It can be hard to get a car that’s really competitive on the road and affordable to boot. Some drivers are simply able to spend $70K on a sports car that meets all of their needs. Other drivers simply accept the limits of their wallets and credit lines and drive slower, but more price-point manageable, passenger cars. If you’re somewhere in between those extremes, you can find a great balance between staying competitive and keeping that wallet fairly full. Below, we’ll go over some performance upgrades you can make to any vehicle that are far more cost effective than purchasing a high-end sports car.

These are the priciest of the performance add-ons, but also the ones most likely to produce direct, instantaneous, and powerful results. A turbocharger add-on can run several thousands of dollars even when purchased online, but it can also provide horsepower boosts of up to 400HP and can even increase your vehicle’s overall efficiency. From nitrous kits to superchargers, you can get the horsepower gains and speed improvements you seek, but at a fairly steep price (though still much cheaper generally than buying a brand new car).

Computers themselves may be expensive, but performance computer chips are actually quite cheap. Often selling for less than a hundred bucks, an aftermarket performance chip can provide horsepower gains of up to 60HP, as well as fuel savings adding up to around 4-7 miles per gallon. These types of gains may not be as extreme as those seen with more expensive performance parts, but chips are also easier to install and replace, besides already being far more inexpensive. Even most novice car enthusiasts could figure out how to install a performance computer chip if they so desired.

Beyond add-ons, there are replacement pieces that can optimize the performance functionality of your vehicle. OEM hoods, for example, tend to be very heavy and not very streamlined on many vehicles. Sleeker hoods of lighter weights are great replacements for their bulkier cousins if you want to boost your vehicle’s performance. Go with a carbon fiber hood for a durable hood replacement, or a fiberglass one for the lightest hood around. Everything from new exhaust systems to upgraded spoilers can make a difference in how your car runs and performs on both the road and track, so you just have to weigh out what you need, what your goals are, and what’s the easiest path to success, and then get the parts you require to help you achieve that.