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Lots of beer. My car seems to be faster and handle better after some beers.

This entry is not $500 but it's the best $500 I ever spent (and boy i bought every upgrade that was available, you name it I had it) so the best $500 I ever spent was an Escort Passport 9500ix radar detector.

The complete ROW M030 suspension kit for my 02 S!

It was actually less than $1500, the cost to transport my car home.
I flew down to Texas to pick up my car and drive it home by myself. I had 5 days of driving a car I had never sat in before let alone driven. Every morning I was thrilled to go out and turn the key and drive a Porsche Boxster.
Value/dollar...... priceless.

It was less than $1500 but had installed the IMS Guardian two years ago. It gives some peace of mind. Mind you if the snow is too deep and I drag its belly over snow/ice it could tear out the wiring for it. :(

Alpine head unit and amp along with new speakers in the doors and dash.

Nice trip! Reminds me of the time I ordered my bride from a catalog!

Bigger Pistons
 

Sorry for asking but what makes the 500.00 radar detector better than the 100.00 ones? Brother has one on his car and it seems to go off all the time. Hence he never speeds. :ah:

Looked into the Radar jammers but there are illegal here in Texas if I'm not mistaken.

Way fewer false alarms and location detection. For instance the Valentine 1 will let you know the second you have passed the police radar by flashing the down arrow. It flashes the up arrow when you're coming up on it. The accuracy is uncanny.
Also, my V1 has picked up lazer from a trailing vehicle at least once, a BMW a few cars in front of me with no radar decided to floor it. The trooper pulled out from behind me and had him pulled over about a mile down the road. No $100 detector will ever pull that off.

I heard there are some radar detectors that work in conjunction with gps and only notify when you're over the speed limit, and also keep track of false positives that repeat occur at the same coordinates. For me, I just try to keep my speed where it needs to be. (:

"Radar" jammers are illegal EVERYWHERE in the US. It is a SERIOUS federal offense to use one. I have never seen one listed anywhere, which is a good thing.

"Laser" jammers, on the other hand, are legal in some states. Texas is one of them. Most metro areas utilize laser units rather than radar units. When used in conjunction with laser absorbing paint, they are purportedly effective in jamming the signal from an LEOs unit.

Check out Radar Roy's website for a plethora of information:

Radar Roy's OFFICIAL Radar Detector Review site!

TO

I would estimate car-related expenses for my meandering cross-country drive in the Boxster S to have been somewhere in the neighborhood of $2k. Memories are priceless, even dumb ones!

Back on topic -

1) Under drive pulley was a very nice upgrade

2) Borla (or other) exhaust - great sound

3) H&R lowering springs

That'll leave you a little extra for gas and a fun drive.

Back on OT, perfect - what UDP did you go with? I'm not real familiar with how the UDP functions - but from my reading of this thread it would seem the UDP truncates higher RPMs from accessories extending accessory life and reduces accessory HP burden from engine? Sounds good!

The best bang for buck mod is what its called.

hmmmm
 

I haven't spent that much. I've had it since this summer and haven't put a lot into it. About 8000 miles.:cheers:

Yeah, went with the RSS UDP. Good quality, great product, pretty easy to install. Get it with the 2100 mm belt...

I had good luck using a dremel to remove the "bump" on the block.

My V1 does all that, and also identifies every set of automatic doors in the entire metro area. The directional arrows are very useful in identifying whether Walmart is to my left, right, behind, or ahead of me. And that's after I put it full logic mode to shut off the additional 10,000 warnings on the X band, and with a Savvy unit to make it shut up under 45 mph. I think it actually even found a cop once or twice. It's useful but I drive slower than before because it's always screaming at me. It's either that or ignore it. I want a New Escort with GPS to lock out the cr@p.