Joining the club - exhaust question

[Edmond]

Hi All,

I must be insane after my discussions in the stolen thread here but I’ve decided - <beep> it - you only live once and have put down a deposit on a 16 plate debadged, dark blue exclusive coloured with light interior with standard silver wheels as basically unless you’re an old bloke it wouldnt be your first choice to nick for stolen to order as you won’t exactly look Johnny big bollocks driving it.

Question - it has the sports exhaust - my question to everyone is the opposite of normal - how QUIET is it in normal mode? I’d rather not have pops and bangs until I’m in Dynamic and out in the countryside giving it the beans...!

Cheers!

[MikeFish]

The valves do not affect the pops and bangs, just the loudness of them. You can have exhaust valves open without the pops and bangs. The pops and bangs are solely down to the gearbox being in Sport Mode i.e the car can be in any mode, comfort, dynamic etc and pulling the gear lever back into Sport mode will give pops and bangs, pulling it again will put it into Drive mode with not pops and bangs regardless of any other mode. Pulling the gear lever to put it into Sport mode will also make the gear changes higher, make the throttle response sharper and open the exhaust valves.
How noisy is it in comfort mode? It's all relative. I thought it was far too quiet in every mode.
I unplugged my valves so they were permanently open, had the car in Dynamic all the time, then uses the gear lever to switch between Sport and Drive depending on how I was driving i.e. I'd be in Drive when cruising, then as I approach a junction I'd pull the lever to switch to Sport mode. This would drop a couple of gears to aid braking and sharpen the throttle ready for a quick pull away if needed. Once up to speed on the other side of the junction / roundabout I'd switch back to Drive. Similarly if I was looking to overtake, I'd knock it into Sport.
I also deleted the front and centre resonators to make it sound like it should.

[Edmond]

Thanks Mike - I now understand why the dealer I did the testdrive in double pushed the stick back..

Sounds like I should be happily able to cruise about/do things like drop kids off without sounding like a hooligan. Not that I mind on the right road - my V10 M5 was brutally loud at full chat - but almost silent when pottering about.

[Lig]

Hi Edmond and welcome - a perfect explanation by Mike!

I too have the sports exhaust and to be honest it really is quiet in standard mode and not really that loud at all in sport mode. I have toyed with a 3rd party exhaust, but kind of like the low key sound in standard mode. Dont get me wrong it sounds nice and not like a bog A6, and then when you want some pops, put it into Sport and manual and enjoy the pops as you change down from 3rd to 2nd and light pops when going up through the gears.

Enjoy!!
Cheers,
Lig.

[ShaneyB]

Hi Edmond, welcome aboard.
I too wanted a little bit of piece and quiet at times and it is just that in Comfort mode. Generally mine is in Comfort/auto when cruising and in Individual/manual all other times. I quite often wonder what gear I'm in when in Comfort on motorways as I can't hear the engine at legal speeds. Maybe to do with C.O.D guys??

Sometimes I think should I go for an exhaust but a big, imposing grey 600ps weapon draws enough attention as it is. They sound amazing with a pipe on though

Curbed an alloy yesterday

[Edmond]

Thanks chaps - very useful.

If of interest to anyone - currently playing dealers off each other a bit (as the car I have a deposit on has to go through the workshop before I'll fully commit) and nothing is shifting through the dealer network right now - an absolutely perfect Sepang Blue 15 plate with 1 owner, 33k miles with DRC and Pan and all the other toys has been sat for 3 weeks. The dealer finally broke today and offered me £3k off after only a brief tussle.

[ShaneyB]

Thanks chaps - very useful.

If of interest to anyone - currently playing dealers off each other a bit (as the car I have a deposit on has to go through the workshop before I'll fully commit) and nothing is shifting through the dealer network right now - an absolutely perfect Sepang Blue 15 plate with 1 owner, 33k miles with DRC and Pan and all the other toys has been sat for 3 weeks. The dealer finally broke today and offered me £3k off after only a brief tussle.

What are all the other toys??

[MikeFish]

Maybe to do with C.O.D guys??

Shane, I doubt it as it is only normally in 4 cylinder mode for short bursts unless you are very very light on the throttle.
However, you can check if it is this by putting the DIS onto the MPG screen (from memory it's the one with the MPG bar and not the one that tells you the heated mirrors are ruining your MPG).
When the car shuts off 4 cylinders the display changes and says 4 cylinder mode under the bar or goes green or something obvious like that.
And remember, it's not mode dependant so will happen even in Dynamic.
It's not really noticeable until you see it happen on the screen then you notice the noise and feel the car jerk when it changes mode. The only downside with my Milltek was that it made the change of mode noise very noticeable.

[ShaneyB]

Ahhh, thanks Mike.