Comment by caconym_
5 hours ago
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?
> 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 emitted by the engine of such vehicle above that emitted by the muffler originally installed on the vehicle" [1]
> Have you considered that maybe this guy just likes the car?
I'm inclined to give the same amount of consideration for this guy's preferences as he is towards the thousands of people he chooses to subject to unnecessary, annoying, unhealthy[1], and likely illegal noise.
[0] https://www.borla.com/products/atak
[1] https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=46.37.390
[2] https://noiseawareness.org/noise-hurts/impact-on-health/
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:
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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 whispers" truism.
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and this one:
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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.
It's meant for spirited driving. If it wasn't so expensive it'd be an amazing car for tooling around on gravel roads with some skidplates. Electric won't take you out to the boonies, you can't bring more juice with you and ultimately an electric package that will consistently produce 300hp while weighing 3200lbs does not exist. As far as Land Cruisers's I feel that the externalities of those and other neo-vintage boxes on 33" tires are greater than anything else on the road. Horrible mileage, makes everything less safe, less agility, less visibility, all to cosplay.
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There is more to performance than 0-60. But Elon told normies that's what matters, now suddenly everyone quotes those times like gospel.
My midlife crisis car is a Mercedes Sprinter.
> 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?
The flaws are the point. Keeping within power band while rowing the gears while the engine is yelling is entire point of manual ICE sports car. Or a motorcycle for that matter
Also GR Corolla is for zooming around the race track, not hitting 0-60 times, and it has roots in GR Yaris which is homologation special WRC car.
>I get traditional car culture,
I don't think you do
> but electrics embody the "money talks, wealth whispers" truism.
And I don't think it does. Raw performance (at least the straight line one) in EV is after all cheaper.
Do you mean a real Land Cruiser, like the ones that can cross deserts? I'm with you.
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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.
> 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.
Of course it's not loud from the factory, Toyota isn't going to sell a car that violates noise standards.
But he binned the Toyota mufflers and installed something significantly louder.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48924505
> 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!!!
As someone who happens to drive an electric car that is wicked fast (and not just in a straight line...), I'm not sure why you'd suggest that the weird judgement and smugness is directed only at guys driving gas cars. I get plenty of crap over driving an EV. Especially a performance-oriented one.
I love manual transmissions too, but you're just as judgy.
> I'm not sure why you'd suggest that the weird judgement and smugness is directed only at guys driving gas cars.
Because that's what's happening in this thread?
I have no problem with EVs or NPC style cars, or really any kind of car except those that are excessively large and heavy to the point that people sharing roads with them are placed in significant danger. I own a CR-V hybrid as a family hauler and it's fantastic in that role despite being boring as fuck. Sometimes boring is good.
> ELECTRIC CAR that's WAY FASTER (in a straight line)
Why in a straight line? My Acura ZDX handles curves as well as any ICE car I've ever driven. If anything, it sticks to the ground better due to the low center of gravity from the battery pack.
You have not driven well driving cars if a 6000lb crossover is the pick of the litter. GM really went crazy with its Ultium SUVs by making most of them 77-78" wide with huge tires but there's only so much you can do mask the mass.
Have you driven a Miata? Even if the ZDX is objectively better in every way (which I doubt, but I could be wrong), I suspect the Miata will be subjectively better when rated for "is it fun to drive".
GM does have pretty great chassis and controls tuning these days, but GP's claim is absurd.
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.
Yeah, he's just a humble douchenozzle minding his own business.
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> they think if my car is just an appliance to me it’s annoying when others treat theirs as special and I feel less than.
I doubt that's the point. People are mostly mad about what actively bothers them. Most recurring complaint: the noise.
Look, I love riding motorbikes. The noise they make is freaking awesome. Hearing the roar of the engine grips me at the throat as few other things do. It's exhilarating. So I know what it's like.
But I also know that I HATE it when people wake me up or otherwise bother me for no good reason. Especially with a small engine that's artificially loud. The noise isn't the same and it's horrible to hear.
There are ways to have your enjoyment and not bother other people. My motorbike has its stock muffler. Most ICE cars on the road are louder than it when idling at a traffic light. Hell, most cars are louder than it when I ride it below 5000 RPM. Here's the kicker: in 1st gear at 5000 RPM it's doing ~55 km/h, which is above the speed limit in cities. I usually ride in 4th or 5th gear in towns, around 1500 RPM. So, since a stock muffler can do this, it should be possible to do this with "advanced" aftermarket parts, too. I understand this isn't a common goal, so offers may be scarce. Tough.
So there are ways to not piss people off. People are rightly annoyed because such behavior is antisocial. Just because you love to do whatever to your car doesn't give you the right to impose on everybody else. By all means, go to meetings or whatever at an isolated place and rev that engine until your eardrums give out. I don't care. Just don't impose your nuisance on me, who never bothered you about anything.
There isn't a single thing that you just said that isn't stupid as fuck.