Quote: Originally Posted by Senior (original)
....but still wonder about the exhaust as its looking rather ripe.
The stainless steel exhaust in our MINIs should last the lifetime of the car. I have a 25 year old car that came with stainless steel exhaust and it still has the original exhaust it came with from the factory. Mind you, the CAT probably doesn't work, but it's still in place.
The stock exhaust of our MINIs is rather long and it does twist around the suspension bits, which is somewhat restrictive. Changing to a better exhaust might net you an additional 10 horsepower and some low end torque. Most of the aftermarket exhaust systems I've seen are noticeably louder and tend to drone at highway cruising or idling at a traffic light. But there are two that are reasonably priced for what they are that do not. The first is the
JCW exhaust. It does change the tone (sound), but does not increase noise. The other I've been eyeing is the MINI Madness exhaust which looks very similar to the
JCW system. I suspect the MM system is probably a rebadged Ultrik system, but may be wrong. MINI Yaletown in Vancouver sells the
JCW exhaust installed for about the same price as me getting the MM system. They are priced around $1200CDN for full stainless steel system installed, which is reasonable. One of the things about the
JCW system that bothers me a bit is the straight pipe from the cat to the splitter has a flattened spot in the middle so it would clear the cross member for the convertible MINIs. Even if the flow area is the same, I feel it may cause some turbulence in the exhaust flow and hence some restriction. Just an opinion.
If money is tight, you might consider going to a general exhaust shop and having the system made with standard exhaust piping. It may be cheaper and you would probably have to replace the pipes once every 3 to 7 years but may still be cheaper over the length of time you keep the car.
good luck with whatever you decide.
