I totally agree with you about the coilovers, but i can barely afford a set of springs right now let alone coilovers, so they're out of the question unless you know someone selling a set for $200
Regarding the S-techs, the drop is definitely in the right range but i think they'd be a bit stiff for me. But did you find that much loss of suspension travel (irrespective of spring rate) to be troublesome on rough roads or anything? Any issues bottoming out?