To Mod or not to Mod?

[Panzr15]

To Mod or not to Mod? That is the question.

When I bought my A3, I bought it to fill the role as a daily driver and as my first car that I'm 100% responsible for. I never intended to mod it and rather start saving mod money for either a down payment on a condo or a much faster car (M3/S5). However, this silent stock exhaust is killing me. Killing me to the point that I have to do an exhaust (Flowmasters and a Magnaflow w/ both resonators deleted on my last 2 cars respectively). I'm leaning toward a GHL exhaust since my roommate used to have an A3 with the GHL quad exhaust. I am thinking of doing the 2.5" cat back since that way I wont have to buy a intake and chip. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 3.0" turbo back will require these? My question comes down to this, how big is the stock exhaust piping? If it's already 2.5" the I will most likely drop the cash for the full 3.0" set up. Thanks for any help or comments.

[kwanja_a3]

stock exhaust diameter is 2.25"

so you're basically going for the sound, not performance right?

Because a chip will slightly open up the sound of your stock exhaust, give you the best power gains for your A3 possible for that price range, which is half the cost of a GHL turboback. Keep in mind, APR has their Waterfest sale going on right now, 2 programs for the price of one, see goapr.com for further details, lol

I heart APR.

It's up to you what you prefer for your car, but if you're trying to stretch your dollar as best you can, then I would suggest chip instead of exhaust, for WAY better performance gains, and slightly more aggressive sound over stock setup.

[kwanja_a3]

AWE is 2.5
APR is 3.0
Stock is ???
GHL is 2.5

Down pipe makes the noise, not the mufflers

and Milltek = 2.75"

[a4rings]

AWE is 2.5
APR is 3.0
Stock is ???
GHL is 2.5

Down pipe makes the noise, not the mufflers

hahah, the mufflers definitely have more influence on sound than the dp's.

[Panzr15]

stock exhaust diameter is 2.25"

so you're basically going for the sound, not performance right?

Because a chip will slightly open up the sound of your stock exhaust, give you the best power gains for your A3 possible for that price range, which is half the cost of a GHL turboback. Keep in mind, APR has their Waterfest sale going on right now, 2 programs for the price of one, see goapr.com for further details, lol

I heart APR.

It's up to you what you prefer for your car, but if you're trying to stretch your dollar as best you can, then I would suggest chip instead of exhaust, for WAY better performance gains, and slightly more aggressive sound over stock setup.

Don't get me wrong, I'm definitely not an all show and no go guy. My goal is not to dramatically increase hp, but I would like to get some gains. Also anything I buy, I will be doing before and after dynos tests on.

[fusionx]

Id say...get it chipped, get a good sounding cat back exhaust and your set. Doesn't seem like you want to go all out in mods and just have some good power and some good sound. If you go GHL you will be heard miles away ;-) and milltek is...ew...mostly because your paying way too much for something that sounds almost identical to stock exhaust. Check out the AWE cat back, I think it’s got a great all around sound. Even if you go with a cat back now, you can always throw on a down pipe later on for maximum performance and stage 2 your chip when you get it.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=k8rPiOtg5Uc AWE

[drew138]

[voice of reason] Save your money [/voice of reason]

[QwaktastiK]

Stock is 2.25
AWE is 2.5
GHL is 2.5 (quad exhaust)
Milltek is 2.75
APR is 3.0
Flowmasters is ???
Magnaflow is ???

what are the prices respectively?

[UberA3]

hahah, the mufflers definitely have more influence on sound than the dp's.

DP changes the sound way more than the mufflers. I Put on milltek Non-res and it was almost as quiet as stock. I put on the APR DP and it was a HUGE difference.

[Panzr15]

[voice of reason] Save your money [/voice of reason]

I tried that. It's not working out so well.

[fusionx]

DP changes the sound way more than the mufflers. I Put on milltek Non-res and it was almost as quiet as stock. I put on the APR DP and it was a HUGE difference.

thats because milltek reasonated exhaust sounds stock... look up an AWE cat back video on youtube

[UberA3]

thats because milltek reasonated exhaust sounds stock... look up an AWE cat back video on youtube

I put on a non-res. Even a car with stock exhaust and aftermarket dp is loud

[07-Aythree]

Omfg

[UberA3]

Omfg

What?

[07-Aythree]

OP knows trust me.... hes gonna get an ass kicking for asking