People often pair KONI oranges or yellows with springs. There are also TONNES of other shocks/struts available.
Take this with a grain of salt:
Honestly, the gen 3 cars ride so much nicer than gen 1s.
If you were to swap out the shocks/struts with something stiffer, rated/designed for lowering spings, get lowering springs and maybe change your rims if you haven't already.... Your ride will be nowhere near as comfortable as it is now. Something to keep in mind. Unmodified, my car rode a lot smoother than it is now and I miss it 2 years later. The handling has improved tenfold, but at the cost of most comfort.
Again it's all about people's tolerances/preferences for comfort and ultimately how you want your car to ride.
You do sacrifice a degree of comfort when lowering/swapping in stiffer springs/shocks.
You could probably come out to a meet when it warms up and possibly take a drive with a gen3 owner who has lowered their car in a similar setup to what you're looking at. See if it's what you want. There are a few people on here who have lowered gen3s.
Edit: I tried to say the same thing in 4 paragraphs LOL