When I first got my A4 in July of 1998, the first thing I wanted to do was produce more horsepower out of the 30V engine. When I was shopping for my car, I happened upon an A!AvantGarde-modified A4 1.8T at Rusnak Audi in Pasadena, California. I was sold--those shiny chrome A!-engraved exhaust tips made me want to upgrade the exhaust.

I did some research, and discovered several things about the exhaust. First of all, it's just a muffler, bolt-on, not a complete cat-back system. If you're looking for a large increase in horsepower, a true cat-back might be better suited to your purposes. Since I was planning on doing a complete A!AvantGarde makeover on my car, however, I wanted to have the exhaust as well. Second, the exhaust is made by Remus; the only difference between the A! exhaust and the Remus is that the A! is completely stainless steel (the Remus has galvanized steel) and the tips. Otherwise, you're looking at basically the same exhaust for about a 150 bucks more.

A couple of months after I finally took ownership of my silver 2.8, I went to CEC in Santa Monica and proceeded to purchase the A!AvantGarde exhaust for about 400 dollars (it was supposed to be around 500, but I also installed the A! body kit at the same time). Install of the exhaust took about an hour, and I drove away excited to test out the capabilities of an 18 horsepower upgrade.

The very first thing I noticed was that the flat spot found in most 30V A4s from about 3000-4000 rpm was completely gone. No longer did the car's acceleration quit in that range; instead the car accelerated cleanly and smoothly to 4000, where the manifold change causes a surge in power to 6500 rpm.

In terms of aesthetics and sound, I have to say that the A! exhaust tips are my favorite...they're square, but slightly rounded, and fit perfectly with the A4's lines.

As for sound, for the first 500 miles, while the muffler was still burning in, the sound didn't change much at all...it pretty much sounded stock. As I neared 500 miles, though, the exhaust developed a deep, throaty tone that gives the A4's exhaust note much more depth. It isn't, however, noisy; back off the throttle (while cruising, for instance), and the noise goes away. The car, at constant speed (or slowing) sounds almost like stock. However, open the throttle, and the sound is beautiful. If you can drive an A4 with this muffler, try driving in a tunnel, open the windows, and punch it to about 5000 rpm; you'll be sold.

The most important thing, however, is the power; 18 horsepower is what A!AvantGarde advertises. I would have to say, however, that my power increase is probably somewhere nearer to 10 hp. That power, however, is all placed in the right locations, particularly to fill in the flat spot right around 3000-4000 rpm.

All in all, I have to say that my experience with the A!AvantGarde exhaust (1 year and still going) has been nothing but good. I would recommend it to anyone looking for an exhaust upgrade.

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