On an otherwise stock vehicle, the expensive shocks are a total waste of time, IMO. You just won't see the benefit at all.

Actually, check a local AC Delco dealer/distributor(serious!). They had a line of shocks that I used on all mine and my customers cars. It's a gas charged shock, comes painted(maybe powder coated?) in a very correct looking shade of not too glossy/not too flat black. Peel the decal off and bolt them in. An additional feature of these shocks is that they come with a fine thread on the bayonet/stud end of the front shock so you can use the original style hardware and actually even resemble the Oriflows in a subtle way.

The only bad thing is that the last time I tried to buy a set, they were telling me they were "backordered with no availability date" so I don't know what that means . I would imagine there are still tons of these out there in the system though.....

MB