Best Budget Upgrades For The Enthusiast

If you're like me, then you're an avid automotive enthusiast. We constantly day dream about how we would build a certain car if we had the right amount of money and time to do so. We find ourselves researching other cars that we don't even own and probably never will. For me, I'm in my early twenties and have owned and modified about half my age in cars total. The feeling of actually working on each and everyone of those vehicles and spending what little money I had on them was something I felt like I just had to do. Of course I was on a budget, but not modifying my car was not an option.

One of the first modifications I always did to all of my vehicles was changing up the suspension. And let me tell you, it is way better to it right the first time around. I learned that quality products and not tampering with important suspension components was the way to go. I'm sure that the engineers that designed the stock suspension in your car did a good job for every day comfort driving. But as enthusiasts, we like to push it and be able to feel the road and get the most out of our vehicle's handling or even just slam the hell out of your car for looks (I'll admit that I'm guilty of that). One of the best things you can do is get adjustable coilovers, which of course allow you to change the ride height and stiffness of your ride. Those may be expensive though, so I suggest looking around at your options online through forums and even on Craigslist, you may be able to score a deal. If coilovers are not in your market, a cheaper alternative would be to get lowering springs and some aftermarket shocks. These tend to be a bit cheaper, and you can actually call shops and have them make you a custom set in which you can get whatever spring rate you desire.

HID's would be next on my list of important upgrades. A lot of people upgrade their headlights to run HID's for looks and to better help their visibility driving during poor light conditions. I run a XenonSupply kit in my car and it was a big upgrade from my normal halogen lights. Not only does it give my car that cool factor, but the difference is night and day. Plus, they are more efficient than halogen lighting. I strongly suggest you get yourself and HID kit, they're not that expensive (under $200) and you'll be happy that you upgraded.

Tires! An absolutely huge upgrade for your vehicle. I'd suggest calling local tire shops and looking in newspapers for specials is one the best thing you can do. Buying them online will save you money as well. Getting a good set of tire on your car will drastically improve your cornering. Sometimes you can even find deals online of people selling their wheel/tire combo. Install a lightweight track wheel with a set of sticky summer tires and your car will feel like a whole new machine.

Performance wise, one of the easiest things to do is and cheapest things to do is installing a cold air intake. Allowing your car to breathe more cold oxygenated air will give you a small horsepower gain and can easily be achieved. Even used cold air intakes can be purchased online from forums and Craigslist might even run you less than $100. Installing an aftermarket exhaust will help the flow of the exhaust out of the car which will help improve horsepower, gas mileage and give your ride a nice sound. That's an all around win for you! Getting custom made piping is your best bet and will run you a few hundred bucks, but I promise it's worth it. Just be cautious not to get a ticket for it being too loud.

And probably the absolute best thing you can do to make your car perform better while out driving spirited, is the driver mod. Yes, I know that's been one of the biggest jokes for how to improve your vehicles performance, but think about it. If you invested some money into and autocross program, the experience you'd get from it would make you an all around better driver because it will fully allow you to understand the way your vehicle moves under different cornering situations.


- Kyle @ XS

The Golden Style of Street Racing

Here in the US, we typically think of street racing as drag racing. Going as fast as possible on straight away in a given amount of distance, whether it's a quarter mile in an industrial business park or on the freeway from a third gear pull. Yes, I do admit that is exciting and definitely gets my heart beating faster than its supposed to be, but I've always been more interested in the touge racing.

For those of you that don't know know what the touge is, the true definition of it means "pass" (in reference to a mountain pass) in Japanese. Narrow two lane roads that have steep inclines, sharp hair-pin turns and s-curves calls for a dangerous driving experience. Well, the illegal street racers in Japan take it as a challenge. It's almost like trying to cheat death.

What these racers do is line their cars up in a single file line at the base of the hill which typically has a toll booth at the bottom. The drivers then drive towards the toll booth with an equal amount of distance between them and as soon as they hit the booth, they floor it and play a game of cat and mouse with each other. The person in front is mouse running away from the car behind them which is chasing after them as fast as possible. The objective for the car in front is to get away from the car chasing them and the person chasing them is supposed to close the gap between them. In most cases, touge racing is a one on one race, but there are plenty of instances where multiple cars race at once trying to either extend or close the gap in between them and their opponents.

Keep in mind that these are public roads and there is oncoming traffic with blind turns which can cause extremely dangerous situations for both the racers and innocent motorists. The cars used for touge racing are modified and tuned very precisely as a small mistake in tuning can easily cause death. Popular vehicles for touge racing include: Nissan 240sx, AE86 Corolla's, RX7's and Honda Civic hatchbacks.

Now, if you're a JDM fan boy like myself, then I'm sure you're familiar with the Japanese arcade game called "Initial D". The game was based off of street racing in the mountains of Japan and has inspired many people here in the US and I'm sure all over the world to race the touge. I'm not saying the game started the idea of mountain pass racing, but it did have a large influence in the now popular canyon racing.

I do not support illegal street racing and believe the lives of other are at risk when selfish actions like touge racing take place. However, I do have the utmost respect for the racers who spend countless hours perfecting the tune on their cars and passion and thrill they have for running the touge. I understand that is a lifestyle for many and has inspired people all across the world. And the amount of skill and excitement caused from touge racing has led me to believe that it is the golden style of street racing.

- Kyle @ XS

Golf R vs New STI

The new Golf R seems to be the new rival for the STI. Since the Evo is sort of put on hold for now, the STI took the crown. But not for long! When Volkswagen introduced the new Golf R, it blew away the previous Golf models. But is it good enough to take on the STI? Both cars are compared on the road and the track below.

Let's start with the STI. with its rally racing background, the STI seems to be very easy to throw around, which we definitely like. 305 horsepower gives this Subie plenty of power on the straights and even allow it to run a 13.1 quarter mile. Adjustable AWD technology and stiffer refined suspension makes the STI a more fun car to drive around the track compared to the Golf.

However, the VW Golf R actually had a quicker lap time than the STI. The R comes with 292 horses making it the most powerful production model VW has put out. A six speed dual clutch transmission makes shifting a breeze, a big brake kit, 19 inch wheels and sticky summer tires come standard on the new Golf R.

So the more powerful STI had a slower time around the track than the Golf R.... but why? Well, for the most part, the transmission played a big role in the times. While accelerating out of the turns, the dual clutch transmission in the Golf made it so there was no boost lag coming out of the turns and while switching gears. The golf also makes more torque at a lower RPM. allowing to pull it around the bends. However the Golf R has quite soft suspension compared to the STI's stiff track like suspension.

While you thought the STI was king of turbo AWD 4 cylinders, the new Golf R sure gave it a run for its money. Both cars perform absolutely outstanding and it really comes down to whether you want the rugged track feeling of the Subaru or the refined smooth feeling of the Golf R. But wait! Theres a little rumor going around about Ford's new Focus RS that will be expected in 2016. The Focus is supposed to out perform both of the other cars by a storm. .... well that;s what it says on paper at least. stay tuned and see if that's true.