car. I have no doubt the other group was informed of me too and probably paid sticker price for the car. Pretty bummed by that point. Rather than haggle with another dealer or private seller I went to my local Carmax to see what they had.

A 2013 ultramarine M/T! The no-hassle price was lower then the other two dealers too (and about the same miles). I didn't want to miss out so I bought it that day and they even put a big bow on it!



I was super stoked and they even plate the car for you right then and there.

Literally two days later, my dad comes home and says he found a 2015 A/T with 2500 miles in blue for sale. It sounded really nice and I would have preferred the A/T because I hit rush hour every day going and leaving work, "thats cool, but you know I just bought one and that probably costs more".

"they're selling it for less than you paid!"




called the dealer, (Lithia). woke up at 4am the next day drove a few hours with my dad so I could meet them at opening and see what was wrong with it. In the test drive, the guy told me that they normally sell trucks because of their location (Springfield) and nobody seemed want an automatic FRS and it had sat on their lot too long. They were ready to move it to another location but thought they'd lower the price a bit before paying to move it and see what happens. $18.5k

Now this is what my driveway looked like....


Thankfully Carmax has a return policy that's pretty cool. They took their car back and I was able to apply my loan amount to the new car almost smoothly and even put more down.
So now I have the car! Next, time to personalize it!

[Wawazat]

It seems the closer it gets to holidays, the less time I find I have! Anyway here is a list of cost thus far. Maybe it can serve as a good reference point when deciding what to buy in those holiday sales!



Edit: I couldn't transfer my spread sheet here directly so I just posted a screenshot. The links only went to homepages anyway.

[Lonewolf]

Waiting for some installed pics!

[darthpnoy1984]

Great setup you have going there you'll truly appreciate the DD of the auto tranny but yet allows you full control of the gears if need be and fact that Toyota trickled there R&D experience from the LF-A shift programming into this car.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Wawazat]

I feel the best way to present would be chronologically. Living in the northwest AND not being able to garage my car has made me come to terms with the fact I may never be able to keep it clean...

But I can try!

So what do I do? I bought floor mats and seat covers. Generic seat covers just look like you finished popping a bag of popcorn and decided to sit in it; barely better than a fitted sheet. I dont know exactly what my vision is for this car, but I want people to look at it and think its high-end. When these cars first came out I know it had a reputation for looking way more expensive than it actually was and I want to preserve that! (not that these cars are cheap either)

From the research I did the Sard seats looked really nice - like the actual upholstery and was a full set for front and rear. Unfortunately I could seem to find anything but the same 3-4 shots to compare to. I decided to take the dive anyway and here's how they look:




The material comes pretty tightly packaged and so creases are very apparent at first. Seat time and heat relax them but unfortunately the back seats get neither. I imagine steaming the cover on the seat would remove the wrinkles but the bucket shape of the back means they'll most likely never lay perfectly flat without sewing them on.


being a basic rectangle, the back seat panel looks super clean and wrinkle free. The fit is also scary tight. I was puling pretty hard to get it on (as well as fit back there!) and even now know its uneven, as you can see a bit by the center "spikes". Maybe I'll redo it later but probably not before I find a need to remove the front seats- probably to throw in some sound deadening.

I would say these covers look like an upgraded OEM upholstery in person too. My passengers are never aware these are seat covers before I tell them, despite the lettering.

Sard seems to have taken special care to match the stitching and fabric perforating to other areas on the car to further the illusion



center of seat vs side door panel



and stitching on cover vs OEM stitching on the shifter



color matches and texture look perfect to me. I had my doubts about the un-optional Sard logo looking ricey and distracting but its actually not too large and does a good job breaking up the mono-tone left by covering the OEM seat red stripes.

The front seats are actually covered in 3 parts too: head rest, back and leg cushions. The latter two actually go fully through the crease in the chair and zip/buckle closed behind and under the chair. I drew a crappy picture to help visualize it:



This eliminates the sleeved seat look -again, making it harder to believe its a seat cover. The back of the seat cover even has a little kangaroo pocket!

now for the bad parts...
There is slight wrinkling on the bolsters, creases on the rear seats (but I might be able to fix) and the front butt cushion covers are supposed to tuck into the plastic rail cover but there is just no room to do that all the way around the chair. The problem occurs right next the the side adjustment levers and is the most frustrating aspect of the covers for me.

this is what I'm getting at:


BUT I also realize that leather (and fake leather) interiors have tight/complex areas too where some compromises might have to be made for functionality so i would not consider any of these peeves unacceptable or even abnormal. I love the seats, they stay cool or warm - never too hot or cold, do NOT inhibit the seat air bags and look seriously nice.

[Wawazat]

Floor mats! I don't think I own a dry shoe and Disc golf needs to happen from time to time. My original floor mats were only a few thousand miles old and they already began to un-thread underneath my right heel. With the FRS badge on them i feel they could be somewhat collectable one day and decided I needed to keep them in good condtion - plus it seems stupid to use fabric floor mats in this day n'age. I cant say I have any preference over Husky or Weather tech but chose weather tech for the appearance. the floor mat walls are fairly high and probably could hold the entire spilled contents of your drink if something were to go horribly wrong. they also take up no foot space, clasp on the the floor and are surprisingly rigid. With some talent you could pull the mat out of the car and pour the spilled drink off it like a giant bowl, give it a couple shakes and be on your way!

I only bought the front covers because nobody is sitting in back and I'm not paying that money for a piece of plastic that is probably no bigger than an 8 & 1/2 x 11 piece of paper (i don't actually know).

Anyone can find a clean pic of these mats so here is one of mine, having been put to use.



A wet rag/paper towel and they're good as new

oh also, I hate pine needles like Anakin hates sand