So are the exhaust burbles, crackles and pops gone for good on the RS?
 

Someone please correct me if I am wrong but did the USA cars always have less exhaust burble, crackle and popping versus the European spec cars or was that a recent change with the EPA thing and the port hold? I don't remember hearing any on my recent test drive of a lightly used TTRS but most of the videos online seem to have some (or alot!) going on in the background. It's not a huge deal either way but it is one of those "fun" noises that if I could enhance or emphasize more I probably would.

I get pops and gurgles when the car is downshifting in sport mode. My car was manufactured after that hold fiasco.

That's good to hear. I wonder if mine will? I hope so!

Mine is VERY bub-gurg-snap-poply :D

I got mine almost a year ago and it sounds like Rice Krispies (snap, crackle and pop). After the port hold thing came up I checked with the dealership to see if any ECU upgrades were pending and there were none ergo any alleged association between the the port hold and changes in the ECU maps are erroneous.

Assuming you have the sport exhaust, pull down on the gear shifter an extra time to put it into sport mode. You should hear tons of gurgles whenever the car downshifts.

The approach that I use to maximumize the pops and crackles is to leave the tranny in normal/drive mode, switch the exhaust to sport and manually downshift on deceleration when the tach gets down to 2,000 rpm.

This is excellent news. I was a little afraid that had all been legislated out but am very happy to hear that was not the case. I can't wait to start making some noise of my own once my car arrives. :D

Isn't the exhaust noise electronically generated via the same sound system used by the radio? Therefore, Federal regulations do not apply.