I spent 3 months of my time trying to figure out the exhaust situation for this car. I wanted it to be loud when on the gas, quiet (but still sound aftermarket) when cruising around, and no drone whatsoever. I also only wanted it to be loud outside the car, keeping the inside a nice resonable level. Here are my findings:
- Downpipe with stock catback: had a bit more volume, but the quality of the sound was poor. There was also a small amount of drone, and I wanted more volume and a deeper note. This just sounded kinda raspy and tractory.
- Downpipe with res replacment (vibrant) and stock catback: sound was deepened slightly, but the volume wasnt there. It was louder than stock, but not as loud as I wanted it to be when really getting on it.
- Downpipe with Rev9 Catback ($350): sound was extremely deep and bassy, would have been perfect except for the insane drone. Literally shake the car apart levels of drone. Even with a vibrant resonator, it droned to hell and back. Pretty much undrivable. My theory is the mufflers in that system lower the exhaust note and absorb so much sound that the resulting tone is just a shit ton of drone frequencies.
- Downpipe with Borla S Type: Extremely ungodly loud and sounds like absolute trash. It sounded like an echoey broken tractor with a shit ton of rasp, and when on the gas it sounded like some freshman highschool band full of kids blowing their lungs out into a bunch of untuned trombones. Do not do this. The weird thing is there was no drone whatsoever, so I persued this system more to see how to clean up the sound.
- Final setup: Downpipe with Vibrant resonator (not ultra quiet) leading to Borla S Type catback: This is the holy trinity of exhausts for my personal taste. When cruising, its quiet (in the cabin you would never know theres an exhaust system installed) and there is no drone at all. Zero. When getting on the gas, it wakes up and sounds extremely good. The tone is deep, grumbly, and aggressive sounding. In the car it never gets LOUD, it just sounds very sporty and you can definitely hear your exhaust coming from the rear of the car. On the outside, its loud enough when punching the gas that tunnels and overpasses will echo with your exhaust note and any DSG farts you have. When taking off from a light or drag racing, it sounds like a wet dream.
This general setup of downpipe -> vibrant res -> straightpiped catback with a single muffler chamber pre-rear axle seems to be the best setup for a drone free aggressive exhaust. GTI Jake, APR, AWE, Borla, and Magnaflow all follow this general design and I have heard great things about all of them when the vibrant res is incorporated.
A few notes: I would start with just a downpipe and work your way up from there. When I did just the downpipe i was happy for 2 years till I decided I wanted more volume. Then when I got the catback, it was like christmas morning all over again. I also am not tuned (yet, its in the mail) but I did run a downpipe untuned for 2 years. I didn't have the desire to jump straight into tuning as I just bought the car and I wanted to enjoy the stock power for as long as possible so when I do tune it really makes me feel like I am in a whole new car.
I will be posting in-cabin, driveby, tunnel, and takeoff audio clips of my current exhaust setup in the coming weeks.
- Downpipe with stock catback: had a bit more volume, but the quality of the sound was poor. There was also a small amount of drone, and I wanted more volume and a deeper note. This just sounded kinda raspy and tractory.
- Downpipe with res replacment (vibrant) and stock catback: sound was deepened slightly, but the volume wasnt there. It was louder than stock, but not as loud as I wanted it to be when really getting on it.
- Downpipe with Rev9 Catback ($350): sound was extremely deep and bassy, would have been perfect except for the insane drone. Literally shake the car apart levels of drone. Even with a vibrant resonator, it droned to hell and back. Pretty much undrivable. My theory is the mufflers in that system lower the exhaust note and absorb so much sound that the resulting tone is just a shit ton of drone frequencies.
- Downpipe with Borla S Type: Extremely ungodly loud and sounds like absolute trash. It sounded like an echoey broken tractor with a shit ton of rasp, and when on the gas it sounded like some freshman highschool band full of kids blowing their lungs out into a bunch of untuned trombones. Do not do this. The weird thing is there was no drone whatsoever, so I persued this system more to see how to clean up the sound.
- Final setup: Downpipe with Vibrant resonator (not ultra quiet) leading to Borla S Type catback: This is the holy trinity of exhausts for my personal taste. When cruising, its quiet (in the cabin you would never know theres an exhaust system installed) and there is no drone at all. Zero. When getting on the gas, it wakes up and sounds extremely good. The tone is deep, grumbly, and aggressive sounding. In the car it never gets LOUD, it just sounds very sporty and you can definitely hear your exhaust coming from the rear of the car. On the outside, its loud enough when punching the gas that tunnels and overpasses will echo with your exhaust note and any DSG farts you have. When taking off from a light or drag racing, it sounds like a wet dream.
This general setup of downpipe -> vibrant res -> straightpiped catback with a single muffler chamber pre-rear axle seems to be the best setup for a drone free aggressive exhaust. GTI Jake, APR, AWE, Borla, and Magnaflow all follow this general design and I have heard great things about all of them when the vibrant res is incorporated.
A few notes: I would start with just a downpipe and work your way up from there. When I did just the downpipe i was happy for 2 years till I decided I wanted more volume. Then when I got the catback, it was like christmas morning all over again. I also am not tuned (yet, its in the mail) but I did run a downpipe untuned for 2 years. I didn't have the desire to jump straight into tuning as I just bought the car and I wanted to enjoy the stock power for as long as possible so when I do tune it really makes me feel like I am in a whole new car.
I will be posting in-cabin, driveby, tunnel, and takeoff audio clips of my current exhaust setup in the coming weeks.
