I never was into really loud exhausts. I feel it doesn't fit the character of a BMW. Even when I test drove the M3 I thought all you guys complaining about the exhaust being too quiet were just your basic young, whippersnapin', anti-social, hodrodding, ricer leftovers. No offense.
I mean, the M3 isn't like a 7 series. It's not much quieter than the E46 M3 for heavens sake.
It's not that I have an aversion to aftermarket exhausts or anything like that either. I would never change it out just for a louder exhaust. Most of these don't sound so great (is the term fart can familiar?), have that tacked on fit, are heavier than stock and in many cases lose power. Ugh.
But, now that I've been driving my own M3 I see the light. Or is that hear the sound? Or rather, lack thereof. From inside the cabin you really cannot tell how fast the engine is revving by listening. Sure, you can look at the tach. However, you really need to keep your eyes ahead, and I've realized now just how important the sound of the engine is to driving a car spiritedly. I've never had this problem before as any car that I've seen the need to take close to its performance limits has always had enough sound from the engine.
Even more important than this, the sound from the M3 exhaust is music. It's damn near exotic sounding. Such a shame to silence it. But rolling the window down doesn't cut it unless your in a tunnel or at least near something for the sound to bounce off of. And when you're going anything over 50 mph all you hear is wind noise.
What's exceptionally cool about the latest M3 models is that the aftermarket has responded admirably. There are plenty exhausts to choose from. All of them fit well. They pretty much all look better than stock. (Ok, that's not saying much.) And even though the M3 exhaust is incredible sounding, most manage to even improve the sound.
On top of all of that, there are some that not only improve performance but are lighter than OEM. Significantly lighter.
Plug all of these factors into the equation and the computer spits out the result that ... I need an exhaust!
Now, what to do, what to do? I've decided I can have everything -- louder (but not obnoxiously loud), more exotic sounding, lighter, better looking, just as good as OEM fit, and more power -- with the Akrapovic exhaust. The thing that scares me is the emissions. I know that you can have the CEL taken care of by getting the Akrapovic thingy, or even better, by getting a tune. However, I'm still pretty sure that this will also delete the "readiness" condition to the OBD. Thus, causing a failure of Maryland emissions inspection. I'm too lazy to put the stock exhaust back on just for testing so that's not an option. And I don't want to fail the emissions test and be shackled, taunted, stoned, and thrown into the dungeon. Well, that's what they tell me happens in Maryland. I've had friends that have failed it and have never heard from them since.
I think the best compromise is to get the axle back Akrapovic system. I lose the power gain (mostly), don't get as much weight savings either. But, it should look nicer, be a bit louder, and the exhaust note should be a little better sounding. And if they ever get the CEL plus the OBD readiness thing sorted out (a guy can wish, can't he) I can still get the rest of the Evo system, right?
There are other vendors out there offering the same sort of thing, but there's just something so sexy about Titanium plus the good things folks have reported, and the pictures that show the top notch quality, that just keep pointing me in the direction of Akrapovic.
Am I right? Thanks for reading all of this.
Cheers.
P.S. One other obstacle: how to break it to the wife.
