My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded • Hacker News Board

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

#131

Post by redwall_hp » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:02 PM UTC

roughly wrote: post #43

GenerWork wrote: post #33

You'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.

The 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.

Someone 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.

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

#132

Post by CocaKoala » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:03 PM UTC

xyzzy_plugh wrote: post #112

CocaKoala wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When 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 bee…

Tell me you live in the Bay Area without telling me you live in the Bay Area. Do you have a lift in your garage?

A 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.

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

#133

Post by pmontra » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:06 PM UTC

lefra wrote: post #109

vladvasiliu wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here in Europe, fat American-style SUVs are still somewhat rare, especially outside cities (!). People still can't corner worth shit in their "regular" sedans. And I say this as a pretty chill motorbike rider. I've lost count of the number of Golf GTIs and similar behind which I have to wait around when riding on roads that aren't perfectly straight. And these cars should have better cornering ability than my fat bik…

Counterpoint: I know my car can brake and turn much harder than I do (it's not a sports car by any mean, but that's beyond the point). I'd rather not change my tires and brake pads all the time though, and keep some margin for whatever unexpected stuff is hiding behind the corner. Also I don't like having to stop because everyone in the car got motion sickness.

Every car can brake, turn and accelerate much harder than any of us will even think to do especially turning and braking. But you pinpointed why we must not attempt to reach for the limit, not for us but for the others. And anyway a normal car won't lay long if driven like a racing car. Every single component is not designed for that.

The usual computer analogy /s You don't run a LLM on a Core Duo 2, but of course https://yeokhengmeng.com/2025/04/llama2-llm-on-dos/

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

#134

Post by pryelluw » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:06 PM UTC

brokenodo wrote: post #11

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,…

Eh, applies to all brands. Few people care about driving faster. It’s all about being “cool”.

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

#135

Post by 100percentjake » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:07 PM UTC

GenerWork wrote: post #33

You'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.

The modifications the author describes are considered in the car community to be incredibly immature, poorly researched, and basic. "Borla ATAK" is a four-letter-word because they're bought and sold exclusively by the "louder = better" crowd and their near-ubiquity on late-model Ford Mustangs is the bane of people with functional eardrums everywhere. People can modify their cars and be happy with it, but if someone customized their house by installing an outward facing loudspeaker system that played nothing but remixes of "barbie girl" on repeat, I'd probably express criticism.

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

#136

Post by salezred » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:08 PM UTC

tristor wrote: post #118

brokenodo wrote: post #11

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 promise you it is not limited to the Camry/Corolla/Civic community, it's just that those cars are very commonplace so its more obvious. I had a full track build BRZ that looked nearly stock from the outside other than the wheels and hood vents, and I loved that car and still miss it. Even in the Miata and BRZ/86 communities where these are designed as cheap, trackable sports cars, most of the community is more focu…

As a counterpoint for practical (i.e., performance) mods being the only mods that matter... I have a F82 which has a few carbon fiber parts to make it stand out a bit. I really don't think I need more performance than what it has to offer, so making it look nicer seems like e a good idea (at least it won't look identical to all other F82s).

Now, would I do that to a Camry? No freakin way.

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

#137

Post by 3848484894 » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:08 PM UTC

dmkolobov wrote: post #113

I 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 i…

[flagged]

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

#138

Post by pryelluw » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:08 PM UTC

Starting 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.

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

#139

Post by BoingBoomTschak » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:09 PM UTC

caconym_ wrote: post #51

Lots 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 e…

Disclaimer: I drive an ND Miata so I "get" it.

> 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.

> Those who know cars appreciate my understated taste

This guy is immature because he has the taste of a teenager in love with Fast & Furious and Limp Bizkit. The entire article's language made me cringe like never.

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

#140

Post by CaptWillard » Wed, Jul 15, 2026, 6:11 PM UTC

vitally3643 wrote: post #74

FatherOfCurses wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So much of American car/motorcycle culture seems to be about that nowadays. And it's not limited to the Japanese mod scene, either. Loud exhausts everywhere - pickups, domestic V6/V8's, motorcycles. Super-bright headlights/aux lights improperly mounted or operated, blinding you at night. Stereos you can almost feel before you hear them. All these guys (and let's face it, it's 90% guys doing the irritating stuff) are…

It's not even automobiles. The entire concept of American masculinity is about inflicting yourself on as many other people as you can. The more insufferable you are, the more "manly" you are. Or maybe it's an attention thing. Like a dog chewing your new shoes for attention, these people feel insecure when they aren't the center of attention, and making everyone around you mad and annoyed is still better than no atten…

> The entire concept of American masculinity is about inflicting yourself on as many other people as you can.

Haha, what?

You're describing a mindset and behavior that is indeed more prevalent than it should be or used to be, but it's got nothing to do with the "concept of American masculinity"