Quote:
Originally Posted by LarThaL
Bottom line is that there a lot of nice sounding exhausts for the M3. But sound is SOOOOOO subjective. The problem is this: Few people really have the opportunity to hear an exhaust before they buy it. Even those that get a chance to hear exhausts at car meets really don't get to experience the sound while driving under varied conditions. Online sound clips also fail to properly capture the sound properly.
With this in mind, I went with the M Performance exhaust. Coming straight from BMW, you know you have the greatest chance of getting a great sound that is still streetable and legal.
Anyway, I am very happy with this decision. I won't try and describe the sound since, like I said, nobody will ever really understand it until they experience it.
Bottom line.....when faced with a daunting number of options and possibilities, with so much unknown, why not go with option that will give you the greatest probability of satisfaction.
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I completely agree with this. Exhaust modifications are probably the MOST subjective modification one can do to their car (Outside of aesthetics like paint and wheels). I have spent weeks looking at posts about exhaust modifications, and very few exhaust reviews are the same.
That being said, from one newcomer to another, there are a few key questions you need to ask yourself:
1) What is your budget?
2) Are you paranoid about your warranty?
3) Are you just looking for better sound?
4) Are you looking for performance increases?
5) Are you worried about emissions?
6) Are you going to be tracking, or just street driving?
Once you answer those questions, it will help narrow your search down.
1) If money is no object, then from the searches I've done, the most common choices are Akra, and MPE (But only MPE if you are just doing axle-back).
2) If you are paranoid about your warranty, then either the MPE or the Dinan will be your best chance, since if you get it done at the dealer, those are the most likely exhausts they would be willing to install. Depending on how lenient your dealer is, you could try AA or another brand, but the key is to have the dealer install it if you want to maintain your warranty. Many people are fine with having an Indy mechanic put it on, and if you had a warranty issue, you probably would be fine, but having the dealer install it is the only sure-fire way to keep your warranty in-tact.
3) This is where subjectivity comes into play. If you are looking for just sound, the only thing you can do is research. Look at videos online (Which again, does not give you the same sound as in person), or even better, if you live near forum members, try to arrange a meet-up to hear the exhaust. Even better, do what I did and join a car club. There are a couple other M3 owners in the club that I joined, and they have different exhausts, which allowed me to hear them under different driving conditions while we were doing the club drives.
4) If you are looking for performance upgrades, the proof is in the pudding. Look at dyno results, and forum reviews. For the most part, most aftermarket exhaust systems are very close to one another with performance gains, so usually, it will come back to which one you like the most for sound.
5) If emissions are a concern (Which your post says you are concerned with), than you should probably stay away from catless exhausts. Any catless exhaust setup will require you to add software to prevent the CEL from coming on, and this may cause issues with your emissions check. I'm not sure if there are others, but I know AA has a nice HFC x-pipe that even though I think it requires software, you might be fine with emissions.
6) This partly ties into the emissions concern, because most people that track their cars go with catless x-pipes, since that's where most of the performance gain typically comes from. If street driving is all you're going to do, then again, you're back to the subjectivity aspect of sound.
I know this probably isn't the answer you're looking for, but when it comes to exhaust, the decision needs to be your own. You really can't just have someone tell you what exhaust is best, because what is best for one person, may be the worst for someone else.
All this being said, personally, I went with the MPE because at the time, I was concerned with my warranty, and I LOVED the sound. As many posts state, it seems to get better as you break it in. I'm a member of an exotic car club, with Lambo, Ferrari, and other exotic car owners, and everyone says it sounds great. I am now comtemplating getting an x-pipe for it (Leaning towards the AA HFC), since I would now like some more HP, and would also like it a bit louder. Many reviews on the site say the MPE gets really loud and raspy with test pipes, or a catless x-pipe, which is why I'm going to go with HFCs, or a quad-resonated pipe. If it's too raspy, then I'll try to add a couple resonators to the HFC pipe if possible. If that still doesn't work, then I'll sell the MPE and get some other axle-back that I like. If it sounds great, well, then that's a win for me!
With the exception of the last paragraph, everything I've stated here is based on my findings from reading countless numbers of forum posts about this topic. The best thing for you to do is keep looking around, watching videos, trying to see exhausts in person, and roll the dice. Good luck, it's a fun ride!