My starlet's front and rear shocks are almost completely gone and it's time to replace them. I have the option of buying the front and rear replacement stock parts from toyota at $116 x2 for the fronts and $39 x2 for the rears, OR pedders 'comfort gas with VRD' items at $215 x2 for the fronts and $155 x2 for the rears.
The pedders mechanic talked about how transformed the car would be over the stock items, but that is a HUGE difference in price - is it really worthwhile? That's $310 vs $740...
My car is the N/A variety, but goes a bit better than stock so I appreciate good handling in corners or over corrugations in the road... it would take a pretty significant increase in ride quality for the $430 price hike to be worthwhile....