I got a 2005 civic coupe brand new almost 2 yrs ago, and I've never done anything to it except regular maintenance. Lately, I find myself wanting to learn more about my vehicle and make some modifications to it, but I don't know where to start. Also, I'm not exactly able to go all-out on it atm, as I'm sort of in the market for a house as well. What do you guys think, should I start with appearance or performance upgrades? I mostly just use it as a commuter car; Ihaven't done any racing and probably won't any time soon.

 

u could start with some rims and lower just a bit to cover the wheel gaps and call it a day

 

personally i'm not crazy about appearance mods. subtle ones are fine, but i'm not crazy about body kits, neon lights, leds, etc. hell, i'm not even into crazy audio mods. i prefer to have a trunk that i can use.

i'd rather have a stock looking car (as much as possible) that is faster (as much as possible) than stock.

 

i would maybe start off with some window tint and rims

 

since you're not gonna be racing.. go with rims, a drop, and a tint like they've said

 

i said wat they did is all for apperance, i too am not all that crazy about appearance b/c most apperance stuff is just looks riced out, and we don't need another ricer on the road. Soslam it, tint it, and i would say maybe small performance stuff CAI maybe a header and exhaust. Then will have a mildly modded civic that is still tastefull.

 

There are things you can do for appearance that can be really tactful yet look very badass... I'm saving money and looking for the time to shave my trim pieces. I think that looks awsome. Tint, rims, and lowered (not too much) are always a plus. you could also get a skirt and lip, just so long as it is not "blingy" and fugly; a lip and skirt can still have class. Anyway, a header, and intake are your easiest performance mods, so you can pick your preference...

 

This is like my moto for life. Nice clean looking and stock as possible looks good, especially if its fast. If it wasn't for the fuel cell in the trunk of the Cobra I could drive it everyday.

 

Buy the house instead... You sound like you're more interested in learning about the car than you are in gaining 2.73 HP from some modification. Learn how to do all the regular maintenance, save up for a better project car down the road. The 7th gen motors aren't the best to modify. If you leave this car stock you'll increase its resale value

Most of the first non-rice appearance mods don't involve much hands-on work anyway (tint, wheels). You'll get more out of knowing how to do brakes, than learning how to bolt a front lip onto the bumper.

 

get some rims man and a nice tint. i deffinately agree with some of the ppl here that say to go stock and just fix up the little things to make it look nice. u will really enjoy it more that way. u will also save alot more money which can go to that house of urs lol