My Exhaust Comparisons - AWE (Track and Touring) / Magnaflow catback / APR downpipe

• Great fitment
• Very easy to install
• Good sound (Minimal drone)
• Quiet at idle and normal driving
• Moderate when you got on it
• Good if you don't want a very loud exhaust setup

• A little too quiet for me
• 409 Stainless
• Surface rust after about 6 months
• Once it started to rust, I could see it from the rear of the car (you can see what I am talking about in the video I posted above) and it drove me crazy... so I sold it

• 304 Stainless Steel
• Good fitment
• Excellent build quality
• Great sound (a little deeper that magnaflow)
• Minimal to no drone IMO
• Quiet at idle
• Great sound at WOT (Moderate volume)

• A slightly more difficult install, compared to Magnaflow, to get perfect because of more moving parts (still fairly easy though)
• Still a little too quiet for me

• Same 304 stainless
• Best sounding at start up
• Almost identical sound to the track with stock DP at cruising and warm idle
• Little to no drone (the touring resonator helps with that)
• MUCH louder at WOT
• APR downpipe is a quality piece, perfect fitment, immaculate build quality (much better than another popular one I see people using here on the forums)

• Sounded "ricey" at WOT (yes louder, but sounded almost trumpet like when the turbo kicked in)
• It was a pain to install the APR downpipe to a 3 inch catback because of all the reducers. I ended up removing the reducers and installing a 3 inch link pipe to connect the downpipe to the catback

• None really, besides quality

• Almost stock sounding (maybe "OEM+")
• Not worth the money for the sound without a downpipe IMO

1. AWE Track catback (stock downpipe)
2. AWE Touring with APR downpipe
3. Magnaflow
4. AWE Touring catback with OEM downpipe
5. OEM exhaust

kDizz781 said:

So long story short, I have been searching for the best exhaust setup for me, and I am slightly picky. In order to help others on the forum, I'll share some of my finding along the way with the different setups I have had, and some pros and cons of each. This is the order I installed and tested everything.

This is a discussion of quality, fitment, and of course sound. For a more in depth review on finding the best sound for you, I would start with this thread... http://www.golfmk7.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33309

Magnaflow catback WITH stock downpipe

- COLD START VIDEO ==> https://youtu.be/jIBHS5TIQKM

Pros:

• Great fitment
• Very easy to install
• Good sound (Minimal drone)
• Quiet at idle and normal driving
• Moderate when you got on it
• Good if you don't want a very loud exhaust setup

Cons:

• A little too quiet for me
• 409 Stainless
• Surface rust after about 6 months
• Once it started to rust, I could see it from the rear of the car (you can see what I am talking about in the video I posted above) and it drove me crazy... so I sold it

AWE (TRACK) Catback with STOCK downpipe

- COLD START VIDEO ==> https://youtu.be/LMjxCDymias

PROS:

• 304 Stainless Steel
• Good fitment
• Excellent build quality
• Great sound (a little deeper that magnaflow)
• Minimal to no drone IMO
• Quiet at idle
• Great sound at WOT (Moderate volume)

CONS:

• A slightly more difficult install, compared to Magnaflow, to get perfect because of more moving parts (still fairly easy though)
• Still a little too quiet for me

AWE (Touring) catback WITH APR Downpipe

- COLD START VIDEO ==>https://youtu.be/1JOpIZeN_rk

PROS:

• Same 304 stainless
• Best sounding at start up
• Almost identical sound to the track with stock DP at cruising and warm idle
• Little to no drone (the touring resonator helps with that)
• MUCH louder at WOT
• APR downpipe is a quality piece, perfect fitment, immaculate build quality (much better than another popular one I see people using here on the forums)

CONS

• Sounded "ricey" at WOT (yes louder, but sounded almost trumpet like when the turbo kicked in)
• It was a pain to install the APR downpipe to a 3 inch catback because of all the reducers. I ended up removing the reducers and installing a 3 inch link pipe to connect the downpipe to the catback

AWE (Touring) Catback with STOCK downpipe
PROS:

• None really, besides quality

CONS:

• Almost stock sounding (maybe "OEM+")
• Not worth the money for the sound without a downpipe IMO

So what have I learned? I am picky haha.

Here is my order best to worse

1. AWE Track catback (stock downpipe)
2. AWE Touring with APR downpipe
3. Magnaflow
4. AWE Touring catback with OEM downpipe
5. OEM exhaust

I will be selling my APR downpipe and AWE catback and probably trying a muffler delete/or CSS muffler with the OEM DP.

I heard that a company is developing a muffler delete for the MK7 GTI, so I might wait and see if that comes to fruition.

Hope this helps some people

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Gti jake said:

Oem is also 409 stainless. Even it Florida it'll get some surface rust over time.

I always suggest the 18" Vibrant resonators because they work great, I can't speak for whatever MF offers. I also don't do the whole buy everything the same brand thing. My exhaust is CTS/Flowmaster/Vibrant/borla/summit racing/verocious components. Everything is 304L stainless and works well together, no harm in mix n match

Click to expand...

psychonosspaz said:

I have the magnaflow and it sounds great with stock DP.....like perfect....I am worried with an aftermarket DP it will turn to rice....will the 17950 resonator help with drone and keep the tones deeper at high revs?

Click to expand...

demi9od said:

I'm thinking about having the Vibrant 1142 welded in to my DP before the reducer. There is just enough room for it. DP is out of the car at the moment so it's a pain free mod and I wouldn't have to mess with the factory catback.

Click to expand...

TheGreekFreak said:

Great post. Suprised you didn't try track + DP for shits and giggles but, like others have mentioned, I bet the drone is unbearable.

Looking to throw on the DP with a vibrant resonator to my AWE track, which would be like the touring + DP.

Question: what do you mean by "trumpet" sound from the touring + DP at WOT? I am expecting a noticeable increase in volume without added drone but suprised to hear you think it sounds worse at WOT if it remains drone free at cruising speeds but gets LOUD at WOT, I'll be one happy camper...

Click to expand...