sx sonic
New member
I see modding as a way to change a vehicles personality to fit the owners desire. For many others it's for personalization and uniqueness. Fewer still do it just to go as far as they can: cough cough, Swordsmith, Preloader, MPFab. An a few naive souls think they're making a rocket ship (usually by adding a fart can exhaust and intake).
If a car company sold a practical, fuel efficient, 5 seater with a pretty hot engine, with a focus on excellent track manners (no flimsy rubber engine/trans/suspension mounts), and an engine tuned for responsiveness and not to satisfy the "eww the cars jumpy when I smash the throttle" drivers then I'd spend $30-40k and not mod it. Not having ONstar, back up camera, TPMS, and other dummy driver aids would also be a HUGE plus
However that car doesn't exist in the states. As it stands the Sonic was the most best pick for my car requirements and was also the most frugal of the new cars available. However it suffers from engineering for the lowest common denominator (a trend that can't be avoided buying new cars w/o spending $$$$); the suspension is overly soft, all the mounts are made of butter, power output is tamed down, and throttle response is neutered in the name of satisfying the majority of unwashed and uneducated masses that want to drive an appliance.
To me these design traits detract from the driving experience, and I drive ALOT. So in the name of improving the driving experience and partially engine efficiency I made mods.
That entailed solid motor/trans and shifter bushings to shore up drivetrain slop and improve shifter feedback.
Stiffer springs and a torsion brace to make handling more taut and engaging.
A tune, ported intake, exhaust/turbo, and throttle body, and bypassing some ECM nannies to improve engine responsiveness, power, and overall drivability without impacting fuel economy or drastically tapping into engine longevity. Intake and exhaust were more noise and "because I can" mods.
All im missing is a lightweight clutch to rid the "neophyte" tailored triple sprung, boat anchor of a factory unit and control arms with more rigid bushings to provide better response and feedback. Both are a pricey and the clutch had not had a spotty track record so far.
All worthwhile mods in my mind and at 50k miles she's still going strong aside from a botched trans replacement. Better yet total costs is still under $20k which is boatloads cheaper than most other cars that can compete with it overall (power/handling, but mostly mpg and utility). Only a Fiesta ST comes close.
Is modding for everyone? Definitely not, for many there's no need, they're perfectly content bopping along from point A to point B. There's also potential risk involved, experience and research can mitigate but not eliminate them and for some it's just not worth the hassle.
Nothing wrong with that!
But for others... Well they just want more. Nothing wrong or pointless about that either (unless you're buying a Sonic/Prius/Olds 88 to be the fastest car ever with bolt on parts).
If a car company sold a practical, fuel efficient, 5 seater with a pretty hot engine, with a focus on excellent track manners (no flimsy rubber engine/trans/suspension mounts), and an engine tuned for responsiveness and not to satisfy the "eww the cars jumpy when I smash the throttle" drivers then I'd spend $30-40k and not mod it. Not having ONstar, back up camera, TPMS, and other dummy driver aids would also be a HUGE plus
However that car doesn't exist in the states. As it stands the Sonic was the most best pick for my car requirements and was also the most frugal of the new cars available. However it suffers from engineering for the lowest common denominator (a trend that can't be avoided buying new cars w/o spending $$$$); the suspension is overly soft, all the mounts are made of butter, power output is tamed down, and throttle response is neutered in the name of satisfying the majority of unwashed and uneducated masses that want to drive an appliance.
To me these design traits detract from the driving experience, and I drive ALOT. So in the name of improving the driving experience and partially engine efficiency I made mods.
That entailed solid motor/trans and shifter bushings to shore up drivetrain slop and improve shifter feedback.
Stiffer springs and a torsion brace to make handling more taut and engaging.
A tune, ported intake, exhaust/turbo, and throttle body, and bypassing some ECM nannies to improve engine responsiveness, power, and overall drivability without impacting fuel economy or drastically tapping into engine longevity. Intake and exhaust were more noise and "because I can" mods.
All im missing is a lightweight clutch to rid the "neophyte" tailored triple sprung, boat anchor of a factory unit and control arms with more rigid bushings to provide better response and feedback. Both are a pricey and the clutch had not had a spotty track record so far.
All worthwhile mods in my mind and at 50k miles she's still going strong aside from a botched trans replacement. Better yet total costs is still under $20k which is boatloads cheaper than most other cars that can compete with it overall (power/handling, but mostly mpg and utility). Only a Fiesta ST comes close.
Is modding for everyone? Definitely not, for many there's no need, they're perfectly content bopping along from point A to point B. There's also potential risk involved, experience and research can mitigate but not eliminate them and for some it's just not worth the hassle.
Nothing wrong with that!
But for others... Well they just want more. Nothing wrong or pointless about that either (unless you're buying a Sonic/Prius/Olds 88 to be the fastest car ever with bolt on parts).
