can a C=HR get the mods to make it a contender to some

No. Anemic is the exact and correct description for the acceleration potential of the 3ZR-FAE. People need to wake up and accept that this car is not a performance car. Not even close. The aftermarket has acknowledged this where there is very few "performance" parts for this platform. All that is available is the obligatory intake and exhaust which may add a few ponies to the output power of this engine. There is some solenoids that you can add which does a bit more. All of this isn't cheap for only a few horsepower.

I've done a lot of tuning in the past from flash upgrades, to full on valvetrain upgrades (cam/roller rockers), exhaust, intakes, nitrous injection, etc. I have a good feel for what is and is not possible for any reasonableness of money spent. I paid around $500 for the Dinan stage 2 tune for my 135i if I remember correctly that gives about a 55 HP and 73 ft lb increase. There's nothing available for the C-HR that comes close to delivering that HP to dollar spent ratio.

Everyone's perception of sporty is relative. But using sporty with the C-HR is such an oxymoron coming from my experience with much faster cars and sport bikes. The only thing that the C-HR does well is corner.

I bought this car because I didn't want a big SUV. I needed a car where I can put a car seat in for my daughter. Had the trunk space of the Corolla HB been bigger, I would have owned that car instead of the C-HR. I didn't buy this car because of the perceived performance the styling gives. I bought it for exactly what this thing was designed for....a point A to point B grocery getter that just happens to have less than boring styling.

If you know it's not a performance car, then why chime in on this thread? This thread among others were asking how to make this car be a street light dragster. This is wishful thinking and I'm just being frank given my past experience with tuning cars.

Since we're comparing resumes, I've been doing a bunch of track events. 16 years at Virginia International Raceway on initially Kawasaki ZX-6Rs and now BMW S1000RRs. My fastest lap time is 1:54 on the north course which is a 2.25 mile track set this past May. This was with other track riders on track with me so I had to negotiate traffic when setting that time. I've done BMW's M Car Control Clinic. For their timed runs at the end of the school, I took third in a M4 Competition out of 20 some odd drivers. They took the top 5 to re-compete in X2s on a smaller autocross course as part of their concurrent UDE event with only a couple of initial sighting laps. I took third again. Many years ago, I competed in a season of SCCA Solo II autocrossing with my Z24. I cut my teeth into learning about cars and tuning on a 1994 Cavalier Z24. Progressed to a 1994 Camaro Z28. Then finally my current garage queen a 2013 BMW 135i. My street bikes were a 1987 Yamaha FZR400, 1989 Kawasaki ZX-750R, and a 2009 Ducati 848. My current bikes are a 2004 Kawasaki ZX-10R, 2016 BMW C650 Sport, and 2022 BMW S1000RR.

I cut my teeth with learning about cars and wrenching on them with my 94 Z24. Did everything to that car from 50 shot of NOS dry spray system, to Crane 1.6 roller rockers and 2030 Compucam, Superchips tune, custom exhaust, Eibach lowering springs, Energy poly bushings, caster plates, Addco larger rear sway bar, etc, etc. From that project car, I learned if you're going to tinker with a car for performance, you need to start with a good base. The C-HR is not such a car. Hence my latest purchases in vehicles which I did purchase because of their performance factor. Last performance mod I did myself was putting on a set of Akrapovic headers on my S1000RR. And frankly with the RR at 205 HP weighing in at 425lbs wet, the vast majority of everything else on wheels is just slow.

BTW, thank you for your service.