Originally Posted By: scurvy
Originally Posted By: JMac101
Im not looking to compete or race. I would just like a throatier sound, better gas mileage and deeper sounding exhaust. I would like to free up a little hp and possible get a little more get up and go.
With the K&N hot air intake/rock strainer combo you will not only gain zero HP, performance or economy, you will sandblast your MAF & turbocharger compressor wheel, possibly also the valves, pistons & turbocharger turbine. But it may make the engine a little louder.
The Magnapoot will not gain you any HP, performance or economy as the turbocharger controls backpressure to the engine - and it depends on it to operate correctly! But it will make your exhaust louder.
So you will make it louder, yes. And you will think that makes it sportier, so you will drive more aggressively which wastes more fuel. And you will be also quicker to put it upside down in a ditch or into a crub/fents/bursh driving it 'sportily'.
You bought an economy car with a tiny milk crate engine. Drive it like a normal person and you'll squeeze acceptable performance, good economy and hopefully excellent longevity out of it. I understand these principles and I love cars like that - driving my wife's unmodified 11 year old 90 horsepower diesel Beetle is awfully fun and hysterically economical. The Fiat Bravo I got to drive in Slovakia was similarly equipped and a real giggle to drive.
If you want the engine or exhaust to be a little louder, turn your radio off and roll the windows down.
Originally Posted By: JMac101
Do you guys think it is worth it?
I would rather set fire to $1000 than install that junk on a perfectly operating vehicle. So I guess I would say... no.
Originally Posted By: JMac101
It is a $1,000 investment.
No, it isn't. You will never (ever) recoup the $1000. If you never get out of it what you put in it, it isn't a good financial investment tool, is it?
Cars are not investments - except in astoundingly rare cases cars always lose value and do so hand over fist for many years. Most will never recover much of their original value in real money terms. Bling parts are not investments.
Real estate can be an investment, as can gold, money market mutual funds, stocks, bonds, etc... in the right market, blue jeans, ammunition, alcohol and tobacco can be investments.
Originally Posted By: JMac101
Im financing the car to own I might as well customize it.
I also heartily disagree with this statement. You're better off putting that $1000 toward a lump sum payment on the principle and keeping the car bone stock. You'll own it MUCH sooner and then you can freely decorate it with all the autozone special gaudy trinkets you can buy. Don't forget the fuzzy dice or hula girl bobblehead.
Originally Posted By: JMac101
Its good as it is but why not go better? lol. Just dont want to shell out the cash for no improvement.
You will shell out the cash and be worse off if you buy that junk. If you want to spend $1000 on something, put money toward the principal of your loan (in addition to your regular payments). Done up front, it will drastically reduce the amount of money you spend on the car versus taking the full term to pay it off.
I whole heartedly AGREE with everything said above, at 35 im only 3-5 years past my days of modding everything to the hilt, my current pickup truck is modded, but not how you think. After i paid it off rapidly in 3 years i put a bed liner in it, high end laser cut floor protector's, tinted the windows, added molded mud-flaps ect,ect, you get the theme.. none of this stuff was performance or mpg oriented.. ok im fibbing i spent $40 on a K&N and then after a year pulled it out after some BITOG threads got me thinking.. The point ? pay off this auto, when its paid off use the mass amount of money you have saved on the loan to mod you car any way you see fit.. but pay that sucker off first.. or in retrospect when you purchase your next auto buy something you dont need to mod at all, buy something thats already built from the manufacturer to your likeing.. 2 pennies