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Well, you know everyone has a different taste. I am happy with how it performs so I am only considering cosmetic, non performance related add ons thus the title pimping out.
Which is why the only person that can answer your question is you. Each of us hqas different tastes. Some won't like the car to begin with, so any money spent on it, INCLUDING what it took to buy it, will be considered foolish. But if YOU like the car and want a bit more luxury while keeping all the things you like about it, then it'll be worth whatever it takes to achieve your goals.
Personally, what I mod on a car is based on what the car is I'm starting with and what my goals are for it. Sometimes, that's adding horsepower and handling ability, Sometimes, that's pointless, so I go cosmetic, Sometimes it's a combination of both. As a graphic designer, aesthetics are important to me, and since I can't use much more performance on the street anyhow, I may concentrate on cosmetics first and performance secondary, especially if the performance is already more than adequate. A couple examples of that are my '62 Falcon, which really would have taken too much to make fast and handle good so I made it look cool for vastly less money (I also had a track car at the time, so I didn't need to make this one faster). My '06 Mustang GT has more than adequate performance, stock, so I'll make it look better to match the performance it already has. Both are examples of the mods being primarily cosmetic, though for vastly different reasons.
My old RX7 needed paint, so I added a top notch paint job, but I also wanted more performance than it had, stock, so I spent a lot of time swapping in a Ford V8 and transmission, as well as suspension and brake mods, to go have fun in on the track.
I hate leaving things stock, and I justify it because it's my primary hobby. Most of my customs and hot rods have actually ended up being sold for more than I had into them.
"Pimping out" is never worth it, for anyone with reasonable taste and an eye for monetary value. Tasteful, sensible add-ons or modifications are great. I'm a fan of "form follows function", meaning in this case that mods have an effect on the performance of the car, rather than just the appearance.
Bad examples:
1. Putting $3K of dubs on a $500 car, with the necessary junkyard lift necessary to accomodate the wheels.
2. Same car, with a $4k paint job with candy bar names on it.
3. Same car with a $4k interior made of Skittles colored vinyl.
4. Same car, with speakers or TVs anywhere there's enough surface area to put them, regardless oh how they look or sound.
5. Same car, running a beat to death 200K mile old engine that only had 150 HP to begin with.
If lightning struck me and somehow allowed me to think spending $15K on a sub $1000 car (I know yours isn't) made any sense at all, I'd put a custom suspension and brakes under it, 500+ HP in it, and and then spend whatever is left over on a nearly invisible trick sound system, an alarm loaded with toys, and maybe then some paint and clean up the interior.
But it's your money.
You are right, these are not such good examples. I am not gonna spend 15k on customizing and my car is far from a piece of **** that you brought up in your example. My car, brand new, used to cost over 30k and it's less than 5 yrs old, still looks like new: http://imageshack.us/f/708/xefc5a9db.jpg/
Nuthin wrong with pimpin out your ride. The first time several ladyfriends flop in it will be worth it....You might not increase resale value but that dont mean you wont get your "value" out of it.....you most likely will get your value out of buying some good thief insurance in case someone steals your stuff.
mod the car if you want to, for your own happiness and if you wanty something a bit different. Last car we did, my wife's tc, had thousands in performance/wheels-tires/audio/etc because the both of us wanted it. While we had the car we enjoyed it more. But when we sold it the add-ons meant very little to it's value. BUT we knew that going in and were OK with that decision. On flip side, that's why we wont spend much extra on our s2000; as we're happy enough with it in stock form not to feel the need to add on (for now lol).
I figure we work hard for our money, and if we have some extra "fun coin" that's available what's the difference if we put some in a car, take a long trip, go on a big shopping spree, etc...... you only live once you know...
Nuthin you most likely will get your value out of buying some good thief insurance in case someone steals your stuff.
that's a good point; we added a rider to our policy on the car we did mod that cost us very little (we're tuner kids in our mid-late 40's lol so insurance is cheaper for us) but would have covered theft or loss for all our mods. But that same policy may be too pricey or not available for another driver with a different record or age group so depending on what $$ you put in a car i would at least look into it
If you have the money and think it would enhance your enjoyment of the car, I see no downside. Just keep in mind that you probably won't get your money back out of it when you sell it.
Plus, it gives the rest of us some entertainment value. It is important to have a good laugh every day. Please don't put a 'fart can' on it (read the other thread on that topic).
Plus, it gives the rest of us some entertainment value. It is important to have a good laugh every day. Please don't put a 'fart can' on it (read the other thread on that topic).
If you monkey with it, smart people would not buy it from you later. Theree is noo way to know whether a back yard mechanic messed everything up. Many many people will nto touch a modified used car. you might be able to sell it to a kid if it is cheap enough.
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that you brought up in your example. My car, brand new, used to cost over 30k and it's less than 5 yrs old, still looks like new:
