Title says it all. I just don't understand these obnoxious freaks (who own ANY car, not just imprezas) who feel the need to put ridiculously loud coffee can exhausts on their cars!

Do they take pride in disturbing everyone they drive past? Do they enjoy waking up entire neighborhoods when they drive at 3 in the morning? (that happens around HERE a lot for sure). Additionally, do they enjoy making THEMSELVES deaf everytime their RPMs go above 3000?

I know exhausts are a performance upgrade. But i do know one thing... your car doesn't have to sound like a giant bumble bee buzzing around town in order to get the performance benefit.

I assume you'll be responding in one of two ways. Either you can A) agree with me, and think loud exhausts are stupid and bothersome. Or B) enlighten me, and offer an explanation as to why someone would want the big loud "exhaust note."

I've given you a topic, discuss!

-Jason

It depends on the exhaust. I agree that the exhausts on most Hondas make them sound like bumble bees scooting down the road and those are annoying.

However, you get a nice sounding exhaust on a Subaru and it's awesome. I had the Perrin catback mated to an Invidia downpipe on my '03 WRX and the sound was incredible. It was loud as all hell but the sound...amazing. I didnt really like it just because it was pretty loud in the car, but you floored it and music came out of that damn thing.

Mine is 3" and pretty quiet?

I say A, some people are attention whores.

well, loud exhausts IMHO are strictly a fad, and that is all. Just by throwing a ridiculously loud exhaust on a car doesn't mean anything. If you want a race car, take your car to the track, or build a race car. Otherwise stop being a nuisance and run a stock exhaust or run a low tone high po exhaust that is classy and not ridiculous.

-Mac

well, loud exhausts IMHO are strictly a fadI sure hope so, Mac, but I don't think they'll go away soon. Maybe I'm getting old, but I am very tired of hearing them. Particularly motorcycles and diesel trucks.
Dave Wood

I say A, some people are attention whores.


I'm going to have to agree. My Blitz Nur Spec R really didn't make that adverse of a difference on performance on my WRX. Sure it sounded cool with the deep rumble but was honestly unnecessary. The deafening sound would drone at just about every RPM level, high or low. After selling it, I was perfectly content with my quiet, stock exhaust system.

I honestly thinks it's a combination of those who like the sound and those who want some attention. Go to any meet and I guarantee you'll see some screwball take it up to 4K RPMs while passing by in front of everyone just to look cool. ...well, at least you'll see that at any SoCal meet.

yeah the exhaust thing is largely used as an attention grabber, as long as you have people wanting to be the center of attention you will have loud exhausts

i agree, some people put exhausts on to 'one up' the next guy, and that is for attention. but there are just as many people that put them on for the performance gain and the pleasure of listening to (and it helps to know what rpm you're at w/o looking at the dash) their car. i have a gutted uppy, bosal catless dp, gutted 3rd cat, resonator chopped out and a txs/magnaflow axle back. it rumbles for sure, but it's not obnoxious. i didn't put it on for attention, i did it to enjoy the sound of my car, which I do every day. i hardly have the stereo on and if it is, its just loud enough to hear it.

some people do it for attention
some people do it for their own gratification.

Gotta love the sound your car makes. What might be annoying to one person, might sound pleasurable to another.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/e/c/ecs154/vids/vid3.mov

This sound makes me excited. The Blitz Nur Spec Turboback. Louder than most exhausts - but its not about how loud it is. Its about what kind of sound I want my car to have (and a little performance increase doesnt hurt...).

If it affends you, I dont really care. Because this is how I want my car to sound. If its early or late in the day - Im not the type of person who rev's up the engine to let every know im there - thats an A** hole... Maybe thats why you hate the loud exhaust sounds - cause of ricers who do that crap. Especially when its a Honda. I dont think I would mind it as much if it was a Ferrari reving up early in the morning- that would be a nice wake up call.

I like my stock exhaust because it is quiet. I can zip past folks without drawing any attention. In my book, that's cool.

Group think.

So what if I find the boxer rumble orgasmic...

Who else here finds it orgasmic?! >_<

I say A, some people are attention whores.


Also agree with this. Usually when you give them the attention they desire by staring at their stupid ass, they say something like "what the f*** are you looking at?"

When I had my Blitz NUR Spec (haha everyone mentions this exhaust), I had countless people pull up next to me at stop lights and say "OMFG that thing sounds awesome!" I had many people come over to my car at an AutoX after my first run and say the same thing. The allure was all of the (positive) attention that it got me. And, it sounded freaking cool.

Now that I have a Borla Hush nobody says anything. Performance feels the same. And I haven't been pulled over since.

Well I, for one didn't want to put down the extra cash to throw some resonators in my custom 3" catback. Heck the whole thing was $160 installed... that together with my 3" catless helix dp and I have one loud arse car.

It does sound real nice but believe me, I don't want to be the center of attention when I come home at 2am. I try to keep the rpm's real low as I'm pulling into my housing complex.

So in my case, I'm just a cheap-o looking for performance.

Just put a stock exhaust back on my car, and I'm happier than ever. Like was mentioned before I can zip past people and all around town without too much attention, especially from the state troopers who tend to hand out loud exhaust tickets

I like loud exhausts, both on my car and others. I enjoy the loud subaru's, v8's, v10's, bikes, etc... pretty much everything with a powerful engine.

Almost every loud exhaust you hear on the street nowadays is some ricer attention whore farting and buzzing along. Sounds like utter junk. An old vintage Cobra being loud is different, it sounds impressive and can actually deliver the goods. Loud rice is the sonic equivalent of showing your ass in public for no reason.

Yes, you can gain performance from a better exhaust. But the louder catbacks or axlebacks are really no better than something like a Borla Hush or Greddy Evo2 when it comes to horsepower. They are just obnoxious teenage assclown instruments.

Loud cars actually used for racing are a whole other story... that's music to the ears, and loud for a purpose (no cats, etc.)

So what if I find the boxer rumble orgasmic...

Who else here finds it orgasmic?! >_<
I agree!

Some people, myself, can't stand the sound of opera and classical music. It makes me want to puke.

I will have to agree with the people that enjoy the sound of a modified exhaust. I beleive it adds a dimension to car that wasn't there in stock form - whether it be for performance or just for show. I have a 3" catback on the back of my RS and it is plenty loud. I will admit sometimes that looking out the rearview mirror or trying to talk to my wife in the car at higher RPM can be annoying but the sound of the car makes it all worth it in my mind.

Thanks for all your replies!

I will give some merit to the people who enjoy the "music" that comes from the exhaust. I guess the reason i never understood it is because I'm an audio man. I prefer the sound of a well-powered 12 inch woofer than the sound of a 3" exhaust.

But that's just me :)

I would like my car a little louder than stock, at least to hear the boxer engine, in any case, I nice stereo would be up there as well.

I agree, I dont see the appeal of loud exhausts. I had a loud as hell exhaust on my old car and it got old quickly. I like to get on it pretty frequently, but I dont like everyone within a mile to know about it. I'm running essentially a stealth back on my STi and I love it. Just a little louder than stock and I get to hear that boxer rumble too.

I prefere engine sounds over exhaust sounds.

The most obnoxious is the people who have full ton diesel trucks with the tractor-trailer stacks. When your truck sounds like a semi, you are just being an *******. I was at Lowe's yesterday and some woman had a 2500 Dodge w/ the stacks. It just supports my theory that Dodge markets to idiots.

~~Quentin

How I see it is that people get loud exhausts to make their car more like a "sports car". The whole idea of a sports car is to draw attention. A sports car is also something that people don't normally drive too often. As for me I wouldn't mind having a loud car because all I use it for is to get to school and go around town and meet up with friends.

As for people who make long daily commutes to work, etc... I can see why you would hate a loud exhaust because after awhile it does get a little annoying, especially on the highway.

I have only made a couple of long distance trips and it gets pretty noisy and annoying after awhile. I would say that if your gonna have a loud exhaust, it would fit better in the city scene because there is less driving, but long commutes I would want something very quiet. I dont like the fact I have to crank my music to 28 ( kenwood CD deck ) when on the highway just to be able to hear it clearly.

I just like the sound. My car is pretty damn loud I guess, but I love it. When ever I drive a car with a stock exhaust I just lose some of the gratification. Plus I used to listen to my music really loud, so I needed to be able to hear the engine over it. haha I've driven the car across country quite a few times, the noise never bothers me. Actually hearing the road and wind noise in my daily driver instead of exhaust noise bothers me.

I'm with the OP. I don't see the allure of a 'loud' exhaust. Too much attention.
I'm about to install a gutted UP (quiet w/ all the heat shields) and the quietest (I think) DP - Cobb Catted.
I'm sticking with the stock CBE for now because the performance loss is minimal (at Cobb Stg 2).

Here's the thing, I'm all for stealth..but I'm thinking Prodrive CBE in the future...simply because I like the 'note' and the 'low' volume. The 5-8 HP I might gain doesn't justify the $350USD alone unless I also get a nice tone out of it.

I believe this (on paper) to be the quietest possible full TBE system!

Let's face it, we're all 'car guys/gals' here, and the low rumble of an engine has a visceral appeal that is unquantifiable.

I also don't appreciate loud exhausts. For me, if I can hear your exhaust from the inside of my car with the windows UP as you drive past me, then it's too loud IMHO.

Of course, I could be a hypocrite because I have the following installed on my car - :devil:

STi Up-pipe
JDM STi v7 downpipe
JDM Fujitsubo RM01A catback exhaust

I like the rumble. It's not too loud, but it's definitely more noticeable over stock. I have only received one compliant from a friend as he rode in the backseat of my wagon. :p The rest were compliments. :banana:

I prefere engine sounds over exhaust sounds.
agreed. the scream of a tuned engine is a good sound. the resonance from a hollow piece of pipe is just plain obnoxious. plus i like my hearing as it is...

my exhaust progression:

- external wastegate / catless Perrin uppipe / 3" BPM MkIII Twister turboback (catless, no resonator) <--- hideously loud
- swapped the BPM axleback for a Prodrive oval tip <-- much better
- set up wastegate to dump to the downpipe instead of to the engine bay <-- ah, i can almost hear my stereo now :D
- sold expensive stereo since it was being wasted
- added a resonator and a working/non-gutted 3rd cat just last week

now my car sounds just about right, with the exhaust noise about even with wind and road noise. it still sounds good when the windows are down or when up in the revs, but the drone is just about gone...

have i lost some performance? sure, especially since i now have a 2.5" axleback mated to 3" everywhere else. but is it worth it? oh yes.

:banana:

I sure hope so, Mac, but I don't think they'll go away soon. Maybe I'm getting old, but I am very tired of hearing them. Particularly motorcycles and diesel trucks.
Dave Wood

They won't go away soon..cars have been loud for a long time..it kinda boasts power. I don't think it'll ever go away.

Thanks for all your replies!

I will give some merit to the people who enjoy the "music" that comes from the exhaust. I guess the reason i never understood it is because I'm an audio man. I prefer the sound of a well-powered 12 inch woofer than the sound of a 3" exhaust.

But that's just me :)

I agree with both. I like the sound of exhaust but I like music a helluvalot too. So hopefully when I get some bread I'll have a nice exhaust with an audio system that you can still here thru it.

I was kinda interested in the 'quicktime performance' exhaust that people were talking about on the forums not too long ago. Apparently you have a switch that you can move from your stock exhaust to an almost free open exhaust..I don't know much about it
http://www.quicktimeperformance.com/QTEC/

Anyone know more about this stuff?

That thing does look really cool actually...

When it's not a problem to be loud, and you need some power, you can just open it up and go muffler-free so it seems

but you can close it up when it's time to be quiet and you don't need the power...

shhhhhhh

My motto is:

"Not functional? Not interested."

Loud cars have their place. They're loud because it is a side effect of removing the cats and opening the exhaust for performance. You could say loudness is "functional" in this case and I am all for it but you don't see cars like that on the road very often, and for a good reason.

Loud street cars farting around and disturbing everybody, as we all have grown to "love" them, are made loud because someone, somewhere thought that putting a fart can on a Corolla will fool everybody into thinking that there's a V8 under that hood. I am pretty sure they're not fooling anybody but apparently we do have a few of these delusional people around.
I used to put these exhaust "mods" in the same category as "look, I have HIDs in my civic" light bulbs. Yeah....last time I looked, they didn't look anywhere near what real HIDs look like but hey, people haven't given up on it yet. Let them keep trying because I am not blinded by these blue lights so I don't give 2 dumps. This brings me to my point. As I said, I USED to consider it to be about the same until I realized that these loud cars actually invade my personal sensory space. I have to be subjected to hearing loss and woken up in the middle of the night as some ass clown drives by my house in his mobile vacum cleaner.
The point is that there is a right place for everything. When you're driving the car on the street, it's not just about you. Just like you don't drive around and cut people off all day long nor should you speed 150mph down the freeway, you should also take into consideration that others might not enjoy hearing every exhaust pulse coming from your tail pipe at 98db, taking off at the stop light. Be reasonable. I love nice sounding exhausts but all too often they just get out of hand. Can you imagine is every car on the road was catless with virtually no mufflers? Holy deffness batman! Remember, louder is not better (for the most part ;) ). Can you guess which side I am on? :D

i myself have a loud exhaust. not by choice though, it was just what was available at the time for the money. And many people compliment me on it. Sure it bothers me being so loud, but at the same time its nice getting as many looks as i do.

i think thats the main thing, people want to let others know that their car is modified and its one of the easiest ways to say "LOOK AT ME!"

I have an HKS Carbon/Ti with a Helix 3" DP.

And it's on the louder side, but I dont think it really bugs anyone. It's all really how you drive car. If i'm cruising at 2500 rpms, its not loud, then when I whack the throttle it wakes up.

Friends cars have been metered at 119dB at idle, and the sound was FANTASTIC.

Some of the loudness is a by-product of power. I'd like to think that in my cases with loud cars...thats the reason its so loud.

As far as people with cut-outs on stock CRX's...those are annoying. And you can tell the difference between a fast car thats loud and a slow car thats loud.

I'm gonna have to go with orgasmic.

Yea... if I could get the power without the noise, I'd do it in a heartbeat. It's just not powerful. The sound of the car is beautiful driving by, and really drone on the highway. I can see both sides, sometimes I hate it and sometimes I love it. I do miss hearing the turbo like i did before. My 2 cents.

Well said Ziggy, well said...

Ass clowns driving by your house in their personal vaccuum cleaners...

"fart cans" i love it...

But therefore i ask you, if i wanted a quiet but performance exhaust, what should i go with?

Well said Ziggy, well said...

Ass clowns driving by your house in their personal vaccuum cleaners...

"fart cans" i love it...

But therefore i ask you, if i wanted a quiet but performance exhaust, what should i go with?

For the 2.5i, I believe you can get the Bosal/SPT or Prodrive catback and good headers. It will sound nice. Borla makes decent un-equal length headers that give you some performance and produce awesome sound. For good gains, you need equal length headers. Cobb is a good option but I hear you will loose the boxer sound. TWE makes very nice headers as well and you'll keep some of the sound. Plenty of options out there.
For cheap solution, you can slap WRX catback on it. It has perfect size for performance (2.25") and all you need to do is rotate 1 hanger on it to fit the 2.5i.

I'll take the noise of a loud exhaust over that f***in obnoxious thumping base that is turned up while you are sitting at a stop light. :furious:

Yes i too have the Blitz Nur-Spec 3'' piping and no cats. I love the sound because of the grumble. When i go to the track and wait in the lanes next to all th V8's i sound just as mean. Then i listen to all the CRX's running down the track and im glad i dont sound like that. Even the Mustang guys think our cars sound mean

I say A, some people are attention whores.

I agree!

I also think the tailpipes which are three or four times the diameter of the piping feeding the muffler look pretty dumb, too.

CLARIFICATION

The difference between audio systems and exhausts...

No matter what, a loud exhaust is going to bother other people. Even if you're not an attention whore, and genuinely like the sound of a loud exhaust on your car, others are forced to listen to the obnoxious drone

BUT, when loud subwoofer bass is heard outside of a car, that's the attention whores only... Any car audio enthusiast knows that music is meant to be played and heard INSIDE a car... And there are some very easy precautions that can be taken to ensure that sound does not escape...

To reiterate: Attention whores will do their whoring with both exhausts and stereo systems alike... But for those who genuinely enjoy the sounds, you can at least keep the sound to yourself with a stereo system, not with an exhaust.

I'll take the noise of a loud exhaust over that f***in obnoxious thumping base that is turned up while you are sitting at a stop light. :furious:

This has nothing to do with the subject. Whether or not you PREFER loud exhausts to loud stereos has nothing to do with how bothersome they are to other people...

Oh, and by the way, bass is not annoying when it is inside the car and when it's music that YOU like....

This has nothing to do with the subject. Whether or not you PREFER loud exhausts to loud stereos has nothing to do with how bothersome they are to other people...

Oh, and by the way, bass is not annoying when it is inside the car and when it's music that YOU like....

When you are sitting at a red light and have to hear it blaring out of some other retards car it can be very annoying.

This has nothing to do with the subject. Whether or not you PREFER loud exhausts to loud stereos has nothing to do with how bothersome they are to other people...

Oh, and by the way, bass is not annoying when it is inside the car and when it's music that YOU like....

I thought we were talking noise. Sorry, back on subject its the sound. The alure, if you can't keep up. :p

my buddy (with an STi)took off a turbo XS and threw on a borla and it was alot less loud. although it gave sound...but it was nice kinda like a silenced version of his old exhaust