just looking for some tips on what to do to upgade the car a little.

You can put your money into a faster car.

The generally accepted first mod is a programmer of some sort. A generation 1 accessport could help out a bit. After that, it is pretty much illegal-for-road use mods that are available.

You could strip the inside of it. Like removing seats and carpet. To make it lighter like a race car.

. Add a turbo
. Replace body parts with carbon fiber
.Replace seats with lightweight racing seats.

upgrade the exhaust & intake, a cold air intake will suck in more air while an aftermarket exhaust with overall larger tubing will allow more exhaust fumes to release from the engine & results in giving u more performance & a little bit better gas mileage, after that get a power programmer, all this is just a computer that readjusts the fuel to air mixture in the engine & they do work & can give u about 30 more horsepower, l recommend hypertech for a power programmer, these r the main things u wanna do to ur car to give it more power, now if u really wanna spend big bucks for big horsepower get a twin scroll turbocharger, l recommend hks, they make some of the best turbos out there for a price, but l hope this helps, good luck have fun, make it fast haha

well what alot of people seem to fail to understand is that with the subaru is u approach tuning a little differently, u do not need to modify the intake the stock intake is fine & not restrictive untill ur much further along in hp/torque,a drop in panel is fine & is part of stage 2, finding a local tuner is ur first goal talk to them about ur goals & what ur looking to do with the car the majority of us r happy with stage 2 wich is a full turbo back exhaust & a tune,mostley done through an AP u can find good stage 2 package deals on nasioc.com for about 1400 expect to see 40-50 whp & 50-60 wtq for that with a SAFE tune.

if u just start hacking away at ur car with cliche' bolt ons l garuntee u wand ur car will have a bad day. so do it right.

start with cold air intake, ecu tuning, larger exhaust, downpipe, increase boost pressure, if you want more get a larger turbo and intercooler.
try look at rallysportdirect.com or jscspeed.com/wrx for some good name parts

If u just bought the car then just learn to use the power it has first. In the mean time, l would get some good springs & thicker sway bars to tighten up the suspension & improve the looks a little. these things look lifted when stock. A short shifter is a great cheap mod that u will appreciate for as long as u own the car too. What l have learned tuning Subaru is is that power mods just leave u wanting more so get the suspension out of the way first or u may never get to them. In the mean time, do lots of research on sites like NASIOC & clubwrx to learn the proper ''Steps'' in upgrading the WRX so u do not do any damage in the process. The guy who states that u take a different approach with Subaru is is correct. The 04 & up WRX is have a very sensitive ECU as far as mods go so u need to spend some time on the forums to learn while u think about just how far u want to take things.