Mike Shields is doing his best to dissuade me from buying Borlas. I am aware of his reputation among Suby enthusiasts, and in all other matters I have always whole-heartedly agreed. But, I am conflicted- do I trust his advice enough to listen, even though he seems to stand alone here? By the way, it is a matter of record that he is actually the individual most responsible for the existence of the headers, but he walked away from an exclusive distribution deal in '99 because he felt the quality wasn't up to his standards. He also tells me that he firmly believes that Borlas will need to be re-welded or replaced no less than every 2 years. When I asked him for non-equal-length alternatives (I plan to go turbo SOMEDAY.......), he told me I should just stick with stock, because they can handle upwards of 370 hp. Fine with me, but at the current price, I would say the sound and 6-8 hp we get from them is worth it, but maybe not every 2 years or so.

So my question is, who has had 2+ years of experience with them? More importantly, what experiences have you had with the gen IV's? I know that the first Borlas were the only thing on the car weaker than the 5MT case, but most of what I have heard lately says they are fine. What's the deal?

I think they are the least performance orientated of all the header options for N/A impreza's myself. They are only good because now they are innexpensive and stainless steel and maintain the stock cat locations. I am not that big of a fan either in terms of quality (nearly every one installed has had to have been tweeked to get it to fit right).

i had them also and they broke to many times for me to tell. the sound is great but even a $300 they serve no purpose but to change the sound. the performance is debateably. borla might have only got the gains it did due to the 2inch diameter exhaust. my 2cents

Borla headers have very little to no performance gains. Not sure how true that is when matched to a high flow cat. I've had mine for about 2 years and though the sound and price is great the performance is severly lacking. Borla's= the cards that you stuck in your bicycle spokes when you were a kid to get that "Cool Sound". Your money is better spent on TWE, Cobb(if it gets into production), etc..etc