Silver 2.7tt

Following dallas advise/post I thought I gave it a try too. After all, a $350 investment isn't too much of a risk and much to gain. Before the installation I was expecting about a 15hp gain, better throttle reponse and more aggressive bark from the engine and exhaust based on my previous experience with Japanese cars with aftermarket exhaust. Well, not all went as expected.

First, the installation part. After some price negotiation to $350 with custom 2 1/4 inch (1/4 wider than stock) piping right after the cat convertor and two cylinder stainless steel MagnaFlow with chrome tip. The guys at Tony's muffler shop knew what they are doing and was able to get the parts just 1/2 hour after we spoke so I didn't had to tell them what size would fit. In truth, I didn't expect them to install them right away and needed sometime to think about it. However, they had already began to work so I let them. The whole process took about a bit more than an hour and I was able to stick around to tell them exactly how I wanted. The installation was ok and everything was secured and in place. Except for the two pipe not looking exactly alike they did a good job.

I. Sound
The first thing I noticed would of course be the sound. Coming from a Japanese car, I was expecting an aggressive bark especially considering the nice things I have heard about the MagnaFlows. The first sound when I turned the ignition on was pretty aggressive and then it just settled down to a non threatening mono tone sound. The pitch is lower than I expected reminding me of the Corvette I recently drove. That's definitely different than a 4 cylinder Japanese car with Borla muffler. I said to myself, "good, not too loud" but then when I stab on the throttle again all I hear is some grainny low tone noise that never never changed which was dissapointing.
Once on the road I was able to get a clear picture of what I would be hearing in everyday driving. In two words, not happy. There is a low resonance noise like what you would expect from a Mustang that is totally off character of an otherwise quiet Audi, not sure I like it. Surprisingly, that low resonance grainy noise has gone away when rpm goes higher than 2500rpm and the engine sounded very smooth. I guess that's its comfort zone. However, I like to keep the rpm around 2000rpm during coasting in everyday traffic and that would be a problem. Don't know if leaving the resonator in would solve that problem. But if you like quiet operations don't even consider this as it would change the entire personality of the car. I can no longer enjoy the music from my Bose system even just cruising in regular speed unless I let go of the throttle. There is a bright side, there is a somewhat more aggressive sound to go with the speed. Althought I guarantee you that most passenger would notice something is going on.

2. Power
Don't know if is the sound or it actually gain more power but the car is livelier all of the sudden, anything after 2500rpm the engine becomes more responsive; guessing the turbos was able to spool up quicker and suddenly the car feels lighter. Under the 2000rpm seemed it lost some power, and maybe it's because the constant resonance making it seem like the engine is working harder than it is. I think once the turbo started to work the noise from the exhaust is being absorbed and sound is very subdued; exactly the opposite of one would expect, when rpm climbs the noise actually smooths out and became quieter sadly that tone stayed constant to the redline which is a bit of dissapointment. I was expecting to become somewhat angrier or with some bark as I let go of the throttle, instead just that same old grainny tone. But like dallas said, at least now I can shift by ears and also made me appreciate the quietness I had before. Well, can't have everything.....

Advise to all, maybe it's my personal preference, but I think you should leave the resonators in place and avoid that dreaded resonance during that 1750 to 2500 rpm that I used so much during everyday driving. Power is defintely increased and so was the throttle response and turbo spool up. But would I have done this again? no, and probably would put the originals back in a few months. Personally, I like all that power without any sign that the engine is working hard and so does my passengers; I used can floor the throttle and feel that push to my back and have the passengers thinking I barely tabbed the throttle. Now, it became obvious that I am driving hard.