The quad rear on your +8 do seem to be the most subtle of the options. They do look nice on the rear of the car and are definitely best for retain neighbours as friends. I often think the rear end of the Coupe and the S2 are missing something. Also the near 4000 mile tour we did this spring/summer showed the volume of the sidepipes even at cruise levels. It got a bit wearing due to the NVH.
I suppose the modern car designers infatuation with exhausts has rubbed off on me. Four for sport, hidden/turned down for Derv, two for normal, one for base model. Then you realise they are often fake trim bits built into the bumper and the normal exhaust box is hiding behind them.
The complexity of the ECU managed sports exhaust is amazing these days. Its all a software tweak (or a hardware bodge to tweak).
Some of the stuff from the RS6 I had (common to AMG and others)
Two modes (probably more in the future and with Hybrid being added to sports cars)
Normal - Loud blat on startup to shout look at me. Flaps closed. No popping on change up/down. Open throttles wide and the exhaust flaps open. Go above 4000ish revs flaps open wide.
Sport - Loud blat to start. Flaps open wide all the time. Additional "exhaust crackling from unburnt petrol" sound added to change up and down. More aggressive engine and gearbox maps applied.
I spoke to an F1 thermodynamics chap and he said it is usually only on the very rear exhaust box that these options are applied. They work more on noise than power although on some of the cars they can give up to 5% more power in the open mode compared to closed mode at high revs/full throttle.
On the RS6 it was 600bhp with the factory tune and sports exhaust. You could to stage 1 & 2 tuning (if you were nuts and did not mind blowing the warranty) up to 680/720bhp with the normal exhaust but above this you needed to change/remove the cats and up the drainpipe size from 2.5 to 3 inches front to back to free the engine to go higher. I had a go in a 720bhp one because you always want to don't you. It was like having a warp drive fitted but totally unusable. Too heavy for a track car and too fast for public roads. My old GTR33V at 550bhp was far more subtle and usable, and probably faster.
Life was so much easier when you just got a 1x1 wood baton and knocked out the baffles.
Last edited by Alistair; 23/06/17 08:32 AM.
