I think when I was reading about the Almera one drawback seemed the lack of cheap available parts, but put it this way, just debated on few car forums about best hot hatch and the Almera is most people choice, you cant have everything but 700quid is wayyyyyy to much, 350 is too much, still cant believe you can get Golf coilies for 180quid.
The coilovers you buy for a VW are completely looks orientated and designed for the euro bummerboys to slam the shit out of their rattle canned piece of shit.
The likes of Ksport and BC Racing coilovers we use on our Almeras on this forum are in a different league to those, they're fully adjustable (ride height, damping, camber), high quality, race spec suspension, not some cheap ass malaysian tat.
You will NEVER be happy with lowering springs, they aint low enough, and they're bumpy, bouncy, boppy, all because the spring rate becomes too hard for a standard damper to compliment.
If your REALLY on a budget look
into "coilover sleeves" for the Nissan B14 Sentra on Ebay USA.. These allow height adjustment on the standard shocks, down to 100mm max. I used these for 6 months and found the handling to be better than lowering springs, and obviously better looks due to it being lowered more. The downside was, the rear shocks couldn't hack it, and I ate two sets quickly, one set being expensive KYB Excel-G Gas shocks.
I then bit the bullet and brought some used coilovers for £350, and ever since- they've been on the car, absolutely hassle free, the handling is FANTASTIC and the ride is smooth and comfortable (more comfortable than the coilover sleeves ever were!)
What more could you ask for.
Joe
