(Ok, let's not be discussing insurance or other posturing here. :p )

What's the mind-set behind taking something like a Furby/Saxo/Corsa and remapping, modding etc etc and spending all that money on it, instead of buying something that's got more toys and power for the same/less money?

Is it a financial thing? (Cheap car, modding bit by bit)

Is it a challenge? (How much better/faster can I get this old bucket of s**e to run?)

Is it a tinkering challenge? (I have knowledge and my own socket set and not afraid to use it)

Is it an image thing? (Look at me, I can spend ££££££'s on an old car, put a bad-ass stereo in it, some big speakers and tinted windows, Yehar!)

This partly stems from a chat with someone a while ago. Her late-teens son had (apparently) spent £30k on "doing up" a Corsa, obviously for some showing off to the girlies*. I was thinking for that sort of money you could get a "ready made" pose-mobile (Golf Convertible for example) and still have change to go out.

And partly from sitting behind a modded Furby a little while ago (complete with silly-noisey exhaust, lowered etc) waiting for it to get out of the way of my boggo Focus 1.9 TDCi.

(*I have a girlie friend who is 20. I asked her about this. She said that most of these boys would rather lavish love and money on their cars than their girlfriends. Her boyfriend drives a rather battered old Transit)

I thought this so sold my modded Octy and bought an S4. Few months later I was used to the power so wanted more. It doesn't matter what you own, if you are the modding type you will mod whatever you buy.

It's an annoying and expensive bug.

I wasn't happy with how it looked, so I changed it. Simples .

That's my why anyway, not everyone will agree.

For most I think it starts off as a financial thing.

Then they join a forum. That's when it becomes an Image/challenge/tinkering thing.

For some, being surrounded by like-minded people who have cool shiny things fitted to their cars, it quickly becomes a case of one-upmanship. Others (including me) join because they're simply passionate about the car they own and want to find out more about it, its limitations, share knowledge, save money on running costs or repairs by DIY, make it an expression of personal taste, etc.

Edited 7 April, 201313 yr by Ben90

before I got this car I decided that it would be the first car I wouldn't modify, coming from doing silly things on some of my older cars.

Before day one was out I had changed the interior bulbs and number plate bulbs to LEDs

Guess that plan went out the window.......

As Nicky Boy said it's an annoying and expensive bug. Remap next..... lol

Never been a big bodykit fan altho i did fit a gsi bodykit to a non gsi corsa many years ago,

As said above it is a expensive hobby,

I got vrs as i intended to leave it standard but soon got bored of it altho apart from widemouth bumper and black grill body is standard

I'd have had to spend at least 6-7000 on my Fabia to get it

performance wise anywhere near my Audi in stock tune.

I'd have needed a magic wand, stacks of cash and divine intervention

to bring the interior up to the same standard. Say another 3grand?

Another 1500 to get the paint up to scratch, upgrade to oe xenons with washers

bumper etc, maybe another 1000?

So would it have been worth 10 grand more if I'd done it?

No, I'd have been lucky to get 2 grand over what I sold it for with none of

this work done. Not to mention it would still be 4 and a half years older

than my current car whatever I did to it.

Looking at the bigger picture, I sold it for about 83% of what I paid for it

nearly 4 years previously and got about 1000 back on mod parts sold separately.

I respect those that keep a car forever and over time blow a mint on it's evolution.

Like Jason for example, but it's not a valid choice for me. I like to get a car,

change a few bits to personalise it, run it for a while and then try and get as much

money back out of it before I make it worthless with my meddling. I think of myself as

a part time modder. I'm incapable of leaving a car completely as I bought it but equally

I don't go too far changing it.

It's a mixture really. I got bored of some of the factory stylings so changed them to suit. I got used to the power so wanted more and of course that entails supporting mods.

There is the financial side of things too. You buy a car that you can afford as the base and save up for any bits you like over a period of time.

But what it also comes down to is that its a hobby. Some people go walking or collect stamps. I like cars and enjoy making them my own. Matt le blanc sums it up nicely in his interview on top gear

Cars are my art, it's my creative side.

Two words

Why not?

Seriously though, liked the spec of the Labia Elegance, but lots of body roll on corners, hence Einstein suspension kit - tints because I like them

Because I can.

Two words

Why not?

Seriously though, liked the spec of the Labia Elegance, but lots of body roll on corners, hence Einstein suspension kit - tints because I like them

Don't you just love predictive text?

.

Those two words should be 'Fabia' and 'Bilstein'

Don't you just love predictive text?

.

Those two words should be 'Fabia' and 'Bilstein'

Yeh because those were an accident! Haha

Yeh because those were an accident! Haha

Exactly that, yes, 10/10 for observation

Einstein labia?

Isn't that another way of saying clever cu.........?

I think my point has been missed in a couple of places.

Cars such as Brimma's JPS, and Beryl already started at, or close to, the top of what was available.

To quote Brimma's signature: "Octavia vRS CR170 DSG estate". IIRC there was no more powerful Skoda "off the shop shelf".

It's more why would you take a basic model e.g. the 105PD and spend a bucket of money on it to make it close to a vRS, when you could have saved up and bought a vRS in the first place?

(Maybe "silk purse out of a sow's ear" would be a closer analogy?)

Also, as we get older, does our attitude towards what mods change? (Would a young Brimma have still done the same mods for example?)

{Am not picking on Brimma or the JPS, but the car is well-known in the group, so makes a good example. Whilst not what I would have done, I think the JPS is a very very nice looking car.}

Crackin' thread Rainbow, and in total agreement with you.

In defence of the little darlings that feel the need to (IMO) destroy and devalue their cars, i suppose it's in the main, a youngsters type addiction.

They generally speaking have much more disposable income to 'waste' (IMO) on their metal, and has already been suggested, to impress the girlies (most think they are pretty sad probably (IMO)) and to show their mates just how 'racy' they (THINK) they really are.

A pecking order of masculinity probably, but see a physchologist for confirmation on this.

Bog standard is best (IMO), maybe with a couple of very minor unobtrusive mods that won't lower its future saleabilty.,

I WAS as guilty as the rest back in the late 60's and 70's, posing around with my stickered up Anglia's and Cortina's, so apologies to all the modded car owners. You'll get over it like me, eventually..

Edited 8 April, 201313 yr by Mr Ree

I am guessing a lot of the mods are done by young people on cheap and nasty cars is that its considerably cheaper, especially if they don't bother declaring to the insurer, which the cynic in me feels is more true than not.

Sometimes you just want to be different.

I also like the Q car idea. Which is mainly done by starting with a basic car.

For me it depends on the mods. Any mods that improves handling or performance within reason I approve of. I don't mind mods to the bodywork if they are done well, to tidy things up or to hide what the car can really do. What I don't like is massive body kits, Tesco trolley spoilers, and thousands spent on some fibreglass to make tacky stick-on bits. But I also think there's different classes of modifiers. Some will change a head unit or change brakes, little things that can easily be removed when it comes to sale time. I'd put myself in this category. Others are into the bodykits and I'm not. But people like Jason and Richard are in a league of their own. That is modifying to get the most possible out of a vehicle. When the Citigo is finished it will be more like a time attack car rather than a super mini . This I approve of massively as it's proper engineering to solve real problems rather than some mouth breather having a dilemma of how to fix his new bumper.

But then there are limits and it's all relative to what budget you have. Someone mentioned some Corsa's having 30k dropped on them. That's bonkers as it doesn't increase performance much, especially when you can see what can be done with a Citigo and other, more focused cars. I'd feel sick if I'd spent that on an old Corsa when all the cars I've ever owned have cost less than that total. I sold my last vRS because I was debating whether to remap or not and improve things that bit more. But financially it wouldn't have made sense, wouldn't have improved things a great deal as it's limitations would never be sorted, plus I'd owned the car long enough so wanted the change. But as Nicky said once you have power then all you want is more. Although me being weird I may be doing it the other way soon.

Sometimes you just want to be different.

I also like the Q car idea. Which is mainly done by starting with a basic car.

Such as a GTR. You're so childish!

Such as a GTR. You're so childish!

I'm working on the Q car...

For me the PD105 is/was the most powerful guise available in the Roomster. I could have traded it in for the Touran and kept my highly modified fabia.

I decided to keep the Roomster as it is damn good at what it does in terms of load lugging and Dadwagen.

My knowledge of how tunable the PD lump is, coupled with the number of bolt on mods widely available and the 'no-one else has done it' element makes it fun for me to be on my way to a 200bhp Popemobile

Good question and an interesting thread.

I personaly do like tinkering, an engineering challange and good value for money. I do not care about the looks at all.

Few categories of modders:

1. Very furious but not vey fast at all - looks important

Here we have people who install induction kits/air filters on stock cars for £££ which actually reduce performance - I'd prefer to add go faster stripes, we all know thye add 5bhp a given! Then some curious developments where Porsche brakes are added to Golfs... soo desperated to have a real brand's cred to rub off on them as performance gains can be absolutely nothing dependant on other factors. Body kits etc which actually screw up aero performance - not that easy to find a guided air flow full car smooth undertray for any car which nobody can see but is the best mod one can do to a car. Then tvaat sirens, rude boy loud exhausts, fake NoS purging kits, exhaust flamers etc. In a nutshell all show but no go. Serious self esteem and ego issues . Can be extremely expensive, ruins cars and makes the unsellable. Modding bug severity from mild to terminal - a broad spectrum.

2. Not furious and not overly fast.

Easy to remove mods really improving handling, power delivery, fuel economy, practicality etc. Not much apetite for "looks improving (!)" mods. An engineering challange. Usually inexpensive. Severity of "modding bug" low

3. Furious but rather fast

All out chase for high performance, "how much can I squeeze out of this platform" type of attitude. Not much appetite for apperances. Very expensive, Modding bug severity high

4. Very furious and the fastest

No costs spared, nothing out of bounds, has to be THE first, the fastests, the most expensive (delete as appropriate). Insanely expensive. Modding bug severity - terminal .

Then you have people who buy a dedicated track car/go-kart and have real fun in safe environments for usually less money than all but one of the above.

EDIT:

Forgot to add a fifth one

5. None of the above

Many people find modding to be an outlet for their creative side and as any kind of art this cannot be criticised, only liked or not.

Can be horrendoudly expensive or very "budget". Modding bug severity - from benign to terminal

BTW, I am not judging anybody but I suppose I can have an opinion.

It was a form of making friends, tinkering, learning loads.

I started off with the Saxo - Spent a crap load of money on it. Yes I could have bought a new X or Y but owning the Saxo I went from a car novice who had never changed oil to completeing my own complete engine conversion, I learnt to lay up carbon. I then also met up with load of people many of I still keep in contact with now (13 years on)... funny enough someone from the old days knows me on this forum

Its like any hobby. Is it a waste of money - Not in my mind. No more a waste of money than sailing round a lake in a kayak or hitting a golf ball round a course, or anything else.