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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

#251
post #182

My 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 maintenan…

Riding on a wheel you have built from parts is a joyous thing.

My favorite bike was an early aluminum framed Trek that I upgraded practically every part of myself.

The bonded frame creaked but it rode great for thousands of miles.

It got stolen and I haven't felt the same about biking since. Miss the hell out of that bike.

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

#252
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I hope that becomes more common so long as privacy is respected. Fortunately my neighborhood is fairly quiet. I don't understand either, but I don't have a problem with people doing what they want. If municipalities can regulate speed limits for safety and other reasons they should be able to. So if you want to be loud live out in the country where there is space.

I’m having trouble imagining the privacy concern. If someone’s vehicle is topping 90db then it’s hard to argue what they really want is privacy, and even the most invasive monitoring method I can think of (widespread mics) could be nerfed by requiring hardware that only responds at db threshholds well above conversation.

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

#253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

If people want to roast this guy for installing annoying aftermarket noisemakers then I will not try to stop them. I mean to address the (plenty of) more generic comments like this one: --- A 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 co…

My midlife crisis car is a Mercedes Sprinter.

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

#254

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,…

All show no go is the trend these days - and not just with cars.

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

#255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 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.

I 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.

I 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?

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

#256

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 remember some friends talking about motorcycles, and one was wondering how much horsepower you could get out of a Harley Davidson motorcycle.

And another friend quipped, "You don't tune a Harley for power, you tune it for noise!"

Back to tuner cars, I've always thought the perfect invention would be a tuner-car-audio-experience-device.

Basically, a device that you plug into the cigarette lighter and it uses some method of figuring out the engine RPM (and maybe throttle position). Then it would generate cool engine sounds and send them to bluetooth stream / fm broadcast / audio jack, for the car audio system.

You could drive a quiet car, but inside it would feel like a formula one car, a 12-cylinder italian car, motorcycle, tugboat or jet fighter.

I would say spaceship, but those days are gone since every EV nowadays sounds like an cheapo alien orchestra already.

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

#257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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…

It looks like all three Borla ATAK catbacks for the GR Corolla are active exhuasts[0], so you can dynamically switch between quiet operation and loud operation. [0]: https://www.borla.com/2023-2026-toyota-gr-corolla-exhaust-sy...

I'd be okay with those if they were geofenced to be quiet in a 6 mile radius from my current GPS coordinates.

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

#258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#259

> "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

A 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 w…

it's not just about straight line performance. lots of subie fans won't trade their STI for the current gen WRX, even though the engine is way better, because the driving dynamics are just not as good.

that said, it's possible to have a fun ICE car and not build it in a way that your neighbors will hate you.

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

#260
post #256

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 remember some friends talking about motorcycles, and one was wondering how much horsepower you could get out of a Harley Davidson motorcycle. And another friend quipped, "You don't tune a Harley for power, you tune it for noise!" Back to tuner cars, I've always thought the perfect invention would be a tuner-car-audio-experience-device. Basically, a device that you plug into the cigarette lighter and it uses some me…

It exists!

https://us.wrumersound.com/

Plug this into your car's OBD II port and run their app on your phone, and it sounds like whatever you configure the app to.

V8, F1, lawnmower, or fart noise!

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