Hey guys I have met a few of you at AARRF events. I need a few recommendations on an exhaust upgrade for my 2003 Wagon, I need it not to be too loud and annoying (I have a 4 month old that I haul around somedays). I also drive 100 miles a day round trip to work. I looked at the Borla hush system, but have heard about issues using a down pipe with it. I would like a turbo back system, mixing and matching brands is not a concern. I do like the sound of the borla, and blitz (but those are the only two I have heard on the Subarus. Let me know what you think. Thanks.
Paul Achtelik, Welcome, glad you made it. I personally like the Invidia and HKS, but I currenly have the GPmoto. C
I love all the exhaust because they all bring out the awesome boxer rumble, but I don't think your 4 month old would appreciate even a muffler. I have a muffler on my sedan with all the stock piping and all cats and when I start it up you can still hear it thru the whole house
I guess it depends on how quite you want it. I am running a txs tb with the magnaflow muffler, and it is super quite. Most people have heard my car and can say that it is very quite till you get on it. It is very girlfriend friendly so it works out good. Russ
I have heard a few wrx's pass me around town, and I liked the sound. I just don't want the loudness of the 5zigen and Greddy's that my friends have on their DSMs and 240's. I want something that brings out the Boxer's rumble, but will not piss off the wife (or the baby deaf). I have heard the Invidia is a nice setup, at a relatively cheap price (<1000). I wish there were more sites with exhaust sound files... I just got an STI bag, and roof racks from subaru for the 2.5 GT today (I guess it was a free promtion ).
fwiw, my kids like the borla sound. sophia was about 1 and 1/2 when i got the car, and almost 2 when i put the cat back on. if they need no go to sleep, all it takes is a 15 min drive arround the neighbohood and they are out. 1 thing you need to be concerned about. fitment. if you have a catback that uses the oem doughnut gasket, you need a down pipe/midpipe that is intended to mate up to the factory cat back section. folks like turboxs will ONLY mate to a factory cat back if you go catless.
I just got my new Invidia tb put on last Friday night and love it and the sound! Brings out the nice boxer rumble. Doesn't sound like a Honda. I have a SS Helix flex up pipe and the rest is SS Invidia. As far as a place to look into ordering from online try Splitting Imagez or locally try S Three Performance - Phone: 763-479-7060. Stay away from Flat4Engineering that broke away from Mike Shaw Subaru in Colorado. I had a bad experience with them trying to get this exhaust from them. I wasted a lot of time with them and all for nothing. They made many promises on when it was shipping, where it was shipping from, but it never made it to my house and they had my money. They could never come up with a tracking number for shipping either. I ended up cancelling the order through my credit card company. It is a long story. Heres the site http://www.splittingimagez.com. Good luck.
gaitedgirl: Did you go with the catback, or did you order the turbo back? I found sounds of the borla hush system, and I guess it has close to the same performance specs of the normal borla exhausts. http://www.fastwrx.com/bohucaex.html Anyone used or seen the Stromung Ceramic coated downpipe? I had a ceramic downpipe with my techtonics exhaust on my MK4 GTI and was very happy with it.
Well, I figure I'll post my exhuast experience since it's different which offers yet another option. When I picked up exhaust I wanted something different than everyone else, a stock look, and of course cool sound. I went with Scooby Sport Exhaust. I have the catless uppipe & downpipe, and dual tip muffler which is very similar in appearance to stock muffler. The company I purchased the exhaust from boasts how quiet the exhaust is over and over. They even offer inside and outside audio/video clips of their setup so you can hear it yourself. I've been perfectly happy with the outcome. Very quiet at idle while superb on hard acceleration. Go to: http://www.rallyperformance.com/stage_power_upgrades.shtml you'll see the video clip links in the stage 1+ area. My experiences: There was a big boost in performance with just the up pipe and down pipes with little increase in noise. Putting on the Scooby muffler made the biggest difference in noise level... of course that just make sense now doesn't it? The website will give you the rest of the specs if you so desire them. Ryan
gaitedgirl: Did you go with the catback, or did you order the turbo back? I went turbo back - catless.
