First off it depends on the ride you plan on experiencing too you know for handling. Do you want it to be STI rough? rougher? If you really want to corner better you may consider throwing on a pair of nice tires too

The sway bar and the strut tower will be good mods for just a lil bit of money. Coilovers and other major suspension jobs tend to cost alot more

For power i would recommend reading up on the stage systems out there like Cobbs or the many other brands out there You can also find links to various vendors on the homepage.

Do a search for upgrades

 

I'll 2nd that. My first mod was 17x7.5 Rotas and 225/45/17 so3's and it felt like I was driveing a different car. The wheels and tires cost around $1400 but it was well worth every penny.

 

I would definatly start off with a wheel and tire combo. Check out subydude.com. You could get a good set of rota wheels and tires for around $1100. THen maybe some springs to get a little better handling. THen i would get the exhaust. Uppipe down pipe and catback. Both gruppe-s and subydude have good combo packages.

 

wont that void the warranty or you just don't care? just wondering cause my dealer said any performance modifications will void the warranty, end of story.

 

Wheel and tires will not void your engine warranty. If you are going to add engine mods whether you plan on going back to stock before you take it to the dealer, i would always be prepared to pay out of your pocket incase they do void your waranty. They have ways to find out what mods you have done. They will only void the part of your wanranty that you have messed with ( if you add exhaust they wont void your electric window waranty). I have decided to mod my car before the waranty is up and i am planning on paying the price if something happens to the car as a result of my mods. Its called being resonsible for your actions. Just my $0.02

 

-tires for handleing, you can throw good tires on the stock wheels if you dont want to spring for the new wheels

-springs and shocks(maybe), the wrx sits really high so bring it down with some springs, tein s techs can be found for cheap, or any other spring will improve your handleing

-then sway bars

-how about a short throw shifter? it will make driving more fun

as to engine mods and warranty claims.......

-if your worried about it get an accessport from cobb (www.cobbtuning.com) you can flash your car to stg 1 which will wake it up a lot, stage 1 requires no mods, its just a computer flash and is undetectable by a dealership

-if you arent worried about it get an accessport. flash your car to stage 1. drive it untill you get used to it and want more power. Buy a turboback. Flash to stg 2 and drive it untill you want more power. Then comes stg 2.5 or stg 3 which is about as much as a stock motor can handle reliably

 

I second the notion on the springs. If your just driving eveyday you don't need coilovers. They are nice but if you don't get them set right you can actually screw up your handleing. There is ride height adjustments and dampening adjutments which change your corner wieghting. Iwould go with rear swaybar, 17" rims and good tires, turbo back exhaust. Since it's a wagon i would alos do brake upgrades. Maybe just better pads, ss brakes lines and better fluid. You could wait on a reflash or other engine management until your more comfortable with it. This will get you a good start. Good luck and welcome to I- club.


You didn't say wether or not it was new. If it is take it easy for 1k miles and keep it under 4k rpm

 

i have an 04 wagon. first thing i got was an exhaust. only because i happened to have found a great deal.

springs may be a good choice. like rumors have it, they will bust your shocks... and the dealer won't be happy about it.

Accessport is a good way to go. i'm doing that once i get some more money together. If you are affraid of the dealers... you can flash back to the factory settings with the push of a button and the turn of a key. real good stuff.

being that it's a turbo car... an aftermarket exhaust will benefit your car, tremendously.
lots of people opt for the helix dl/up with a cat of his/her choice. Helix is good and cheap stuff. If you feel like it, you can look into other brands too (i.e turboXS, vishnu, Invidia). they are all pretty good. most up-pipes and DPs will get great gains and will sound relatively similar. The differentiation comes with the cat-backs. Go for something you like. Looks matter to me. So does sound. If you want power... check out the i-club review section. it has a bunch of write-ups. HKS is good, that's what i have.
---or, save up a lot of money and get a full turbo-back. again, helix is good in this field. If you feel up to it, 1200 should get you a turboXS or Vishnu (non-sig). kinda pricey though. you could prolly peice together a combo that is nearly as good.

best of luck to you.