Well I finally got around to getting my Borla exhaust installed locally. This is the newly designed 2.25" system that is designed to work with the Tip. Borla redesigned the downpipe to fit the Tip properly. I paid $469 from Todd at AWE which I consider to be a *very* good price for a stainless catback exhaust. This feedback is going to Todd as well, maybe Borla will listen to him and make some adjustments to their kit.

Disclaimer: Please realize that some sections of this review are purely subjective, I make no claim to be the final word on this product. This is a review by an enthusiast in the interest of helping others come to an informed decision should they be interested in purchasing a performance exhaust system.

Some impressions about kit fitment itself (I know that some have claimed the newly designed 2.25" system "fits perfectly" but on my 99.5 Avant with 11k miles, this wasn't exactly the case).

1. No bolts provided with the kit. The bolts that came out of the cat were totally unusable so my installer used new ones. Borla really should provide bolts.

2. Mediocre packing of kit. When I received the kit, the box was partially opened and there was a big hole in the side of the box where a hangar had punched through. Borla could do a much better job of packing up the kit and protecting the components. Parts were lost in the shipping process - my installer compensated for the missing retaining rings quite nicely though.

3. Downpipe was 1 3/4" too long. Why this was so, I don't know. My installer had to cut a section off the downpipe to get the exhaust to hang properly. Even with the downpiple and resonator section all the way pushed together, there was still too much length on the downpipe.

4. Tips stick out a bit too far. IMO, on the Avant, the tips stick out about 1" too far. I scraped the bottom tips leaving a gas station right after the install. Never have I scraped or bottomed out before, even though my car is lowered. Even my GF agreed about the tips. ;-)

5. No mounting bracket on Borla downpipe. The factory downpipe has a mounting bracket welded on to give it a bit of extra stability. Borla chose not to include a mounting bracket. Not really a big deal, but it would help provide some extra stability for the downpipe which is one long piece that goes all the way back to the resonator.

6. The Tips weren't smoothly polished at the ends and there was some crumbling of the chrome finishing right at the edge of the tips. This was very minor and could easily be polished up by hand.

Not sure about some of the fitment problems, is the Avant a bit shorter than the Sedan perhaps? The kit is designed for a "99 A4 1.8t Tiptronic". To Borla's credit, the downpipe fit fine and doesn't rub or hit the Tip tranny - there's about 1/2" of clearance with the new 2.25" system (it used to be 2.5" piping).

OK, now for the good stuff: performance. I don't have any numbers for you all, but I can tell you that anyone who says the 2.25" system doesn't give you any performance improvement is just plain wrong. I'm running an APR v3 chip with K&N filter. The car now pulls *much* harder on the high end and the turbo spools up faster. There is an extra dimension of power past 4k rpm's that just wasn't there before the exhaust upgrade - the car really does feel faster and it's not subtle (looks like I'll just have to do a few g-tech runs for comparison purposes, since I have numbers from before the upgrade). Obviously, the difference is not as much as a chip, but it is a very tangible gain and the turbo really feels like it can breath now. When I first took her out for a spin, I thought something was wrong because she was pulling so hard in 2nd gear at WOT. ;-)

The exhaust sound is not particularly loud and it emits a deeper tone than stock which I find pleasing. I'm happy with the new exhaust tone, it will be interesting to see how it shapes up out on the open highway on extended trips. It definitely *doesn't* sound like a buzzbox. No weird noises or rubbbing or anything like that yet. Total cost for the install was $80.00 which I thought was more than fair.

Finally, even with all the small problems, I *can* recommend the kit, just keep in mind that there are still some small problems. You really can't beat it for the $$$ and I suspect that if you have a Sedan and 5-speed, the exhaust probably fits perfectly. Still, Borla could do a lot to clean up the fitment, and package it for a bit more protection. The muffler and resonator had numerous scratches from the shipping process among the other problems I mentioned earlier in the review.

Here is my purely subjective rating:

Performance: B+
Fit and Finish: C-
Exhaust Tone: B (way subjective)

Yeah, I'm tough on grading, but so what?

Final Tip: My installer knew exactly how to deal with the bolts on the cat to get the stock downpipe off - he lubricated them and worked them for some time before he got them out, but no broken bolts. I definitely wouldn't recommend taking your A4 to your average muffler shop to have this done.