I just took delivery of my 2002 ES last night. While I'm not revving it high for some time until it's broken in, I can see that while the engine has some nice sounds, the exhaust is very lacking. I want to change it but I do NOT want anything that will make it sound like a buzzing hornet. I am looking for something a little louder and lower in tone than the stock unit. Something that won't make my head ring driving to work, but will have a sound close to my 944. A lower deep tone.

The dealer will give me a very good price on the Sport Exhaust they sell, but I want to hear one before buying it. So, has anyone out there heard one or know if it's what I'm looking for or have any suggestions?

None of these things will give great performance gains, so hp is not my concern, the sound is, of course I don't want to lose hp either.

I believe that the Sport Exhaust is nothing more than the MP3 exhaust, so if that's the case, MP3 owners could just let me know what their's sounds likle compared to the stock Protege.


Thanks,

Ron B.

 

1 Word : A'PEXi

 

What does A'PEXi mean?

 

They are a manufacturer of exhaust systems. My problem with them is that they sound VERY "Uncle Ben's" if you know what I mean on other makes, such as Honda's. I've never heard one on a Mazda but I can't believe one 16 valve engine would sound substantially different than another.

 

I have an A'pexi Dunk muffler on my car with custom piping it soudns great I think nice deep throaty tone not so much like a pissed off bubble bee like some i have heard. I have been very pleased with mine so far. I have a resonator installed too though to cut sound down a little. Once the turbo goes on in a couple weeks the resonator will be dumped and 2.5" Piping all the way back. So we will see how it sounds then as a turbo is a natural muffler anyways.

 

I am also running a Dunk but the 60mm instead of 80mm, I have no intension of putting a turbo on unless someone gives me ONE. Hint Hint, Ha HA HA just joking.

 

The MP3 exhaust is very nice and not too loud or buzzy. It's deep and throaty without being overwhelming. It is made by Racing Beat and I think you can buy it from Mazda. The MP3 exhaust actually has the Racing beat logo stamped on it.

 

how hard is it to install???does it change emmissions??

 

I just picked mine up 2 days ago and agree with the previous post-not too loud or buzzy. A little bit deeper of a growl thats not very noticable in the car until you get up to higher RPMs, then you can tell you have it on but its still not annoying. No need to turn up the stereo volume. It is very easy to install since there is a flange just ahead of the factory muffler that you can unbolt and then just bolt in the new one. Since this isn't a full cat back system don't expect huge horsepower gains but it does seem to have helped a bit.

 

Would you mind letting me know if you ordered this from the dealer and what you paid? This sport exhaust seems to be what I will be getting and I'm curious as to whether the dealer worked with you at all on the price considering that you just spent over 16k for the car. I would like to think that the dealership would recall the recent purchase and do right by you.

Thanks,

Ron Brooks

 

I paid $215 for the exhaust which is an OK price, but I wasn't expecting much of a deal since I got a great price on the car. Hey even car dealers have to make money somehow, since they certainly didn't make much off the car. I called a few other dealers and the price was about the same everywhere I called so I bought it at the same place I got the car.