alt Hacker NewsMy midlife crisis Corolla is fast, furious, and modded
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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 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?
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.
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 maintenance after putting it off for 30 years
I 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??
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.
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.
For one quarter to half the price he could have had a motorcycle which is faster than nearly everything on the road.
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 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.
All these words and yet 2 pictures of the car. Show off the mods! Show me the engine bay, the suspension and sway bars!
Modding a car to be louder is antisocial behavior and should be illegal.
I 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?
Love 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.
I also own a GR Corolla. it's a fantastic car.
A 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.
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.
I'm past mid life, but my fall back cars to my youth have been convertibles. The last round being SLK's.
it 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
I get it - the enthusiasm - I totally get it. I think I'd sell my soul for an 1980's BMW M3.
everyone 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.
I 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.
98% 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.
This 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.
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 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.
Anyone who modifies their car to "sound like a fire breathing dragon" is a mouth breathing loser.
You had me at All-wheel drive
> "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
> 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?
I 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.
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.
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 is pretty off-base IMO.
Damn a GR Corolla is one of my dream cars. Super cool!
I 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.
A 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.
My 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.
I mean, if this isn't the place to share this video, I'm not sure where IS:
Fun 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.
Writing 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.
I 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
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, 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.