After much deliberation, I finally decided to get the much celebrated Akra Evo system.
BIG THANKS goes out to Auto Couture Motoring for flawless installs, A+ customer service. Lalit, Tom, Rob, and Sal really have a true passion for these cars and it clearly shows in their work and expertise. Also, thanks to Sonic MS for the competitive pricing on the Akra, and forum members like Golffrr, Ortho281, FormulaMMM, Uber ///M3 for feedback on their Akra experiences.
Review
The Sound
In a word…Stupendous. The professional videos from Akra / EAS really do capture the sound accurately (sans cabin sound / effect). The overall sound is best described as refined, with a deep engineered howl-n-growl that melodically builds in octaves as revs rise. There’s slight tinge of rasp as the right moments and at blips at the beginning of each gear are particularly entertaining to hear. The duality of the exhaust is great since the car is a daily driver, it’s subtle with an exotic-burble when I want it to be, but at a flick of the ankle, the beastly V8 can howl with gusto (especially at the top of the rev – heavenly exotic sound - see clip).
The sounds are mostly whole with notes of burble crackle vs. crackling w/ lots of rasp (neither is better – comes down to your preference). The only good surprise was this exhaust was louder than I thought it would be, it’s actually pretty loud outside and there’s a deep growl in the cabin you can’t really capture in the videos , especially at the blips and low rpms.
Here's another video inside the car, but I do have an external mic set-up here.
Design / Look
Picture speaks for itself, and you can see the design, fit, and finish are perfect to a tee. There’s no inkling of something missing from looks or build quality. The tip adjustability is great and can be fine tuned for a non-diffuser, diffuser, and etc. car. Also, glad I went with Ti Tips for the contrast, but if I had an AW/light colored car, probably would of gone CF for similar reasons.
I’d love to lower the car one day, but admittedly enjoy the OEM duality of the EDC way too much
Maybe I'll get some coils in the future.
The Power
Undeniable increase in hp/tq, and I came from an ESS Tune only set-up as a comparison. Net net, the car now lunges with even more urgency up to redline. I also feel the lower rpms are livelier starting from 3k. The ESS Tune certainly brings all the bolt-ons together very nicely!
On Track
On the track, the exhaust is even more in its element as you get to hear all the different octaves at varying revs. Laying down the power and tracking out of turns has noticeably been improved. My times that day were better ofcourse
, but that could be a variety of factors really- maybe I was just “on it” that day.
While the exhaust is not inexpensive (although I paid well, well below MSRP), you do get what you pay for. The power, sound, looks, weight, and materials all came into play when I made the decision on the Akra, and it has definitely exceeded expectations.
Hope this helps others in their potential investment of the Akra Evo + ESS Tune.
After several track days, the tips inside turn blue - pretty cool!
