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My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

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Re: My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

#121
post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately yes. Many of the people driving tuner cars don't give a shit about cars and are merely mad that no one pays attention to them. There's an antisocial loser on my street, a ~50yo guy in a modded Infinity. The exhaust is so loud it shakes windows and I can't talk on the phone or hear my own music inside my house when it's nearby. And it's a shit car. He's destroyed it. It barely even drives. He gets tons o…

Hard to meet a modder that isn't a loser like this.

I promise you, there are many many many people who modify their cars and do not act like assholes. The thing is, you probably don't notice them because they aren't focused on getting attention.

Re: My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

#122
post #53

I 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,…

I don't mind cosmetics, but noise is something some places fortunately started regulating and I hope it becomes more common: https://nltimes.nl/2026/05/28/rotterdam-deploys-first-noise-... I'm hearing someone gunning it through a neighboring road as I type this comment and I will be hearing such noise all night, because some people just can't help but make noise. The other day I even saw a guy in a car with a modifie…

>driver side window rolled down - apparently so that he would better hear the noise he's making

Why would you think that was the case?

Re: My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More spec sheet flexing, more assumptions that for owners of internal combustion sports cars it's all about the noise. More projection. Another person who just doesn't get it. I'm sorry to be harsh in this thread, but it's always odd to find these weird empathetic blind spots in people.

The article literally brags about how loud the car is (and makes it sound likr it was modified to be louder?) so it seems like a reasonable point to take issue with. Fortunately or unfortunately, driving a car is a public activity and even as a hobby, other people are going to be exposed to it in a way that you just don't get from, say, building model boats out of toothpicks. I'm a big fan of people having hobbies an…

The comments I've replied to in this subthread have nothing to do with the aftermarket exhaust issue. It's just people who've never driven a real sports car (at any price point) posting numbers from the Tesla spec sheets.

Re: My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

#124
post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the mods make the car worse in everyday environments, outside of a pristine track. After I got into my friend's modded-out car, we had to slow to walking speeds to exit the parking lot because it would bottom out on the curb cut. The same happens with speed bumps. Large rims get damaged on potholes that a normal tire and rim combo would just shrug off. Add a few years to your life and you don't want to crawl…

Some people actually do track their cars, though.

It’s a very small percentage of these vehicles though.

Re: My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

#125
My 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.

Re: My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'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…

I 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

> I guess what I don't get is the part where you broadcast that it's a midlife crisis

A number of my friends have said this as a joke (the kind of joke someone finds funny when they have a stable job, stable marriage, and a couple of kids, I guess)

A few others have definitely not been joking, and hey, if the red sportscar and chasing women half your age lets you momentarily forget about how much you hate your job, your mortgage, and your ex-wife... I can't really find fault with that?

Re: My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

#127

I 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,…

nah, I like cars, and I agree. I have some cosmetic mods on mine (it's none of those models in your list) and they're very subtle and inoffensive. very much iykyk. I also want a new exhaust, but mostly because I want a deeper tone, not louder.

Re: My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

#128
I 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.

Re: My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

#129
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I say this with respect and part jokingly but this is basically just a "shakes fist at cloud". And I don't disagree with you! But if people use their signal and drive sane it's not much a problem for me. Very rarely do I see a modded car like this regardless of Make - and people make every Make/Model loud it's not just restricted to the aforementioned. Your mileage may vary and that's all good

Hard disagree. You might be ok with loud engines splitting your eardrums and interrupting your sleep (or worse, your baby's sleep!), but society as a whole should not. Live and let live is good and all, but GP said it was about "inflicting their taste on others," so I would read that comment to mean the inconsiderate things we should not let live. Loud pipes, unsafe driving, and loud subwoofers--I'll shake my fist at…

Well as mentioned in the above comment I do not disagree with parent nor do I disagree with you. Vehicles of these extremes are rare, in my experience, as mentioned as well.

In practicality, I care more about how people drive than the loudness of their engine.

Re: My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

#130
post #84

Man, 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.

So, how many "experiences" did you really have, if you crashed it shortly after?

Probably at least two.
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