Newbie question for the forum

[marty31]

Fellow Z enthusiasts....I'm new to the forum and I just picked up my first Z. '13 Touring w/sport 6sp. No Nav. I can already tell this car is gonna be a blast after the ride out of the dealer. After I parked it in the garage I started looking everything over and instantly removed the plastic engine cover. Can I assume there's no issues with this? Other than it being ugly, I would think it traps some heat as well.
I also have to bring it back to service because the CD player doesn't work. When I loaded it the first time, it played all 6 discs (Mix of home made and "factory" CD's) without any issues but when I selected random all disc it stopped reading the discs and wouldn't play anything. Not really a huge issue but I assume they'll replace the whole unit...Anyone have a similar issue?
As I continue to pour through this forum, I find it an EXCELLENT source of information and a bunch of good cats dishing out techniques and other great stuff. Future mod plans will be standard with intake, exhaust and tune. Looking to keep in quiet but quicken up the car a little. Previous mod experience was an '04 LS1 GTO with heads/cam/intake/full exhaust and all the other bolt on goodies. Made about 420 at the wheels. Based on reading some posts here, would I expect about 300 at the wheels with what I'm planning?