First Mods

i went with the two performance ones first

I dont know if it applies to the new RS as it did with the old but upgrading the rear sway bar makes a major difference in the cars handling. It helps make the car more neutral (less understeer).

Then upgrade the tires/rims, then suspension, then performance goodies.

Just my 2 cents

If you autocross, tires and struts. Depending on your class, you might go sway bar and strut tower bars, too.

Hi 02RSNJ,

I'm new to the mods scene too. I am doing my first mods this weekend on my new RS. After talking to a lot of people, a good idea seems to be to go with suspension first. And I definately agree that the handling is the weak point of the car. While not a rocket, the engine can definately go faster than the handling allows.

This weekend, I'm going with the front/rear sway bar, anti-lift kit, and springs. Gotta check on struts. Heard that there's not too many struts available for the New Age guys yet but I I'll do some more checking that out.

If you ever plan to autocross, don't put on a anti-lift kit. You will end up in a prepared class in with the Sharks!

Go with tires, sway bar, intake for your first set of mods.

I'd go with intake and exhaust... can get a Dragon intake from weapon-r and a stromung dual tip for about that much... intake though can be the single most cost effective performance you can do... You'd notice it right away

if you're not too worried about your warranty,
you can try the proecm chip.
don't know if I have the guts to try that one.
but some say it's worthwhile.

edit: ooh forgot it's kind of easy on the wallet, too. $250

Thanks for all your suggestions! I think for now I'm gonna go with an intake, probably either from AEM or injen. Then I'm probably going to get a decent exhaust. I don't have the guts to go with a proecm chip. Thanks again for your ideas!

Don't forget the shifter

I think the best first mod on any impreza is a short shifter/poly bushings swap. I went with the Kartboy and immediately noticed a difference in the ol' subjective "feels good" scale. Makes the car just plain more fun to drive if not faster...

Get the Cobb intake, then Short Shifter and bushings, tires, sway bar, then pulleys or chip, then exhaust. That should tide you over for a while. Let us know when you are ready for more!

Yea I think Im going to order a Cobb intake soon. Im probably going to order all parts at once and just have an installfest with me and my friends one day. Thanks for all the ideas.

Here's the order I went it (kinda performance-handling-performance):

GanzFlow CAI with K&N filter
Rear sway bar
Front stut tower bar
Stromung dual-tip exhaust
Larry's short-shifter (same as what Cobb sells)

Anyone catch the revamp Cobbtuning did to their site? Very nice and much easier to navigate... they also repriced a few of their packages and made some new ones.

Definitely make the rear anti-sway bar one of your first mods! You can easily get a 20mm one for <$100 from a WRX owner that upgraded to an adjustable.

You GC8 guys thought you had it bad? We get a 13mm bar on a heavier car! :curse: