Well, it's that time of the year again, my birthday. And I'm looking on giving the current ride the old heave-ho and getting into a well-equipped 330Ci coupe (5-speed).

Wonderful car and all, but it's missing something. It needs a swift kick in the pants, something on the order of 15HP/15lb-ft. I think then it'd be about perfect.

Any way to achieve this without requiring a dump truck full of money? $1000 is kind of my reasonable limit here, and I don't want to change the obvious appearance of the car either (physically or acoustically) but just curious as to what ideas some people have.

Just the thought of a new Altima passing me in a 330Ci crossed my mind... ::shudder::

I have just bought a 2002 330Ci, 5 speed. I would rather be in my car than in an Altima regardless of its speed, it can be as fast as an airline jet for all I care. If you want to gain more power you can probably get around 15hp with a exhaust and cold intake mods, but it will probably cost you little more than $1k.

Aye, but, for $42K, as great as it is in every other respect, I expect a teensy bit more for my money.

Why I didn't even bother looking at a CLK320. Wonderful interior, absolutely dead quiet, handles nicely, very smooth... but not enough power for my liking.

Plus, you'll have trouble finding a mercedes in stick. And mercedes in stick are terrible. I tried out the new C-Coupe in 6 spd. Its nice that it has 6 spd, really unnecessary on that car, and the stick gets stuck a lot. You made a good choice with the BMW.

-Aero