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My midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded

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381–390 of 456 posts

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

#381

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…

Zinn & the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, if you are looking for a solid resource.

Zen. It's great but apparently not a maintenance handbook.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_and_the_Art_of_Motorcycle_...

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

#382
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 more than most do in a year.

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

#383
post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

also 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

Yeah, 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.

What's wrong with the VW bus?

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

#384
post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

No offense but this is kinda soft mate. A loud car doesn’t “split your eardrums”, it’s at worst a minor inconvenience, and as part of living in a diverse society we accept that we will be inconvenienced sometimes.

Straight piped trucks can easily hit over 100dB (I've seen numbers as high as 118dB) which is well above the 85dB hearing damage level, and is at the level where hearing damage occurs in minutes or even seconds of exposure.

Sorry I don't want to get tinnitus just because some asshole wanted to make his truck "sound better".

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

#385

Hi 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-furiou... I'm not sure if this is going…

Sorry for all the nasty replies here. You do you! I’m a car & bike guy so I’m glad you got a cool car and modded it as you like. I’m hoping for an old 900ss or monster for my delayed mid life crisis purchase but money isn’t there.

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

#386

I 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 anothe…

> a Subaru Trailseeker EV station wagon That is an SUV, not a wagon.

Call it what you like, but it’s basically the same dimensions as the 2025 Outback and that’s generally called a ‘lifted wagon’ type vehicle.

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

#387

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,…

Have you considered people can enjoy different things than you? I personally enjoy a nice exhaust tone and I like subwoofers as well. And I don't like them just because they might piss off somebody like yourself, it's for my own enjoyment. Not all exhausts and subwoofers are created equal. Most modern cars with 'premium' sound systems like Bose, JBL, etc. have subwoofers, but they're usually small and don't require a…

I like sparring. If I went around punching random people in the face I'd get arrested. If you want to drive a loud car, tha's fine; just do it in a way that doesn't bother other people. Imagine how much better the world would be if everyone put in even the slightest bit of effort to be kind and compassionate to each other.

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

#388
I'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 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 ...

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

#389

My 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 a…

The 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.

Yes, all inside the same chassis as a Corolla.

It isn’t bad, I would just prefer a WRX/STi at that point.

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

#390

My 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 a…

Most 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.

Yes, 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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