An exhaust that cost more than 10% of the price of the car seems a bit much. Its not going to improvde it by 10%.

 

BTW, pretzel if you don't mind please share or PM what the cost was. Rough estimate is fine (and scary enough LOL). A hearty congrats, you sure know how to enjoy life and I'm jealous.

Anyone not familiar with Akrapovic might want to visit the web site: http://www.akrapovic.com/en/technolo...s/default.aspx. This is NOT a small-scale operation like a lot of exhaust companies; the research and technical know-how are "serious" and whether the extra cost is justified is ... YMMV. Some ad material below; I wouldn't pretend to know exactly what they do in their exhaust tuning but suffice it to say, it does not seem a simple matter (more than just back pressure at WOT for example) to ensure uniform performance from the exhaust (different rpm's, partial vs. full throttle, etc.)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Torque is measured with a temperature-compensating load cell for precise torque and power readings. It enables us to run a variety of built-in vehicle tests, including single-gear or all-gear tests at wide open throttle, controlled acceleration, controlled deceleration, step, steady-state, aero load, and drive cycle tests. The steady-state and drive cycle tests can be performed at full or partial throttle settings.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

I have both....EP2 on my 996TT & Full Akrapovic on my 997GT2. Both are outstanding.

 

I have the Akras on my 997.2TT. Bought them from ACG. Love them! Sounds great in my opinion. Highly recommend them.

 

Ep2 is the only way...tiptronic or not you will love it...Everyone just thinks about titanium and like akra...but the best benefit of ep2 is the larger diameter of cats...They have the larger cross sectional area available so heat from turbos is distributed in larger area resulting in lower exhaust temp...so during a run dme wont pull timing or add fuel to lower egt...resulting to more hp...I wonder if anyone has taken under consideration that when choosing an exhaust...Stef is the only guy that knows exactly the quality of the products he engineers and sells...

 

Hi Can,

First, let me thank you for your informative posts in your mods journey. I have a pathway to aspire to........that you are envious is a compliment, some of why I bought the akrapovic is based on reading your stuff here.

The other reasons are from my history, I went through a succession of bikes culminating in a Triumph Sprint 955, beautiful sounding three cylinder engine. I put an akrapovic slip-on muffler on it and it unleashed a whole new world of engine sound (not engine noise!) at all loads and throttle openings, also gaining a bit of performance. I got more heavily into the mods on the bike and moved to an undertail dual pipe that required some frame mods etc, but could not replicate the sound while riding of the akrapovic. Even the bump in eventual hp to about 140 dyno'ed at the wheel was not as satisfying without the right sound.

Time passed, lost my riding focus, kids growing up, new wife.........
Sold the bike but still craving the sound. My past C4s with previous owner's custom exhaust was close but the TT (9 months with me now) sounded kind of like our old vacuum cleaner!

Checked out the Europipe, but nobody local with experience, my tuner suggested to audition the akrapovic with one one of his clients.......rest is history I guess. An understanding wife (she mods her own car) and a return from the taxman covered the difference in what I would have paid for a "brand" exhaust at my tuner. His advice was this was like a Rolex where everything else was a Timex.

So cannot PM (not enough posts) you a price but way less than 10% of price of an 09tt (closer to 5) and only marginally more than getting a Europipe up here in Canada. I think though a good investment for what the car should sound like.

Waiting for next year to do the suspension (will re-read your posts before I jump at anything)..... As long as taxman cooperates!

 

On the other hand build quality is excellent in both exhausts...but from an engineering point of view i prefer welding job from Belgium...also europipe is making exhausts only for porsches...while akra does for several other cars...So maybe...just maybe europipe is more specialized in our TT cars...

 

Does the 100 cell cat on the Akrapovic exhaust cause a CEL?

 

Don't know where to start on this. Akrapovic's car exhaust division has started with manufacturing OEM titanium exhausts for Porsche AG. If that is not specializing in Porsches, I don't know what is. Welding has nothing to do with engineering. It has to do with the person who is welding or the equipment which is programmed to do the job. You also can't compare welding techniques and the equipment used between working with stainless steel and titanium.

Europipe is probably one of the best representations of a quality stainless steel exhaust system. Their service and communication is second to none and I know this because we have installed it at our shop. That being said, you simply can't compare it with the product from Akrapovic. You'd have to do some research and have some personal experiences with both brands and their product to make any sort of claims.

 

Thank you much

 

When I first started looking into exhaust, I saw the Akrapovic priced in the $14k+ range and stopped there as I couldnt see it being 3x better than the ep1 priced at $4,200. Based on what you paid, it looks like I should have done more research. Congrats on the amazing exhaust.

 

Well...as a final user of an exhaust (and an engineer as well) i do have an opinion based on the welding i SEE when i examine an exhaust...I didnt start this thread but i have tried several exhausts,including akra...It is obvious that your opinions are biased since you are an akra distibutor...otherwise you would have said the same to other members that like akra without having a clue about europipe...I believe both brands are awesome...but i prefer Ep2...
finally you didnt comment on cross sectional area of cats...it is an engineering matter isnt it?I wonder what you have to say about cross sectional area and EGT...thank you for your time...

 

I echo ACGs comments about build quality. I had experience with the Akrapovic stuff on the motorcycle side of things, excellent products but always at a price. Worth the fuss IMHO, but a different (much lower) level of $$ than on the cages. Must say though with the cans hanging on the side of a bike the artwork in the construction of the muffler/pipes is different (and necessary).

For Mithiral, would hunt around, apparently the slip-on for the 997.1 are not being made any more and might be somebody trying to unload inventory........

For bbywu, no CEL as yet........my understanding was that it would be right away if it was going to happen.

Cheers,
Simon

 

Based on quotes I've gotten this week, the Akrapovic slip on (sans headers, but including 100 cell cats) is twice as much as the Europipe. It's much narrower piping, 60-65mm judging by the pictures.

I've used Akrapovic exhausts on 2 of my 3 E9x M3s and they are beautiful pieces. Construction is absolutely gorgeous and I wish they were more exposed because they're so pretty to look at and a joy to install. (they just fit. perfectly)

That said, while I might pay 15-30% more for an Akrapovic, I can't see paying double. If you want weight savings, the Agency Power exhaust is just as light. I think there are better sounding exhausts (although louder) out there (Speedtech, BBI, 911power.com). Build quality, Europipe is just as nice, imho.

I saw an MSRP for the Akrapovic being around $5500 and figured it'd have a street price of 10-15% off that. But, I've finding that the MSRP is in fact $9k, which makes it too expensive for the market. It's possible the vendor didn't quote me on the correct piece, but I was clear I was looking for the slip on and not the evolution system (with headers).

 

1. Cross section: I would think resistance of conduit is determined by a few parameters, not just cross section: resistivity (of the cat, the pipe, etc.) x length (of the cat, the pipe, etc.) / cross section.
You could have a large cross section, but if you stuff sand in it (high resistivity), the resistance will be sky high. In addition no one has mentioned this but the length of the cat is a factor (check the picture of the cats, which one is longest?). Lastly, the sound muffler also affects resistivity. Until you know all the parameters involved, you cannot make any claim merely from the cross section.

2. Cross section and EGT: The Europipe exhaust is of course expected to reduce EGT, but if you are stating that it is lowest **in comparison** to Akrapovic, or any other exhaust: even Stef is careful never to make this claim. If you have convincing proof I would love to see it. Check the Europipe web site, rightly VERY little is claimed: http://www.europipe.be/exhausts.html

3. Cross section and lower back pressure: This is the one and only test I am aware of by Europipe that compares EP to other exhausts, but... even the result of this test was questionable because boost pressure was not measured at same time as back pressure. The lower back pressure could be from lower boost. Bottom line is despite of certain expected results, very little have been proven convincingly.

Europipe is an outstanding exhaust, with excellent sound and craftmanship, enjoy it. But if you are trying to place your EP2 above Akrapovic on technical merits, first consider the technical development of Europipe vs. Akrapovic (multi gears, partial throttle, full throttle, in house dyno, etc., see ad material here http://www.akrapovic.com/en/technolo...s/default.aspx), in addition to the pedigree (Audi Le Mans, Manthey Racing, Porsche cup, etc.) and history. Sorry but there is no comparison whatsoever.