I just bought a brand new wrx on saturday, and I am trying to plan out my mods in advance for when the break-in period is over.

I have been considering 2 likely upgrade paths that I will take, but I am not sure which will work better for me.

1. a cat-back and ecu mod
2. a turbo-back and utec.

I know that #2 will give me a lot more power and torque, but I am concerned about a couple things. First, is how the cops will react to this setup.

I have been considering getting a street-legal cat-back and carying the certificate with me, just in case I get stopped. I figure this should at least get me out of a fix-it ticket for exhaust.

My other main concern is that I drive a lot. I am an outside salesman, so I am in my car 4 or more hours a day. I like the fact that my car is nice and quiet, and I can do business on the phone while driving. How much of a difference will a turbo-back make to the in-cabin sound volume?

My last car was a 95 civic with some basic mods, and the exhaust was very loud. I could not effectively do business in the car, and I got a headache from the noise if I drove for more than an hour at a time. I would like to avoid both of these circumstances.

Even though I did get 2 tickets in 2 years in the civic, I have never had a cop mention my exhaust at all. I am white, so maybe that helps

These are the only power mods that I have planned for the near future, I will also be adding wheels/tires, and a coilover kit to round out the suspension.

I would be happy to meet you local scooby owners and talk cars. If anyone is going to D1, let me know and we can hook up, you guys can meet my little car club too

Thanks for any tips you can offer.

 

turbo back with a prodrive axleback is way i am going looks stock too

 

That's what i got, and it's not loud at all. Only slightly louder than stock. Also, a UTEC or ecu mod won't make your car noticeably louder. Since you didn't get any tickets due to exhaust loudness in your civic w/ fartcan, i wouldn't worry about getting any in a WRX with the exhaust mentioned above. Just stay away from the louder exhausts like the Turboxs titanium axleback, or the Blitz Nur spec.

 

what those guy's said

txs stealth back with prodrive catback and you won't hear a thing and have good power gains

right now i have helix up and down pipe with apexi n1 exhaust, illegal tint and i have yet to get crap from cops (have had this set up for 8 months now) but still *knock on wood*

 

Get the Greddy Evo2 catback. It sounds great catless and isn't much louder than with the cats in place. Trust me, you won't be disappointed with this exhaust. It has a 4.5 in tip but looks smaller in size because the canister is very well hidden underneath the car. No droning at all on freeways. Sounds stock with windows up and with windows down it sounds great. Plus it comes with a Greddy Sound Certificate that you can show cops if they pull you over. Here's a clip of how it sounds without cats.

Greddy Evo sound clip



Here's 2 pics of it:

 

lol. nur spec (touring). it looks like the nurspec R, but a lot quieter.