Affordable mods?

[King Xanadu]

Hi, I'm new to the forums,
I just got a 2003 Protege5. I'm very fortunate to have loving parents. Now before you start calling me spoiled, I'm paying for all of the insurance, gas, maintenance, and obviously mods. I work at O'Reilly's so thankfully maintenance costs will be minimal. I'm just looking for a way to get a little more performance/sound/looks out of the car, for a fair price. (Also I took 3 years of auto tech in high school do a DIY project is not out of the question)

 

[KrayzieFox]

Racing Beat exhaust is hands down the best exhaust for the P5. Looks and sounds amazing. If you want power, don't waste your money on bolt-ons, just start saving up for a turbo right away. If you don't want power, then go balls out on suspension since that's what this car was really designed for. Coilovers, bigger rear swaybar, leave the front strut bar and swaybar stock, put in a rear strut bar, and get some nice wheels and tires. Go to a couple local AutoX events and have some fun

 

[autoxes]

After going through a few different phases with my Protege, I will say that if you want a fast car, you've got the wrong one. I will however say that if you want a reliable, fun, and extremely well handling car, you're got the right one. Unfortunately, I realized it too late, and wasted a good deal of money trying to make mine fast.

My favorite mods I had done to mine:
AWR 21.5mm rear swaybar
Ground control coil sleeves
Kartboy short shifter
AWR engine mounts
Injen cold air intake
14" Miata daisies

My least favorite modifications:
Thermal research and design cat-back exhaust
Fruity 17" Motegi wheels

I had some other things done, but those were the main things really. When I parted ways with my Protege it was pretty well handling, and very fun. Unfortunately, it was also a bad time for me to fix it when the differential decided to grenade itself, as I was going into the Marines at the time. I believe that it was my fault that it failed, due to much abuse at my hands, so I cant be too mad about it. Treat yours well, and it will last a long time, and you will have plenty of fun with it. Keep in mind that it is a production economy car, with <120 horsepower stock and you will be fine. Read through different threads on this forum, there is STILL after a few years a group of people trying to make 200 horsepower naturally aspirated.