Okay, I've seen different posts and differing opinions on this topic. Here are three exhausts I'm considering. Alta 3" Catback Akrapovic without the downpipe Invidia Catback Thoughts on sound between the three? Thoughts on which one is best between the three? Thanks in advance for your opinions/thoughts. :biggrin5:
:cornut: I have the JCW cat back so no help here but, I haven't heard anything against the brands that you mention. Much more knowledgable gear heads than me should be along shortly. Jason
Well you can throw Alta out the window right away. Fitment is not the best and it's not a true bolt on. If you want a more throaty sound you need a system that at least gets rid of the useless 2nd cat. Invidia does this and will also be a true bolt on. There are probably plenty of sound clips out there. That is the hot thing to do nowadays. The other true bolt on is the DDM Works exhaust. This is another 3" system that is a true-bolt on solution that uses a Magnaflow muffler with no resonator in the middle. No 2nd cat either! Very deep tone. The only thing I don't like about the 3" systems is that it's a little bit overkill on the pipe diameter for this amount of power the N14 engine puts out. If you're concerned with having the lightest option, I would go for the Invidia or a Milltek if you can find one. If I had to do it all over again, I would get a WMW downpipe with a Invidia Q300.
What about an Akrapovic downpipe mated to the Invidia Q300? Or is the WMW downpipe of the same quality?
The Akrapovic down pipe is a high flow catalytic converter. The WMW down pipe is a 2 1/2" open pipe. Both are very high quality. Dave
Akrapovic also has a dongle work around that prevents codes from being thrown with their high flow downpipe....
i put a milltek on my 2012 cms all4 and am very happy with it it has lowered the frequency of the exhaust it is a little louder, but not enough to be annoying, even at highway speed it has lowered the bottom of the powerband about 1000 rpm, the car makes good power from 2000 rpm and i find i am using 1 higher gear at any given speed it has improved throttle response great quality scott
Than you'd want to buy the downpipe code "delete kit" that Way sells. Instead of forking out $300 for this, I would use that money to invest in an ECU tune that can wipe out the cat related CELs along with bringing out the potential of your engine.
Installing a factory JCW exhaust on our 2011 MCS this weekend. Couldn't tell from the post what year/model your MINI is? Did you install the factory JCW exhaust yourself? I have heard it is easy-peasy.
I installed my invidia q300 myself and I love the deep throaty sound. I just didn't reinstall the crossmember underneath the car because the pipe would sit on top of it and vibrate. It's also the cheapest one available.