Hey guys, I need some ideas as to how to (somewhat) cheaply boost performance for me. It's the 4-speed auto version. What really bothers me is the lack of really muscular low-end torque. Once I hit 60 on the highway I get all the torque I want for maneuvering and passing, but when I'm on the streets it feels like I'm pushing the car by the gas pedal until I can get into second or third gear. Anybody else with a similar car notice this? Am I an idiot? It's possible.
I've been looking around and talking to some car junkies I know, and it seems like there's a couple cheap options, especially ones floating around on Ebay, which I'm pretty leery about. One is a "cold air intake mod", which doesn't actually look like a new cold air intake, it seems like what they're selling is a replacement sensor to fool the computer into thinking its getting cold air, upping HP. The other one is a chip that apparently does the same thing, but doesn't replace hardware to do it. I'm fuzzy on either solution because they seem too cheap and easy, let alone because they're on Ebay for $10-$25.
I kept looking for chips, because it seemed a simple thing to change, but prices range from practically nothing to around a grand, with no consistent reviews or comparisons offered by any of the vendors I found. So I'm kind of lost on that front.
The other thing I found was a full turbo kit
http://www.turbo-kits.com/corolla_turbo_kits.html, which makes some pretty big claims on performance increases, but I don't have four grand to drop on it, nor the time to take my car apart, since I use it for commuting. From looking at it, though, I figured I could buy and apply the kit piecemeal, possibly for cheaper than these people were offering, so I also wouldn't commit myself to doing the whole damn thing myself all at the same time. Granted I could borrow my dad's garage, but c'mon.
So here we go with my question. I love this car, it handles great, the mileage rocks, but I went to it from a 97 Jimmy, and that beat up rustbucket had more guts under the hood than this brand new import. I guess I could say I'm satisfied but not ecstatic. I'm sure there's a way to get this car to open up, though.
Anybody got any ideas? Prices? Vendors that aren't vague about their products? Thanks!
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