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My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded
- ubermonkey 4mo agoI mean, if this isn't the place to share this video, I'm not sure where IS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLJETZyfb7I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLJETZyfb7I
- voidUpdate 4mo ago> "Now from the rear it looks like four black bazookas are hidden below the bumper and on start-up it sounds like a fire-breathing dragon" Ah yes, the "everybody in a 3 mile radius must know how much I spent on my exhaust"-mobile
- SirFatty 4mo agoJust like my neighbors with Harleys that drunk drive home at 2a revving the engine.
- drcongo 4mo agoMy car has a 3.5L V6 and is almost silent. The only reason to fit one of those exhausts is to be an arsehole to everyone around you.
- extr0pian 4mo agoI'm sure the author is a nice guy, but there's nothing I find more obnoxious than someone driving down a quiet neighbor with a vehicle they've modified to be intentionally loud.
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- lapetitejort 4mo agoIn an alternate universe the cannonball runners, with their cars silent, unassuming, but blazingly fast won over the car modding scene
- floatrock 4mo agoA GR Corolla goes 0-60 in 4.9 - 5.4sec. My unexotic stock electric does 0-60 in around 4.8sec, +/-. So the same performance that requires a stupid amount of wasted energy as heat and noise can be had from stock electric, with a couple hundred ms leftover. Do you care about performance, or do you just want to just fart out a bunch of noise? I get traditional car culture, but electrics embody the "money talks, wealth whispers" truism.
- la_oveja 4mo agothis car is about handling in the twisties, not on straigh line. if you care about performance, you should know that its not only momentary performance what matters, but sustaining it and on repeated occasions. this car is made to be driven hard in a circuit or mountain roads. a electric car overheats its battery and its brakes due to their weight. the thing most close to electric sport car must be the ionic 5n. the rest is just old people saying "hey look how fast i can launch this car on the highway" ps: most car people dont care about performance, but about the thrill and the emotion of driving
- ElectronCharge 4mo agoI've yet to have any issues with the battery overheating, and most if not all of the braking is regenerative (no brake pad wear).
- Rumudiez 3mo agothe first time I drove a model 3 I felt like I couldn't stop. it's on par with my 80s van that has drum brakes on the rear. the brakes just aren't good enough for sport, the car weighs too much. if this is hard to understand, you're living in a different world from motorsports enthusiasts
- frollogaston 3mo agoYou don't need to drive race cars to understand that a Tesla Model 3 stops faster than an 80s van with drum brakes. Sure, probably not as good as a sports car.
- 3eb7988a1663 4mo agoThere is nothing like the rage I feel when a car/motorcycle is moving 5mph in heavy traffic doing nothing but revving the engine nonstop.
- tock 4mo agoDamn a GR Corolla is one of my dream cars. Super cool!
- lapetitejort 4mo agoMy ongoing midlife crisis vehicle swerves in a different direction: I bought a 1988 Nishiki 1207 at a yard sale for $40. Mostly stock save for a new seat. With the wheels out of true, the stickers plastered over with garbage, the brakes loose, the front tire visibly cracking, the rear cassette visibly rusted, and the rack mounts stripped, the bike needs some work. I am motivated to finally really learn bike maintenance after putting it off for 30 years
- Hnrobert42 3mo agoZinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, if you are looking for a solid resource.
- slow_typist 3mo agoZen. It's great but apparently not a maintenance handbook. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_Maintenance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_...
- Chilko 3mo agoNo, I believe they were referring to this book: https://road.cc/content/review/192116-zinn-art-road-bike-maintenance-lennard-zinn https://road.cc/content/review/192116-zinn-art-road-bike-mai...
- compass_copium 3mo agoIt's a rewarding project! I fixed up a freebie old Schwinn roadbike a few years ago and it's so much fun to ride. I have a freebie Nishiki too waiting for a decision on what to do with it--touring bike or fixie conversion. Enjoy the time turning wrenches and then on the road!
- lapetitejort 3mo agoI added a MIK rear rack with pannier rails. I bought a seat post collar with screw holes in order to attach it, only to realize the bike doesn't have a seat post collar! And the collar was 1/4 inch too wide for the seat post. I wedged some green tire protection strips in there and it works great. I biked home two full panniers and a watermelon in a basket from a farmer's market. Bad idea in retrospect as the whole bike wobbled from being back-heavy. And the kickstand cannot handle even the slightest amount of weight. I might invest in front pannier rails. So I guess I'm going in the touring bike direction!
- lowbloodsugar 4mo agoMy midlife crisis car is same price, much faster, more comfortable, and doesn’t wake the neighborhood when I drive it. If you must relive the nostalgic, early 1900s technology of generating motion by rattling metal pistons with gasoline instead of steam then why not open Autotrader and buy any one of the Supras, 300ZX, 3000GTs, or other great 90s tuner cars that can be had for the same $50k as this 1.6 liter leaf blower. Shit, there’s a convertible 300ZX for $20k and now you’ve got $30k for mods.
- forgetfreeman 4mo agoIf it isn't a blatant cry for attention can it really be considered a midlife crisis car?
- stasomatic 3mo agoHonorable mention to the the Nissan 240SX aka Sylvia, the Mitsubishi Eclipse, Toyota MR2 an Celica :) Don't remember if the Prelude was highly moddable.
- brokenodo 4mo agoI love cars and driving them. But the modded Corolla/Civic/Accord/Camry (why) people have always driven me crazy because their mods often seem directed to inflicting their cars on everyone else, with loud exhaust, subwoofers, and (subjectively) garish cosmetics, rather than things that make it actually good to drive. I recognize this is judgmental and it's unhealthy to always be annoyed at these people on the road, so I clicked the article looking for some empathetic understanding - and I really got it, UNTIL he told me about his "fire-breathing" exhaust and subwoofer. So it is about subjecting OTHER people to his car.
- lordfrito 3mo ago> their mods often seem directed to inflicting their cars on everyone else Flies in the face of all the talk about consent. I did not consent to this...
- Spartan-S63 4mo agoMy 1/3 life crisis was buying a Toyota Tacoma Trailhunter long bed last year. It’s been my dream to own a Tacoma for several years, so it was finally time to make it happen. Eventually, I’d love to modify the exhaust to make it slightly louder. The turbo noise from the raised air intake is awesome enough and I’m curious if other drivers on the road can hear the turbo noise when I drive by them.
- etrautmann 4mo agoPlease do not make your exhaust louder. I’m sure you will not listen to a rando on the internet but it will annoy the shit out of thousands of people for what? Some yuk yuks? I get it. It’s fun. I would enjoy it too, but not yours. please don’t.
- forgetfreeman 4mo agoOdds are excellent they cant hear it. If they can hear it they either absolutely do not care or find it mildly irritating and blame it on the nearest 1500 owner.
- iamacyborg 4mo ago
- bix6 4mo agoI used to love cars but the roads are too crowded now for sports cars, between other drivers and cops and cameras you’re guaranteed to have a bad time. These days I’m all about utility for my vehicle (plus e-bike for the thrill). I do miss the stick shift sometimes though.
- lnsru 4mo agoLove my Model Y. Looks boring, tons of stuff can be packed and still comparable acceleration to not that old BMW M3. And no smell and no noise. Fantastic car.
- b40d-48b2-979e 3mo agoToo bad the handling is shit. It's too heavy. This is why I kept my motorcycle for when I want to have fun on the road.
- hnav 3mo agoalso the ride, and the interior is not great though post-covid all the other manufacturers except the japanese are speed running to that same interior setup
- b40d-48b2-979e 3mo agoYeah, I'm waiting to sell it for an EV minivan to come out. The Mercedes VLE looks interesting. I was hopeful for the VW Bus, but it's just underwhelming.
- hnav 3mo agothe VLE looks great but the pricepoint basically limits it to livery use in cosmopolitan cities. I'm thinking they'll probably sell 1000s of units over the whole run in north america
- b40d-48b2-979e 3mo agoIDK, it looks pretty comparable at the bottom end to the Buzz. New vehicles in general are so expensive now. I remember buying my first car in the 2000s for $1K (used, granted) and I couldn't imagine buying something that actually drives for that price anymore. https://www.caranddriver.com/mercedes-benz/vle-class-ev https://www.caranddriver.com/mercedes-benz/vle-class-ev
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- rootsudo 4mo agoMy midlife crisis car would probably be a land cruiser. No need to go fast. Space and chill is best. A 3 cylinder Corolla, regardless of how fast, is just people transportation at best and in the worst inefficient way possible. A normal base 23k usd Corolla , not saying anything against the car mechanically it is a great machine for what it is. Just, overkill. Can’t go fast, need to have higher insurance, it’s more at risk for theft, and it’s not easily replaceable as compared to a 23k corolla. I did enjoy the Vietnamese part and history of fast and the furious. It’s been a good minute since I’ve seen the first one.
- KevinAiken 3mo agoThe GR Corolla isn't really the same as a Corolla. Different engine, drivetrain, brakes, wheels, exterior, interior, suspension, and more, all built to be a sports car. It's also very highly acclaimed for being fun to drive, comparable with the other fast hatchbacks (Golf R, Honda Civic Type R, etc), and is pretty fast.
- rootsudo 3mo agoYes, all inside the same chassis as a Corolla. It isn’t bad, I would just prefer a WRX/STi at that point.
- spike021 3mo agoMost people getting a GR Corolla aren't getting it only as a point A to point B car. So your point about it basically just being people transportation is mostly moot. It's also really completely different from a standard Corolla.
- rootsudo 3mo agoYes, all inside the same chassis as a Corolla. It isn’t bad, I would just prefer a WRX/STi at that point.
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- monster_truck 4mo agoI loved driving a sportbike with a tune and an unrestricted racing exhaust, if I revved it just right I could make it backfire directly into your rolled down window
- brokenodo 4mo agoThis is a genuine question and not intended as an insult: do you have a personality disorder?
- forgetfreeman 4mo agoEh, you ride a bike long enough and you're more or less forced into this level of hostility toward the drivers around you.
- antisthenes 4mo agoMaybe a bicycle. If you ride a bike long enough on US roads - you probably have a death wish. Given the gun ownership rates, I wouldn't be surprised if someone gets shot for doing obnoxious shit in a road rage incident.
- forgetfreeman 3mo agoTl;dr: Not sure why you're catching downvotes here, you aren't wrong. True Story: ~25 years ago, well before ubiquitous mass shooting events or the now weekly local road rage incidents, I went for a ride early one Sunday morning. With the sun barely up, the air was crisp without being chilly even at speed, and the local roadways were empty. The two most common stressors while riding being the weather and other drivers this was shaping up to be something special. The kind of borderline tantric riding conditions you daydream about but only encounter once or twice a year if you live in a busy metro area. So imagine my irritation when this blissful communion of man and machine was rudely interrupted by a Bentley running a red light. Dude blew through the red and pulled 3/4 into my lane before he noticed me and slammed on the brakes, leaving me about 8/10ths of a second to juke a full lane width to get around him. Not only was this the only car in sight in any direction but literally the only other vehicle I'd encountered on the road this morning and this dickhead has just made a passable attempt at killing me. Now I'm not one to hide my light under a bushel so of course I gave the driver the finger on my way past. I noted the driver appeared to be in his late 70s, had his similarly elderly wife in the passenger seat, and a very young girl in a lovely church dress in the back seat. It's amazing the amount of detail you can capture in a split second while riding an industrial grade adrenaline dump, but I digress. This dude had absolutely earned some flavor of response and given I wasn't prepared to get into a fist fight with a guy old enough to be my grandfather I figured the least aggressive option that conveyed my total disgust at his driving skills would get the job done. My miscalculation here was in discounting the psychology of the kind of geriatric upper middle class white guy that drives his family to early church services in a Bentley. In hindsight I'm guessing it had been several decades since that guy had caught any flavor of static off of literally anyone and had grown so unaccustomed to getting called on his shit that when it finally happened dude divided by zero. At the time I was also ignorant of the performance characteristics of a 4 door Bentley sedan. Having mistook it for your garden variety land yacht I exited the interaction at a sedate 20mph over the speed limit confident that was sufficient to get me over the horizon with no further hassles. So you can imagine my surprise when I checked my mirrors and saw this guy power slide through another red light and charge me from behind at something like 3x the posted speed limit. The chase that followed was deeply stupid in ways usually reserved for action movie scripts. This guy just would not let it go. I dragged him through 6 red lights, two neighborhoods, and a mall parking lot before finally cutting through a pedestrian greenway to lose him. I ended up stashing my bike and riding gear behind a service shed in a local park and hiked home, returning hours later to retrieve my ride. To this day this encounter haunts me a little. I can't say for certain what would have happened if either or both of us had been armed but the potential was certainly there. These days I frequently take back roads to avoid a section of the local highway due to how frequently folks are getting shot in traffic through there, and you couldn't pay me to ride a motorcycle anywhere within a 50 mile radius of any major metro area. Y'all be safe out there, shit's crazy.
- coderbants 4mo agoA friend of mine in college had the same CRX as the author and I’d get rides to campus with him. He passed away in an accident not long after the first Fast movie came out. I totally get what the author is saying about some cars being time machines/memory capsules.
- dver 4mo agoI'm past mid life, but my fall back cars to my youth have been convertibles. The last round being SLK's.
- cgyvbunji 4mo agoI had a coworker who one day showed up to work, pointed out the window and said look I bought a midlife crisis car very matter-of-factly, and I will never understand this. You don't need to do anything, nobody is making you do this.
- wbobeirne 4mo agoI'd imagine that it's them doing something they earnestly want to do, but trying to lampshade something that they believe people will perceive of them or be judgmental about. Like most self-deprecating humor, people often want to signal that they're 'in' on their behaviors and not completely unaware of how they're perceived.
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- unregistereddev 4mo agoI've wanted a Porsche my entire life. Doesn't have to be a track monster - actually, I'd prefer a lower-powered one. I want the handling of a Boxster, but a truly fast car is only fun on the track. When I was young, I couldn't justify the cost. Now that I'm a bit older I could afford it, but I can't spare the time for a hobby. With kids still in child seats, I had to stick with a practical car. When I'm 50? The kids will be old enough to sit up front. I probably still won't have a lot of time for a hobby, but I do have money now. Buying a midlife crisis car doesn't mean that you feel it's a rite of passage. It doesn't mean someone felt like they had to. It might just mean that for the entire first half of their lives, there has always been a reason to /not/ buy the expensive toy they wanted. They finally treated themselves.
- cgyvbunji 4mo agoI guess what I don't get is the part where you broadcast that it's a midlife crisis. If I bought a super expensive computer or house or vacation I wouldn't walk into the office and announce I've had a midlife crisis. Maybe I'm being too literal, lol
- GenerWork 4mo agoYou'd think that on a website that has the word "hacker" in its title, more people would be supportive of someone "hacking" their car, but I guess there's not a lot of car people here.
- roughly 4mo agoThe only socially appropriate ways to inconvenience other people are to build dark patterns into your app to juice subscriptions, dump VC-funded detritus on the street and call it a startup, or take their life’s work and create an algorithm to regurgitate it back to them without paying them for it. Making your car louder? That’s just rude and inconsiderate.
- redwall_hp 3mo agoSomeone putting performance exhaust on their cool car isn't likely to disturb me in my home. You know what is? The doings of obnoxious adtech people.
- munificent 3mo ago> Someone putting performance exhaust on their cool car isn't likely to disturb me in my home. We are not all so lucky. I live one door down from an avenue that does sometimes get these kinds of vehicles and it 100% disturbs me in my home. I understand that living in a society means that sometimes people will do things that inconvenience me. I am much more understanding of that when the inconvenience provides some clear benefit to the other person in return. But in this case, annoying strangers is the point. When you're in the car, you aren't hearing the 100+dB exhaust. It's not a necessary path to optimizing the car's performance. It's just being an asshole to demonstrate to the world that they are powerless to stop you from being an asshole.
- yostrovs 3mo agoI live in an area with mostly a grid road pattern. It's very quiet, mostly the sounds of nature. But about a mile away from my house there's a very nice road with great curves and few intersections. Every weekend the guys with the exhausts come out and it sounds like I'm at a racetrack. They certainly don't care that there are hundreds of people nearby that have to listen to this.
- mullingitover 4mo agoI accidentally bought a midlife crisis car: a Subaru Trailseeker EV station wagon. It was cheaper (and more to form) than the 2026 Outback. It just happens to be the fastest production vehicle Subaru has ever sold. Rip-your-face-off speed wasn’t even what I was after, I just wanted an EV wagon and it’s the only one in existence. Still: stupid fun and very unique car, I’ve had it for two months and haven’t seen another one on the road yet. In 2026 the modded gas cars that are so much slower and ridiculously loud are honestly confusing. I absolutely love them for autocross, but people building track cars and then...never taking them to the track, pretending their suburb is a track, is just sad.
- generj 3mo agoI recently got the slightly smaller sister (the Solterra). The Trailseeker is actually known as the e-Outback outside North America, and it looks it. On a straight line full pedal down it will spin the front tires. Absurdly fun. Not as nimble around a curve as the sports sedan it replaced but I honestly tell people I don’t miss my old car. And I definitely don’t miss feeding premium gas to the turbo engine. I respect the BRZ and Miata owners who frequently do track their cars. I can’t help but hope someone makes a small range but lightweight RWD EV that can whip around a curve for them.
- mfkp 3mo agoJust had to look this up, impressive specs for a Subaru. They've had some pretty lackluster EVs in the past (along with Toyota), but this one actually seems like a good combination of range and performance (375hp equivalent and 281 miles of range). Doesn't have super fast charging, which isn't a dealbreaker at the pricepoint. I've got a Volvo C40 currently which is 400hp and likewise impressively fast, but the range is absolute trash (230mi claimed, usually more like 200mi). Otherwise the vehicle is nearly perfect.
- mullingitover 3mo agoI love the Trailseeker for being the anti-Tesla car. I rented a Tesla a while back and have driven friends cars: I hate everything about their UX. It's like people who never drove a car tried to invent a car from how they imagine it should work. Horrible. I won't go into detail about all the way's it's a superior design, I'll just say that it has normal door handles and that's gist of the design philosophy. The new eTNGA platform has been bumped up to 150 kW and while it's not crazy Hyundai speed, but it's been fine on a road trip. The charging curve makes great use of that 150kw. The only sort of gripe many have with Subaru/Toyota is their completely whiffing the software, particularly the route planner. The redeeming factor is that charging infra is becoming so common that you don't need a crazy software system to avoid running out of battery. There's a charger pretty much every 50 miles or less everywhere you'd want to go.
- snovymgodym 4mo agoModding a car to be louder is antisocial behavior and should be illegal.
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- spike021 3mo agoMuch of the time for a car like this it's more about changing the tone and maybe squeezing a bit more performance out of the car. But along with that there's usually a volume increase. It's a much smaller subset of car owners who change an exhaust just to have an obnoxiously loud one.
- 100percentjake 3mo agoFor sure, but nobody seeking that buys a Borla ATAK, which has achieved memetic status in car communities for its absurd volume at the expense of everything else.
- spaqin 3mo agoIt already is illegal in some places, but there's a lot of legal antisocial behavior that we let go but that doesn't get talked about as much - like watching videos in public transport on the loudspeaker, or advertising in general.
- tibbydudeza 4mo agoA few burned out - a high compression turbo charged 1.3L 3 cylinder engine is not a good idea. VW has one on their Polo GTI but it is the iconic 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder TSI engine (EA888) - the normal Polo has 1L turbo charged 3 cylinder but even they did not try high boost.
- gos9 4mo agoWriting a high brow essay about the ingenuity and hard work of import car culture while driving a modern Corolla iM and paying a mechanic to install a cold air intake. Lol. Pinnacle of modern internet car guy is cosplaying as a F&F tuner while paying for a Reddit-approved aesthetic via catalogue and never dreaming of driving hard harder than a spirited on-ramp pull. Self describing a basically stock corolla as a sleeper, just lol. Cargo cultism.
- unregistereddev 4mo agoThat is not a modern Corolla iM. The iM had about 130hp. The GR has 300. The iM had comfortable, "sensible Corolla" suspension. The GR has race suspension. This is not a "basically stock" corolla. It's actually a really cool car with a fun story behind its design. Toyota's then-CEO Akio Toyoda is a big car nerd and an accomplished race car driver. The GR Corolla was his dream car. He was directly involved in the design and development of the car, and personally took the prototypes to the track for test drives to provide feedback to the engineering team. It's ok that this is not your thing, but please do not be condescending towards other people's hobbies.
- cucumber3732842 3mo agoThat's a whole lot of words to say "Corrola with a bigger turbo and a hard durometer poly bushing kit".
- xyzzy_plugh 3mo agoThey should not have called it a Corolla at all. It's nothing like a Corolla.
- rootusrootus 3mo ago> Corrola Corolla. And I suspect Toyota put a little more effort than that into the GR.
- unregistereddev 3mo agoThe normal corolla does not have a turbo at all. Besides the turbo, the GR Corolla has a completely different engine, different transmission, all wheel drive, limited slip transaxle and differential, and completely different suspension.
- 999900000999 4mo agoThis was a great article. As for movies, be the change you want to see. For example, Fish, Prawn, Crab is an indie Asian American movie in development.
- caconym_ 4mo agoLots of weird judgment and smugness in this thread. This guy bought a fun car that he's excited about? Well obviously he's POOR and IMMATURE because if he was RICH and OLD he would buy an ELECTRIC CAR that's WAY FASTER (in a straight line) and doesn't make nasty noises and smells!!! what an idiot!!! I'm all for cracking down on excessively loud and stinky cars, but the GR Corolla is not that loud, and it has modern emissions controls. It is also, believe it or not, possible to own a moderately loud car (even with a modded exhaust) without subjecting your neighbors to backfires, 40 minute idling sessions, and loud fly-bys at every hour of the day and night. The attitudes in this thread really show that people just don't get it, which is probably why the driver's car is an endangered species in $CURRENT_YEAR. How many cars are available in the US with a manual transmission these days? How many that don't cost six figures (or more)? You don't have to be excited about the same things as this guy, but there is a whole lot of projection going on in here from people who can't seem to think beyond how you're perceived by others as the main factor in choosing a car. Have you considered that maybe this guy just likes the car?
- zardo 4mo ago> I'm all for cracking down on excessively loud and stinky cars, but the GR Corolla is not that loud, and it has modern emissions controls. Of course it's not loud from the factory, Toyota isn't going to sell a car that violates noise standards. But he binned the Toyota mufflers and installed something significantly louder.
- caconym_ 3mo agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48924505 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48924505
- not_kurt_godel 4mo ago> It is also, believe it or not, possible to own a moderately loud car (even with a modded exhaust) Not legally in many places. California limits exhaust levels to 95 dbA or less, and I'm betting that OP's mods violate that given that "ATAK exhaust systems produce the highest dB (decibel) levels in the Borla line" [0]. Washington state prohibits modifying exhaust "in a manner which will amplify or increase the noise emitted by the engine of such vehicle above that emitted by the muffler originally installed on the vehicle" [1] > Have you considered that maybe this guy just likes the car? I'm inclined to give the same amount of consideration for this guy's preferences as he is towards the thousands of people he chooses to subject to unnecessary, annoying, unhealthy[1], and likely illegal noise. [0] https://www.borla.com/products/atak https://www.borla.com/products/atak [1] https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.37.390 https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.37.390 [2] https://noiseawareness.org/noise-hurts/impact-on-health/ https://noiseawareness.org/noise-hurts/impact-on-health/
- yawnxyz 4mo agoI have a GR Corolla and it's great in the mountains! It's tiny light and fun and fits a car seat (barely). I wouldn't consider a loud GRC w/ catback a "sleeper" though - it's quite the opposite??
- CocaKoala 4mo agoWhen my wife was pregnant, our garage had an ND Miata (mine), a BRZ (hers) and an Elise (also hers). We pretty quickly decided that we were going to need some kind of car that we could reasonably put a car seat in, and while the BRZ nominally had a back seat, neither of us were interested in trying to fit a car seat and child into it. We actually did consider a GR corolla, but ended up getting a used evo x that's been pretty fun instead.
- xyzzy_plugh 3mo agoTell me you live in the Bay Area without telling me you live in the Bay Area. Do you have a lift in your garage?
- CocaKoala 3mo agoA lift would be rad, but I think we'd have to completely redo the garage doors to get enough vertical clearance for it. In a couple years I think we're planning to redo the garage so that it's more effective as a workshop, maybe we can include a lift as part of that.
- yawnxyz 3mo agogreat choice NOT getting the GRC — it doesn't fit a car seat comfortably if you're 5'8 or larger haha
- spike021 3mo agoAgreed. I switched to an aftermarket catback (sxth single exit, lol) over the past year and while I really enjoyed the difference in tone, the increased volume level was just barely intolerable. So I'm back on the OEM one.
- rubinlinux 4mo agoI drove an i3 (Tiny sporty electric BMW) for a while, and it really changed how I see this kind of thing. The noise your car makes .. is wasted energy. You are blaring and bragging about your inefficiencies. That tiny i3 will out-accelerate you at every light, and you will be making a ton of noise, while it is nearly silent. Car people seem to have got 'louder' and 'stronger' correlated in their heads, but they are NOT.
- 100percentjake 3mo agoI have an i3 and a 2020 M2 Competition with a 6 speed manual. I assure you the i3 is not faster, and attempting to describe either one as a "better car" is ridiculous because the overlap in their goals and design ethos is two completely separate circles on a Venn diagram, with a little overlap that says "has four wheels". Both excellent cars, neither a substitute for the other whatsoever.
- spike021 3mo agoI also own a GR Corolla. it's a fantastic car.
- havefunbesafe 3mo agoI think its a pretty amazing engineering feat to combine Toyota reliability + 1.6L of engine + the weight of a hatchback + 300hp. Sure, not the best exhaust note, but probably such a fun little monster to drive.
- spike021 3mo agoI'd say the reliability statement is still a bit early (GRC has been out four years, GR Yaris with same engine has been out about 5-6). But so far it does seem fairly reliable at least up until someone decides to push the power limits for various components. It's insanely fun. I previously had a BRZ which was also a lot of fun. This is a whole new beast. Especially in not ideal conditions (wet road in the fog on a mountain and presumably in snow or dirt).
- richwater 3mo agoAnyone who modifies their car to "sound like a fire breathing dragon" is a mouth breathing loser.
- 4d4m 3mo agoI wish everyone complaining about other people’s choices here were forced to also post the make/model of the very boring cars the commenter drives. People complaining about others mods are doing it out of insecurity… do you point out loud clothes and styling choices of your coworkers too?
- ourmandave 3mo agoLoud clothes don't roll up in front of my house around midnight with a giant bass thumping for 10 minutes while they pick up or drop off whoever. Or sit next to me at a redlight drowning out my radio and vibrating my lungs.
- missinglugnut 3mo agoThe author doesn't do that either. A 50 year old got excited about a Toyota Corolla and everyone is blaming him for the decline of fucking society.
- cwillu 3mo ago> do you point out loud clothes and styling choices of your coworkers too? If the answer is “no”, will you admit that people complaining about noise are, in fact, complaining because of the noise?
- 100percentjake 3mo agoThings are posted to HN to be discussed and opined on. For some reason somebody's objectively entry level and subjectively tastless car mods were posted here, and people are expressing their opinions. And, to wit: 1987 Nissan Be1 2011 Nissan Frontier Pro4x 2014 BMW i3 REX 2020 BMW M2 Competition All with manual transmissions, with the exception of the direct-drive one.
- ggreer 3mo agoI agree with those comments and my vehicles are a 1990 Mazda Miata that I fixed up[1] & and a Model 3 Performance. The Model 3 looks boring, but is ridiculously fast. The Miata has the stock engine, intake, & exhaust, so it's not loud. It's not fast, but it's very fun to drive. I don't care about loud clothes because they don't wake me or my family up at night, or interrupt a conversation during a walk, or hurt my ears while I'm waiting to cross the street. 1. https://geoff.greer.fm/miata/ https://geoff.greer.fm/miata/
- nadermx 3mo agoMan, he nails it when he talks about that car culture era. I bought myself a 300zx twin turbo as my first car back then. The experiences I had driving around in that thing were amazing. Also though, was short lived. Was young and stupid, wrapped it around a tree shortlty after, never viewed driving the same.
- ambicapter 3mo agoSo, how many "experiences" did you really have, if you crashed it shortly after?
- arcanemachiner 3mo agoProbably at least two.
- phil21 3mo agoWhen you're young and dumb and full of energy, you can get a whole lot of experiences accomplished in the space of a single summer.
- xboxnolifes 3mo agoProbably more than most do in a year.
- psyclobe 3mo ago"door ajar" so bad ass.
- dmkolobov 3mo agoI think people are missing the point: the loudness and ostentatiousness is seen as a celebration of Asian American identity by the author. In Denver there is a similar culture surrounding low-riders and the Latino community on Federal St. Both are a celebration of minority cultures in America. Judging these car sub-cultures divorced from their communal aspects, or as an expression of mainstream American masculinity is pretty off-base IMO.
- 3848484894 3mo ago[flagged]
- tristor 3mo agoMy midlife crisis is also cars. I'm in the process of searching for an honest to god mechanic's shop to buy under an LLC just so I have a better place to work on cars than my garage. I have a list of 8 cars I want to own and restomod, all of which probably nobody else cares about, and that's completely fine. There are some vehicles that just speak to my soul, and I want to experience the best possible iteration of that. I've spent years on track, now I'm much more interested in the experience of daily driving. A car does not need to be a full track build to be fun. My mantra now is much more OEM+, you have to almost squint to realize its not bone stock. The coolest car to me is something that's well-maintained and shows care and love from its owner, not necessarily something loud and flashy. I think the GR Corolla is an excellent platform to build around, and I almost bought one myself although my current newer daily is a Mazda 3 Turbo. Hot hatches and wagons will always hold a special place in my heart. That said, I have no desire for a particularly loud exhaust, although I'm more than happy to trade off NVH for actual performance.
- joshu 3mo agowhat’s the list?
- tristor 3mo agoIn no specific order, per se, but kind of this order, here's my 8: 1. 1986 Toyota MR2 AW11 2. 1996 Mazda Miata/MX-5 NA 3. 1990 Porsche 944 Turbo S 4. 1988 Pontiac Fiero GT 5. 1995 Mazda RX-7 FD 6. 2007 Lotus Exige S 7. 1994 Autozam AZ-1 8. 2013 Acura TSX Sport Wagon I'm a big Toyota/Mazda fan, currently drive a Mazda as my primary vehicle, previously drove mostly Toyotas, and I have a love affair with 80s and 90s sports coupes, the lighter the better. I also happen to think the Acura TSX Sport Wagon is criminally underrated as one of the best wagons to build on, thanks to coming with the K24 and in a gorgeous Vortex Blue Pearl.
- joshu 3mo agothat’s a good list. i also collect japanese beaters (currently several miatas, an ae86 and an s13) and british lightweights (two vintage lotus racers and a modern aston factory race car) so lots of overlap. i have been looking for a 944 as well. there’s a great porsche shop across from my workshop so at least it will be convenient.
- steelframe 3mo agoI owned only EVs and PHEVs since 2012. The GR Corolla was so compelling that it pulled me back to an ICE. I had forgotten what it felt like to have FUN while driving. The biggest feature for me is that I could pull the DCM fuse and not get constantly spied on. The next-best feature is that I can disable the center screen. And I love my physical buttons.
- telesilla 3mo agoThe Corolla bangs. I had a 1990 model that got me through years of zero problems, it was fully mechanical. We're still a Toyota family and same reliability: I took our current non-electric car to a new mechanic for the yearly check last week and asked him how much life it has left, he says until the rest of my life (city emissions will cancel it well before).
- rootusrootus 3mo agoThe GR Corolla is definitely on my extended list of "cars I'd put in my oversized garage if I won the lottery." That and a Fiesta ST. I love tossable cars, even though I also love being able to rip a 0-60 in 2.9s on a whim and never having to wait in line for gas.
- budsniffer952 3mo agoI had a 2014 Fiesta ST and it was an amazing little car. Obviously quick, but could also get close to 50mpg cruising at highways speeds.
- kraquepype 3mo agoI like those but am wary since it was reported to be prone to rollover when getting frisky with it. Was that much of a concern for you?
- pryelluw 3mo agoStarting with a GR Corolla is not cheating, but he could have gone a little further. Swapping a 2GR V6 into Corollas is now the thing to do. Throw in a little nitrous or a turbo and you have a car capable of allowing you to live out your kamikaze dreams.
- Eric_WVGG 3mo agoit would be such a blessing to America if the cool-midlife-crisis-move went back to sports cars and got more of those SUV urban assault vehicles off the road
- polpothead 3mo agoFun to drive? Translation: reckless driver. Thanks for endangering us. Then again my age 50 midlife crisis was spent hooking up with 23 year olds on Feeld and FetLife.
- khernandezrt 3mo agoYou had me at All-wheel drive
- kayo_20211030 3mo agoI get it - the enthusiasm - I totally get it. I think I'd sell my soul for an 1980's BMW M3.
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- dzonga 3mo agoeveryone specially male should get into either fast motorcycles, fast cars or fast boats. fast motorcycles are kind a speed run about life - you learn that life is fragile quick. you become deliberate in making your decisions. better to ride when you're 23-25. the other thing you learn quick - is life is never about fairness - but events.
- WhyComboNadir 3mo ago98% perfect. What would take it to 100%: wearing headphones instead of a subwoofer, and a whisper quiet exhaust. Your neighbors will be your biggest fans. But seriously, happy birthday! I fly a loud aircraft that I’m sure the world wishes was quieter.
- drunken_thor 3mo agoAll these words and yet 2 pictures of the car. Show off the mods! Show me the engine bay, the suspension and sway bars!
- bradlys 3mo ago> Forget Vin Diesel. Asian Americans Are the Heroes of Import Car Culture Jfc. We're posting this wokescold crap on HN. I say this as someone who is buying an Ariel Atom this weekend. I'm an enthusiast as much as anyone. Acting as if Asian (viet) Americans in SoCal were the only fucking people into Japanese cars is insanely retarded. Nearly no one in tech or on HN is viet compared to the massive Chinese population in SV - so why is this even getting traction here?
- JuniperMesos 3mo agoWhat I think is more interesting is to look at the media outlet that published this article to begin with. According to https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/mission/ https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/mission/ > Founded in Los Angeles in 2003, Zócalo is a unit of ASU Media Enterprise. Over our 20-plus-year history, we have hosted more than 700 live public programs in cities across the U.S. and abroad, have featured more than 2,000 guest speakers and performers, and have published more than 3,500 established and aspiring writers. We work in partnership with cultural institutions, public agencies, and community organizations to develop, curate, and produce high-quality public programs, editorial work, and multi-year series that engage the public. > As a unit of ASU Media Enterprise, our primary source of income is Arizona State University. Our work receives further funding through a combination of grants, programming sponsorships, and public support. Donations made to Zócalo are processed by ASU Foundation on behalf of the organization. Maybe there are political changes that could be made that would affect Zocalo media's funding model - why are they getting the majority of their funding from Arizona State University? Is this something voters in Arizona might vote to stop funding, if it was made salient to them? What are the incentive systems behind the grants, programming sponsorships, and public support that ultimately lead to Ky-Phong Tran writing and publishing this article?
- maerF0x0 3mo agoFor one quarter to half the price he could have had a motorcycle which is faster than nearly everything on the road.
- driverdan 3mo agoMotorcycles and cars are not the same thing. Some people like one, the other, or both.
- Dezvous 3mo agoImagine the shock of the non-car-enthusiasts in this thread when they discover the factory exhaust on this car is already pretty loud. It's so loud from the factory it comes with a valved exhaust to tone it down under light throttle and idle.
- actusual 3mo agoI daily a GR Corolla. It's insanely fun to drive. The hardest part is i) keeping under the speed limit (which I do more often than I don't), and ii) the suspension. My god, the ride in this thing is SO stiff. The shitty Seattle streets bounce me around like crazy.
- Makeitmakesense 3mo agoOk if anyone does find this comment, its as simple as this 1 - Manual race tuned cars are all about mechanical engagement for the driver. The engine sound is almost a requirement so you can shift without having to look at the tach. 2 - Modding cars for more noise or looks is a preference thing and in some cases can be annoying and even law breaking. We live in a chaotic world 3 - EVs are faster but do no offer the same mechanical engagement with the car. A manual requires you to understand what the engine and wheels are doing to properly clutch and shift and while doing that you are also dealing with brake and body weight shift, etc. Its analog vs digital, its rolex vs casio, its 70mm film vs Laser.
- frollogaston 3mo agoUnmodded GR Corolla will be plenty loud enough to gauge the RPM anywhere close to the redline. Or get a shift light?
- eweise 3mo agoI've driven manuals my whole life. Never needed the engine to be louder so that I knew when to shift.
- Makeitmakesense 3mo agoI said race tuned. For regular roads I agree
- insane_dreamer 3mo agoI’d like a Civic Type R for my midlife crisis please. No modding needed ;)
- thepaultran 3mo agoHi everyone, I am the author of this Corolla essay. My friend who works in the tech industry told me it was posted here. Thank you for reading it! I never expected a silly essay about a Toyota Corolla would gain this much traction, but it is what it is. It also made the LA Times, but in an abridged version. Here's the link: https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2026-06-22/fast-furious-films-import-street-racing-culture-asian-americans https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2026-06-22/fast-furiou... I'm not sure if this is going to change too many opinions here, but the exhaust is not literally a "fire-breathing dragon" loud (I was using hyperbole for fun). It rumbles on cold start but it's only loud when you floor it, which I don't. We live in a suburb of LA and my neighbors are older and family folk and I am respectful of them. They actually like my car and am happy I got it because it makes me happy. The amped subwoofer can only be heard IN THE CAR because it's really small, like an old encyclopedia, and it sits under the passenger seat. The music I like has bass and there was ZERO bass in the stock sound. And last, I don't track it but I am lucky to live near iconic Angeles Crest Highway and I do drive it up there for fun. I get passed by locals in SUV who drive way faster because they know the road way better. Also, one not expected benefit of the car AND the essay has been all the awesome and nice people I've met through them. Modern life can be so isolating and it's hard to meet new people or make friends in your 50's, so I am grateful that most of all. Best, Ky-Phong PS: I actually am mainly a speculative fiction writer nowadays! Lol
- nonameiguess 3mo agoThis is a bad place for content like this, unfortunately. Hacker News is extremely hostile to car culture, suburbs, California and the US in general. I don't really drive any more due to working from home and spine injuries in my 30s that made it difficult to sit in a confined space for more than 20 minutes, and I wasn't really into modding even back in the day, but as another not Asian but also not white 80s kid from the LA suburbs, I get it. My dad's softball buddy had his own garage when I was growing up. My dad himself still works on a 1972 baby blue Ford F-150 he restored 30 years ago. There was a kid a year ahead of me in high school with a Trans Am you could hear from 2 miles away. It's easy not to understand the nature of noise in the LA suburbs. There's a lot of loudness, but for whatever reason, maybe the lack of tall structures and steel, or the prevalence of wood, grass, and alphalt over brick, concrete, and stone, or the overly wide streets and setback house lots, but the car noise is not that annoying, not like it is in east coast cities or especially in Europe. I grew up with a train line 200 feet from my house, two miles from the fault line the Whittier Earthquake struck in 1987, underneath the flight path of the space shuttle that sonic boomed every time it landed at Edwards AFB. One way or another, that old Trans Am was pushing it, but I don't think any car ever really annoyed me, at least not for sound. In Long Beach especially, most of your engine noise is going to get drowned out in the Pacific Ocean. Living as an adult in Texas, full-sized pickup trucks taking up multiple parking spots and never seeing me or outright seeming to try and hit me on purpose when running or cycling gets pretty annoying, but even then the sound isn't a big deal. Except people that rev their motorcycles in tunnels. They're pretty bad. But rice rockets and American muscle alike live and let live. Enjoy your midlife crisis, my brother.
- frollogaston 3mo agoI drive a Crown Vic PI, hoping by midlife crisis there's some way to either give it a stick + turbo, or at least an electric swap to make it less of a dog.
- windward 3mo agoI hate how popular lowering & spacer mods are for performance cars, you're just adding bump steer.
- eweise 3mo agoI bought a Miata as my midlife crisis car (I'm 60 is that still midlife?). I have to say I didn't realize how much fun this car is. Its turned boring trips to the store into an experience. Cruising down the street with the top down feels really relaxing. Plus its just amazing in corners. I don't drive fast but now I don't slow down for corners. Its like a go kart. I know everyone is moving to hybrid and electric vehicles but having a stick shift sporty convertible is just way more fun.
- johnea 3mo agoIt's not fully modded until it's electric 8-/ Having been through 3 midlife crisis, I can speak with some authority on this...
- joshu 3mo agoi had a gr corolla for a year and sold it. the ITCC (the sealed clutch pack that transfers power to the rear) “overheats” and the throws the car into 2wd limp mode after a session and a half on track. “overheat” is in quotes because supposedly it doesn’t have a temperature sensor at all, the ecu runs a model based on other sensors (rear diff etc) and guesses that it is overheating. still, a pretty amusing car. the traction control system is outstanding, it’s very hard to upset and you can trivially drift it around every corner. even with aggressive play on an empty track it was a incredibly difficult to spin the car. sadly it wasn’t that fun as a DD (you really have to wind it up.) i also had a focus RS (i like hot hatches, i guess) and found it somewhat boring on track and a lot more fun on the street (way more torque at the bottom) anyway, it remains: miata is always the answer
- kazinator 3mo agoI'm looking for a stick shift at the moment. Oh boy, there is a lot of crap out there. Manuals have been enshittified in the last 20 years. A lot of economic cars like compact hatchbacks with <= 2l naturally aspirated engines now have top gears that are like 4th gear, buzzing at 3000 rpm at 100 km/h. Even some 6 speeds! What a shitshow! A few are decent and I've zeroed in on those. I don't fast, just efficient. Modded fire-breathing exhaust should be pulled of the road. The irksome relationship between "manual" and "cheapest base model" is still there to some extent, too. Mechanical joystick side mirrors and manually cranked windows are actually better, but FFS don't take away remote locking and AC! Sheesh ...
- tizzyapunkt 3mo agoI just like it! Reminds me of my youth and when Fast And Furious was actually about fancy modded cars and not just actions and explosions. Kudos for riding the Midlifecrisis that way. :)
- mdavid626 3mo agoLove the car, Toyota rocks with these GR cars (Corolla, Yaris). Mods are also super cool!