Mods are incredibly tempting bro. Some are closer to being essential than others. I can say that I know what it’s like to have shitty headlights. I’ve been managing with mine, but I wouldn’t do that unless you are extremely confident in your driving skills. If you do go for mods, it sounds like headlights would be the certain first choice. Not just the bulbs either, new housing as long as they are HIDs.

An alternative to the exhaust would be just a muffler. It’s not going to give you any power boost, but a catback power boost is extremely minimal anyways. You can probably find what they call an axelback on the same websites that you’ve been looking. Or for an even cheaper route, go to a local muffler shop and have them build you a custom muffler on the low. It’ll still sound good.

Personally I wouldn’t recommend going with straight pipes. It sounds decent on a v8, but v6 wouldn’t be the best. It is however the absolute cheapest option to get a louder sound from your exhaust.

I always go for new wheels as soon as I get a new car. I personally love my VMR wheels. A really solid brand with lots of spoke and color options if you’re ever in the market for rims.