I picked up my Turbo last summer and my search for the right exhaust started immediately. After reading countless threads and watching a ton of YouTube videos, I decided that a SpeedTech system would be perfect since they are totally customizable and John offers a one time free swap if the sound of your first choice isn't exactly what you were expecting. Plus the product and customer service reviews were glowing.

Fast forward to this January. John posted up that he had a lightly used 3.0 inch X-pipe available. I talked with him at length about my sound goals. I've always gone the conservative route with exhausts on my cars and I wanted this one to be loud. I settled on the that X-pipe that he had, 100 cell cats and SpeedTech's sound engineered tips. He built the cats for me and I received the exhaust around the end of January.

Finally got around to installing it a few weeks ago. The build quality is fantastic and everything fits perfectly. the 3 inch X-pipe is LOUD. It's not over the top loud, but it's nowhere near understated. The car gets into boost sooner and pulls harder (stock tune) I loved it for cruising around town and full throttle it really sings. It gives the car a ton more personality. The issue arose when I got on the highway with my wife to go to dinner a few weeks ago. Cruising at 70-80mph in 6th you definitely hear it. It can get a little drone at cruise in the 2200-2900rpm range. The drone isn't horrible and it wouldn't give me a headache but it was too much for my wife. We plan to take some long trips in the car in the near future so as much as I loved it the 3 inch X-pipe had to go.

I e-mailed John that night (I think it was a Saturday night) and he got back to me almost immediately. I never expect a reply during non-business hours, but John is on top of it almost any time you need him. He got a 2.5 X-pipe and matching tips out to me last week and I completed the swap last night in about an hour and a half. (no bumper removal required!)

Took her for a test drive and the 2.5 is still fantastic. It's a tad quieter (maybe 20-25%) in all the right places and doesn't drone at all. I'll miss the rowdiness of the bigger x-pipe, but this one will ensure that my wife will actually want to ride in the car with me.

No videos as there are already plenty of great ones on YouTube.

Huge thanks to John@speedtech for providing some of the best customer service I've every experienced in the automotive aftermarket on a great product.

BEFORE:


AFTER (3 inch):

 

I have the 3.0 xpipe with NO cats and love it!
Mind you i only put about 2000 miles on my car a year at best.

 

John's customer service is #1 and his exhaust systems are also top-choice. Can't go wrong! Glad you like the 2.5X... that is what I run. BUT, I must urge you to tune your car... you are doing it such an injustice by not tuning it. Get the Softronic tune through John... it will be the best G you ever spend.

 

Honestly if I didn't take longer trips with the wife, I would still have the 3.0!

 

It will be tuned soon. Then upgraded turbos next winter. Baby steps.

 

vogz, Thanks for the nice review!

And some food for thought - you can get a 3.0 X-Pipe with the 3.0 tips and mid-pipes and once installed it can remain assembled tightly as a unit and just dropped at the V-Bands. If you ever want to pop it on, it literally takes about 10 minutes and off you go. Perfect fit every time, tips never need adjustment again, just on and off, same fit every time....

 

No problem! It's well deserved.

That's very tempting, but I probably shouldn't spend any more on exhaust for the time being. Maybe sometime down the road.

 

Thats what you get for letting her have an opinion on your toy

 

I've had the 3.0 x-pipe for several years now. I still love it. I only get comliments on the sound.