Best Mods for the money

[chris01919]

I'm thinking about getting an '04 x with 90,000 miles. It's Desert on black with Nav. I want to bump the horsepower from 260 to about 280 to match the '05 and '06 models. Is there a good air intake? Are they hard to install? Does it sound better and give noticeable power? Also, what do you guys think of Desert Platinum? It's not my favorite color but I like it more than white.
Just so you know...
I'm selling my 2004 330i with 80k...nice but not as reliable. I like the Infinitis because you can floor it every time and not have to worry about breaking down. I had a 2006 330i chipped ($250) and was VERY fast, it felt like the seats were pulling out of the floor. My friend now has an '08 g35x and I just love the transmission, engine, exhaust and the different leather grain.

[RED_DET]

R2C intake will be your best option coupled with plenum spacer. The revised R2C intake should be released in a week or so and I will be running a special on these, the "black nickel" version at that.

[joe603]

Intake and Exhaust will get you close.

[timmy0257]

i would start with the intake. i love my R2C.

[tollboothwilley]

the 260 HP vs 280 between 2003-2004 and 2005-2006 are phantom numbers. the engine is the same. The 5AT all seem to dyno around 210-220 rwhp on the dynojet for 2003-2006. 2005-2006 don't show any higher #'s. the 2003-2004 were just underrated so the coupe owners felt better about themselves (maybe they are always compensating?? - J/K).

Get some HFC (or ART pipes) and a plenum spacer and then tune it with Osiris. That will be the best 2 mods you can do for your car and will be noticeably different.

The AWD will be harder to get a dyno tune because not a lot of tuners do that. But, Osiris gives you the option for an e-tune which will help a lot and get you in the ballpark.