The MK7.5 Saga: Exhaust

After driving the GTI for a few months, the factory exhaust just wasn't cutting it. I wanted something that had a deeper growl to it and sounded nice without being overly annoying. A common misconception in the car scene is that loud equals good. Sure, being loud can get you noticed, but if it sounds like trash, then being louder just makes it sound like loud trash. It's like when my wife forces asks me to stop at a Crumbl cookies to get her a cookie and I walk into the store to be slapped in the ear holes with 500 decibels of Taylor Swift. It just hurts to hear it.

I had been creeping the pages of our store, looking at the different exhaust options. At the time I had recently added a new exhaust from COBB Tuning. What caught my attention was it was made with titanium. I wasn't overly interested in the weight savings, but more into how it would sound. Titanium exhausts tend to have a better sound than stainless exhausts. They also cost more due to the cost of the materials, but are they worth it? I put together a small pros and cons list that helped me with the decision.

So I hit up COBB and since they are also in Texas, the new titanium exhaust arrived the very next day! The first thing we noticed was how light it was. The shipping box with all the packing materials and the exhaust weighed in at 25 lbs. After unpacking it, we weighed the exhaust with all clamps and hardware and it came in at 16.5 lbs! So of course we weighed the factory exhaust and it registered at 47 lbs. That's a savings of 30.5 lbs!

The second thing we noticed was just how gorgeous the exhaust is. The pie cuts and welds are so clean on this exhaust, it truly is a work of art. 

Overall the installation was easy and straightforward like any other exhaust. The weight savings actually made it a little easier to install. Once it was installed, we fired it up and it sounds great! We took it out to shoot some video and get some clips of it and the whole time I was loving the sound. I dropped the video of the installation and sound clips below. Also, please note that this is with the factory downpipe.

I drove the car almost 1 month before we upgraded the turbo, downpipe, and went to a Stage 2 + IS38 tune. I wanted to be able to give a true review of what it's like driving with the exhaust daily for an extended length of time vs. just first impressions. So how does it hold up? It's a great choice for anyone looking for an exhaust that has a really nice tone without being super loud.

Current Engine/Transmission Performance Mods At Time of Install:

• IE V2 Air Intake with Turbo Inlet
• CTS Turbo - Turbo Muffler Delete
• IE Stage 1 ECU Tune
• South Bend Stage 3 Daily Clutch

Sound ratings (1=factory exhaust and 10=our MK8 GTI with Milltek exhaust):

Overall this exhaust has a great sound to it and with the factory downpipe it's louder than the factory exhaust, but it's not going to hurt your ears revving the engine or under hard acceleration. Cruising on the highway you can hear it, but there is very little drone if any. If you have music playing at a normal volume then you probably won't hear the exhaust. For the price of this exhaust, you would be comparable to stainless steel exhausts from APR and Milltek. There aren't many titanium options out there and definitely not at this price point.

COBB Tuning Titanium Cat-Back Exhaust for MK7.5 GTI
Part Number: 5V2160
Price: $1,495

I will cover the exhaust again when I write the blog about going to Stage 2 + IS38.