Why buy an expensive car (that you probably won't even be able to buy anyways) when you can build your own car to out perform a car that is 10x more expensive? [...] for the money you spent on that car, you could have built your own car to make it faster than the Camaro for much cheaper.
That one I can’t agree with.
There are a lot of good reasons to go on with a tuning project: passion, hobby, curiosity, challenge.
(And for some a bit vain “I can trounce car X at a stop light, boy will they be impressed”. Believe me, most aren’t.)
But saving money is absolutely not one of them, unless yielding in self-justification.
Hence this funding project.
Parts, time (even if it is yours), effect on longevity of the car and resale value all translate in $.
You can get a 323hp/278 lbft Camaro for about $24,700 MSRP.
You can get a 200hp/151 lbft FRS for about $26,100 MSRP.
A CE manual Corolla is about $17,200 MSRP, LE CVT $18,600.
I still have to see $7,000 worth of mods resulting in more than doubling a Corolla HP and Torque…
And we're talking $15,000 here. Granted a part of trial and error has to be covered. But there always is.
Expecting a Corolla to outperform a "10X more expensive" car, is expecting a Corolla to outperform a McLaren, a Rezvani or a Bentley. No way !
The Nascar Camry reach 200 mph... and need a new TRD engine after each competition and a new body after three competitions...
Now on the actual capacity of the Corolla’s CVT, I personnaly haven’t found much from the design team beside it being rated "medium torque":
http://www.aisin-aw.co.jp/en/products/drivetrain/cvt/index.html