Give dad a big hug tonight. That's a nice car he's giving you.
If he doesn't want it lowered (I'd agree with him), ask him if you can put a BAT European handling kit on it. I wanna do that to my SE along with the CD4Ejr shift kit to give it that BMW feel. Your handling will be much improved to better than SVT abilities (according to BAT), & you'll get a minimal lowering effect - less than an inch front & back.
QUITE cool lookin' in its subtle "eat you alive in the twisties" way.
