09 base manual, totally stock.

OK I hate to just bluntly ask in the main forum but I haven't been here in a few years and I'm kinda at a loss on where the community is with parts.

I am very accustomed to cars where performance parts net minimal gains. I want to do a performance refresh of the car maybe around ~1500 in parts just so the car feels "fresh" again to me.

I'm looking for a bit quicker TB response and ideally a bit fatter torque in the 2-4k range. I'm old enough that I'm not looking for something that screams loud if I'm not pegging redline.

I'm assuming an intake is the first stop. I take preference to short-rams and the K&N and PRM both look decent but once again, uncertain as to where the community has progressed to.

For exhaust stuff, I'm kinda captivated to see we have a header option. I'm not seeing any feedback up about
T1R header
(I know WeaponR has one as well but past experience with other cars, weld quality is garbage and I will never buy from them again.... some reassurance that fitment for T1R is decent would be very reassuring). Apart from that, I am at a loss on exhaust selection that wouldn't be obnoxiously loud at reasonable RPMs.

Apart from that, I don't know what else is worth pursuing? I'm a pretty competent mechanic with an engineering background. I have other cars but want to keep this as my reliable commuter. There are the minor tweeks like knife edging the tb and gasket matching TB and intake manifold, that I'll do just because. This probably won't be the only round of performance upgrades, so I am ok with suggestions that may not net anything now but would complement more serious mods down the road.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.