Wanted to to start a new thread for those who may not have seen this posted on my build thread but may be interested in the exhaust.



So just as a precursor, I've never owned an AWE product before. When I had my last two BMW's, AWE was just coming into that market and for whatever reason I never found myself going in that direction. However, after seeing and hearing this exhaust in the flesh, I'm kicking myself for not evaluating their offerings more closely before.

I decided to pull the trigger on the AWE exhaust after what seemed like hours and hours of research. I have plenty of Audi/Porsche friends who recommended AWE heavily and the videos and links I found online seemed to confirm the same idea. I was a bit concerned that there weren’t any specific videos or reviews about this exhaust for the Macans, aside from what AWE had posted, but I figured someone had to be the first to review it!. I ended up picking the Touring edition because I liked the idea of a “full” system.

I do want to add that the majority of my driving so far has been in manual mode + sport mode.

The Install: The build quality and craftsmanship on this exhaust are truly astounding. The attention to detail with aspects like the sleek and classy AWE logoing as well as the perfection of the welds make for a beautiful yet VERY functional addition. I absolutely LOVE the look of the car with the new tips. The entire install took maybe 45 minutes to an hour, start to finish, including putting the car up and letting the stock exhaust cool down.

Everything bolted right up to the factory mounting points, and the hardware provided with the kit was top notch. The instructions were perfect (although the install was pretty straight forward if you have any automotive experience). They even provided a plug (I assume with a resistor in it) to emulate the rear valve from the factory exhaust being plugged in. Kudos to you for that one, AWE.

Stock exhaust

Attachment 539389

AWE bolted up

Attachment 539390

Tips mounted

Attachment 539391

Close up of AWE midsection

Attachment 539392

rear + tips

Attachment 539393

another one (DJ khaled voice)

Attachment 539394

finished product on the ground (ignore the filthy car)

Attachment 539395


The Sound: I’ve really only put about 30-40 miles on it on my way back from the shop, so I don’t want to give any premature feedback on sound just yet. For now, all I can say is wow. This exhaust REALLY woke the macan up. I was a little disappointed when I first got the car based on how quiet the factory exhaust was. The motor sounded like a monster, but there was almost no matching tone coming out the rear. I tried pulling the controller on the rear valve to keep it open all the time, which did add a bit more sound, but it still wasn’t enough for me.

With the AWE, the cold start is unreal and sounds like a caged animal waiting to pounce. I loved the sound of the stock car on cold start, and wished I could amplify that during driving. As everyone knows, once the cats are heated and the car turns off that richer running warm up map, the car quiets down quite a bit. The same is still true, and the car does quiet down substantially with the exhaust after cold start. However, now, the car screams all the way through the power band, and the crackle and pop on decal and downshift is purely intoxicating. To me, this is what the car should have sounded like from the factory. The tone is perfect and definitely sounds “Porsche-esque”. I think it has the perfect mix of sporty and aggressive while still maintaining a balance of classy and elegant.

The exhaust is loud, but not insanely, and definitely quieter than my 335 or M3. The shifts of the PDK sound racecar-ish (in a good way), and I find myself rowing through the gears just to hear them. I’m still messing around with the gearing on the car trying to find where the best/most comfortable place in the RPM range is to cruise in manual mode. For whatever reason, the exhaust seems much more tame/quiet in automatic mode, so it may just be that for aggressive driving, manual mode is optimal, while highway cruising with passengers may be better suited to “automatic” mode. Like I said, I haven’t had a real chance to drive it for a long period of time, so I will come back to this in the future with some videos.

Having a car that matches sound with performance was very important to me. I liked the idea of the PSE or the TechArt valved system, but the price just wasn’t for me. All in all, I’m very happy with the exhaust so far. I think it met all of my requirements, and went above and beyond my expectations. After I have a bit more seat time, I’ll come back and update this post with more long term detail and video.

For now, I’m just going to post a few photos of the install. This is mostly because my car is still not broken in yet (750 miles on the clock) and I want to make sure that when I post videos, they encompass the exhaust through the entire RPM range. I’ll have the gopro setup this week for some cruising/interior cabin clips to demonstrate the sound while cruising.

Drive off:


Cold Start:

 

Just uploaded 5 minutes of new video! Enjoy