Dude,
I totally hear you on that. In fact this year i've really wanted to buy an older hatch, gut the shit out of it, build the motor and turbo it. I dont have the time nor money to do that, so its only been a thought, and a wish, nothing more.
But that'd be totally fun, wouldnt be that expensive, handle amazing, and really scare a lot of people.
Take Ben's K20 swapped hatch, by the looks of it (with the exception of the huge meats up front) you wouldnt know much about it, and assume its a normal hatch. But damn, for what hes done to it, he's surprised plenty of people im sure.
So really do what you want with whatever you have. It just pisses me off went some of the guys on here take total offense when someone jokes about their cars and has a nice car, therefore they must be a stuck up bitch...its really not the case, so ease up. Yet the apparent underdogs can joke about shitty or nice cars all they want, but never get shit for it? Its just inconsistent - put aside what the person drives - focus on their posts not their garage and things would be so much better here...