kotik

I'm sure there are many opinions on this, but I'd still like to know what everyone thinks. I'm not the one to through the money around, and worked hard to get my vette, and I will probably sell it in about a year (so as to not loose to much money, and also because I put a lot of miles on my cars). I'm in Germany, but bought the car in US, so I figured I'm not gonna loose too much on it (though the car will still depreciate).

So my dilemma, on the autobahn the C7 is not all that fast, and it really dies after about 160mph, and then crawls to 180mph (I had it up to 186 one time). I'd love to be able to hit 190mph, or at least get a little umph up top. (I am barely faster than an rs6 audi, and if I'm off on the timing they can beat me... and there are a lot of rs6's here). So I wanted to add a little of power without breaking the bank. I'm looking at borla x pipe, and AFe intake (which should add 20-25 hp). This is almost a $1k.

Also, I do track, and by my foolishness I didn't order the magnetic ride, because I had it on both my m3's (e90 and F80) and it was useless... which in a vette, as I read after I ordered the car, was a lot more useful. So I was thinking of coilovers (pfad/afe). Price $3k.

So this is gonna be $4k that I spend on the car, and I wonder if this money will be lost during the sale... or perhaps it will make the sale easier? or harder? I feel like these things will improve the car greatly for my pleasure, and if I was buying used I wouldn't mind paying a little extra for tasteful mods, but I'm not everyone.

So what's ya'll's thoughts? Oh, one more thing, euro-spec vettes all come standard with z51, and I am pretty sure the magnetic ride is also standard.

DBLXX

Well...first thanks for coming to a Corvette forum and telling us you bought the car with the intention to sell because it's not good enough and you can't drive 200MPH in it.

We all appreciate that

As for mods....I am not sure if cars are different than Motorcycles. BUT - I have purchased and sold 20 or 25 motorcycles in my life and modifications usually pay back .10 cents on every dollar you spend. If you put too many mods on a motorcycle it's usually reduces the value and doesn't increase it.

Best of luck!

OLD_GOAT

I think you're a little too optimistic about the 20-25 hp for the CAI.

kotik

I meant both xpipe and cai. I figured 5-10 for xpipe and 10-15 for CAI.

C7-Beast

Yes, most times mods do not add value unless you find the right buyer. 4k is not going to get you to 200 mph. In my opinion you need a Supercharger, Alky kit, LT headers and a tune. The C7 is not a bottom feeder like previous Corvettes so a CAI is of very limited value.

Don't mod a car to increase resale. It will most likely not add any value and in many cases will lose value. Some folks would assume the car has been beat on with lots of power adding modifications.

L8ter

Once, you mod a car you narrow down your resale market, as compared to Bone Stock. I'm not talking about tint and small visual effects.

rcooper

Only mod a car for yourself...resale sucks. Spend 4K and get back $500. If I were to see a C7 with suspension upgrades as the ones you are thinking of doing I would pass, knowing what they are designed for.
Intake and "x" pipe are not real biggies in the power add on game. If I were going to put $4,000 into my car I would find a couple of grand more and supercharge it. Good luck rs6.
Although as you are in Germany items like superchargers and headers may be a bit hard to find for a C7. So stick with the stock C7 and trade up to a Z06 stage one areo kit. More than likely it won't hit 200 but it will get you to 185-190 a bit quicker than most of the other cars on the road. And it has MSRC as standard equipment.

stingraymyway

This.....

kotik

I dont' keep cars more than 2 years because I put on a lot of miles. So I always think of resale value, this is prob third new car I bought in my life, I usually buy used to avoid catastrophic depreciation, but last year when I was shopping around price of used C7 wasn't far off from a brand new one.

yes, the car is very slow up top, my c6z06 easily got to 190mph, and I even got it to 202mph. my old supercharged e90 m3 did 209mph. There are many 190mph-200mph cars out here in Germany. It is highly unfortunate that the US has the lowest speed limits I've ever seen, it seems that cops can't find another watering hole. If they gave out tickets to the bad drivers, I think they could compensate themselves better as well as making the roads safer for higher speed limits/no limits. but this is another topic. I think US shot itself in the foot so deep with this whole driving thing, that climbing out of it is impossible. People have been deeply brainwashed that the speed is the root of all evil.


hm... yea, I'm not upgrading to increase the value... but just didn't want to loose all my money. Supercharger is out of the question, the car has heat issues as is (my tranny starts to overheat after 15min drive on the autobahn in cool weather, and I've seen my engine oil temp creep up at the track). I'd also like to keep the stock warranty, so trying to stay away from tunes.

I know on power mods I may not get my money back, but what about suspension? any return on that?

DBLXX

I was just breaking *****....I have severe OCD and to be honest - other than my wife - I never keep ANYTHING more than a year or 2.

BUT I will say this - I hope the Vette is different and I can hold on to it and love it so much I keep it until the next Gen and then replace with the updated style.

C7-Beast

Same here. 2 years and I'm done with most cars. The exception is I did keep my C6 for nearly 7 years. I expect to keep the C7 longer since I put a lot of power adding mods that added up to about 14k. I know I'll lose my shirt if I try and sell in 2 years.

dvilin

I think you can kiss that 4k goodbye when you sell the Vette.

Chip E.

With the exception of some exotics, cars are NOT an investment.

New cars depreciate as soon as you drive them off the lot. Anyone really concerned about resale value, should purchase used at the lowest possible price. Modifications will very rarely add to the value, and often detract. They don't add to the value because the average buyer is looking at market value and has a determined budget. The $4K you add on (hope to go fast goodies) will often detract because the new buyer has to wonder how much you tracked and abused the car. The average used car buyer wants a car that's never been modified, never had a major problem or accident, and was only driven to church on Sundays by a little old lady in Pasadena.

Personally, when I buy a car, I'm not thinking about the next owner or how much I'll get for it. I look at how much I will enjoy it personally. Would any sane man marry a woman and immediately start thinking about her shortcomings, not kissing her so her lips are softer for the next man, or what he should do to make her more attractive for her next husband.

Slow down, buy the car you like, appreciate the car you have, modify it to YOUR liking, work hard, have no regrets, and repeat.

- chip

juanvaldez

Most mods detract from the value of the car.

DBLXX

Well...what if my modification is SOLID 18K GOLD RIMS?

cheapthrills

I agree, mods to me make the car less sellable, they may even reduce the value of the car. I came from a turbo car forum (focus ST), the modded cars just would not sell. What most ended up doing was replace all the stock parts, sell the mods and sell the car as stock.

This is one of the reasons I'd probably buy a Z rather then supercharge my present car. If they get the heat issues fixed and some nice paint I'm in the market for a Z.

ferd1971

Modding a car is very subjective. Some people mod to make the car look nicer. Others mod the car to make it go faster. Either way, modding may detract the next buyer from purchasing your car when you are ready to get rid of it. Additionally, a dealer may be reluctant to give you full value for your car after 2 years if it has a bunch a mods. I admire the fact that you are able to drive at 186mph, but don't understand "your dilemma" for not being able to get up to 190mph. I also don't understand why someone would consider spending $4k to be able to drive 4mph faster...just to beat an RS6? Maybe I'm just an "old goat". You need to remember there will ALWAYS be someone bigger, stronger and faster no matter how much money you put into your car. Do yourself a favor...save your $4K, enjoy the car for what it is and upgrade to a "faster" car when the time comes.

DBLXX

Modifying a car CAN ONLY HELP !!!!

MikeyTX

True that. I got a true 9 hp bump and a small increase in torque.

themonk

what's more important to you, top speed or handling? If it were me I would forego the suspension and put all my extra money into power adders.