Seems to me that you should table this topic until after you actually find the VX. I'm big on planning/budgeting upgrades well in advance too, but you just have so many unknowns that I would think it would be hard to plan. Find your VX so you know what needs immediate attention, get your loan worked out so you know how much cash you have at hand, then begin planning the actual purchases. Everybody's different, but I know I try to plan around both $$$ availability and necessity of replacement/upgrade. For example, if your VX has plenty of tread life left, you may decide to wait on wider tires and put upgraded brakes on instead. In the opposite situation you may decide to wait on shocks and brakes until you've upgraded tires and wheels. Again, so many unknowns to plan IMHO.

In the meantime I would dig around the forum (unless there are members who would be willing to post direct links in this thread) for some of the Japanese builds that people on the other side of the ocean have done. While most American mods seem to have centered around off-road capability, a lot of the Japanese examples I've seen on the web seem to be focused on improving on-road handling (lowering the body, mounting wider tires, etc.) which seems to be more your taste.