are the power gains noticable with an aftermarket exhaust or am i paying $500+ for the sound?

You also get bling bling tips with ur sound ;-P
 

Actually there is a small difference in power...especially if you have a chip it seems to flow much better, i see a difference on the freeway.

Definitely breathes easier, top end especially. AWE quotes +15 hp for the Borla....FWIW.

I much prefer the sound of my magnaflow, over stock...
 

car has balls now, and I can hear it. HP did increase a bit, but I really didnt do a on/off comparison because I left it at the place for a day and I dont really have the best butt dyno.

Sounds good to me :-)

Depends on engine mods: greater breathability means high RPM hp out of freer flowing exhaust . . .
 

However the biggest restrictor is/are the cat(s). Get high-flow cats first, then get higher flow muffler. The OEM tubing flows pretty good on both 1.8t and 2.8 engines. According to most of the 1.8t maestros out there, the placement of the cat on the 1.8t remains an engineering mystery--too close to the turbo.

If you have not upgraded the turbo, you likely will pay mostly for the sound and little for power. Upgrade the turbo to move more air, then your higher capacity exhaust investment may start to pay meaningful power dividends.

Remember bigger is not better unless you have the engine mods, because the exhaust gases slow down in a big pipe. Unlike water which respects gravity and only uses a portion of the pipe when flowing at less than full volume, gases always expand and fill the entire pipe; thus, they go slower, get cooler, and become harder to push at lower RPM's. If you want to learn more, checkout any simple physics book on fluid dynamics.