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When I bought the car it came already as Stage 2, with Milltek down pipes (2.76") and Valvesonic exhaust. Some relevant details about the Valvesonic system in particular which allows for electronic control of the exhaust valves in order to get differentiated sounds from the system:
'On' / 'Off' button for valve control
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As for the Milltek DP's and catalytic converters, this was a straight pipe system at first, but then had custom high flow cats (200 CPSI) added afterwards. I'm glad for that as I spent a year without cats on the RS4 and eventually couldn't stand the smell anymore. Note the custom cats installed further away from the engine in the pic below.
Custom catalytic converters downstream
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The Sound...
It's a tale of two cities....something like that.
But before getting into the differences you can choose, a note that there is zero drone on this no matter what setting you chose. Or at least, I haven't been able to find any yet. It can be damn loud, but no drone.
With the valves closed, the car is very, very civil driving around town and on modest acceleration. So civil my mother approves even ;) When you get on it a bit more, it does open up some, and at WOT it does make its presence known fairly well. Still, this setting caters to the subtle and discreet, while keeping a very nice tone.
If you stay with the valves 'off' (configured as default on the car, though apparently you can change this via the software), it's somewhere between a big block Chevy on idle / cold start / low throttle, and an unworldly beast under full throttle. ...I thought my RS4 was loud, but I think this one's louder yet. Below are various recordings of valves on/off with microphone inside/outside of car in an effort to give you a great sense of what this system sounds like.
First, startup and idle switching back and forth between open and closed valve settings.
But before getting into the differences you can choose, a note that there is zero drone on this no matter what setting you chose. Or at least, I haven't been able to find any yet. It can be damn loud, but no drone.
With the valves closed, the car is very, very civil driving around town and on modest acceleration. So civil my mother approves even ;) When you get on it a bit more, it does open up some, and at WOT it does make its presence known fairly well. Still, this setting caters to the subtle and discreet, while keeping a very nice tone.
If you stay with the valves 'off' (configured as default on the car, though apparently you can change this via the software), it's somewhere between a big block Chevy on idle / cold start / low throttle, and an unworldly beast under full throttle. ...I thought my RS4 was loud, but I think this one's louder yet. Below are various recordings of valves on/off with microphone inside/outside of car in an effort to give you a great sense of what this system sounds like.
First, startup and idle switching back and forth between open and closed valve settings.
Next, WOT with valves open, with external mic. Watch your speakers ;)
Now, same thing but with valves closed:
Here's one with valves open, driving fairly mellow around town, and with internal mic:
