blackout

fucking around on the internet this morning i came across steeda's website, and took a look at the q400 package they offer for off-the-lot performance in mustangs, backed by a factory warranty. i began thinking to myself that this may be the way to go, just spend more money for the initial cost of the car, get it all professionally installed, and still have the factory warranty in case anything breaks. this rather than spending a butt-ton on performance parts and then installing them yourself or paying to have them installed, with no warranty. i think the overall money would be about the same, plus in most cases the factory-backed modifiers such as steeda, roush, saleen, slp, nismo, sti, etc. etc. actually incorporate the packages you buy with the car into the final price of the car to be financed, so you won't have to worry about saving up for months to buy the essential part/s you need and that something coming up that almost ALWAYS does that sets you back and fucks you up making you wait for what feels like forever to get the shit done that you've wanted since you bought the car anyway.

thoughs please.

ECR

use your common sense and everything should work out just fine. good luck

Corey

it all depends on the person. somepeople want to work on their car. Its like a work of art. you get to customize it and make it your own. Some people don't want to have a car exactly like 10,000 other people in the US. Some do. For me, it would depend on the car. And some people will still modif their factory rocket.....

soulDistortion

If there were more widely available factory resources, I would probably go with them.

I have a Nissan, and if factory-installed Nismo parts were available I'd jump on that, because if a company has a tuning division, then they already know the vehicle well, and their parts and quality would reflect that.

Plus, a warranty is always nice.

Even though there's a lot to be said for the sense of satisfaction for a D.I.Y. job, I wouldn't mind sacrificing some of that for reliability.

Besides, there's still plenty you can do on your own, you'd just have a better base to work from.

Flite

that takes the fun out of it though. I'd rather buy something that isn't supposed to be fast and suprise people with it. I'd get a lot more personal satisfaction knowing that I made it that fast too rather than knowing I just paid more for someone else to do it. Kind of like why I wouldn't buy someone's car thats already modified pretty extensively.

blackout

this is something that i was thinking as well.

i have a nissan too, and i've been to hall nissan several times poring over the nismo catalog. if the dealer offered to install these parts with a factory warranty, i'd be all over it. (even though the warranty on my car ran out approximately 150,000 miles ago)

but seeing as how they don't, some of the other manufacturers who do offer these performance packages and dealer-authorized modifications are beginning to be very tempting for me. and i have also heard that nissan is vastly expanding its us nismo division, and i have already seen an offering of a nismo tuned 350z that may end up being an optional package available at dealers in the future.

besides being a technician for 4 years can really have a severe dampening effect on one's willingness to work on your own car, or ANY car for that matter. my foresight tells me that i will just not have the time in the future to deal with fucking around working on my own car, so i would have to pay someone else to do it anyway.

blackout

this is just a matter of personal preference though. believe me i used to be the same way. try working on cars for a living for 4 years as previously stated, and your tone may change lol!

it is still nice to be able to know every time you look at it or gag it that you are solely responsible for what you are experiencing, and how far it has come. i've just grown tired of dealing with it. i just want to drive the damn thing.

soulDistortion

I just like the notion of having a car that already has some of the stock deficiences worked out already.

There would be a lot of things I would get and install for my car on my own, but there are a lot of things I would buy that are already coming from the tuning division anyways (in my case, Nismo parts), so it would be nice to have it done for me without the mucking about and warrantied, no less.

I see it this way: would you rather buy an NA car and try to turbo it, or spend a little more and buy it with a factory turbo? Both are feasible options, it just comes down to the amount of trouble you're willing to put up with.

montman

Another wrinkle to add, using your example of the Q400 is lets say you buy the car and are quite happy with it for a year or so.
But say after getting beat a few times you want to turn up the boost....sure, if something happens you may be able to get it replaced by the warrantee but it may be voided as well.

My point is, that even if you get a car modded quite nice already from the dealer, in time chances are you will have the urge to change something, and then you deal with the possibility of voiding that precious warranty that you paid so much for.

Personally, I enjoy the work in progress aspect of the car, seeing how well things go peice by peice, but I can also understand the attraction of buying a already finished car.

Mr.2

Personally I think that your better off modifying your own car how you want. I dont see the point of waiting for warranty either unless its a brand new model that has lots of quirkes and problems the manufacturer has yet to work out.