Newest Addition:
Akrapovic F97 X3M Titanium Slip-On Exhaust + Evolution Link Pipe
What more can I say? It's the full Akrapovic titanium setup (downpipes back). The fitment is perfect and it sounds absolutely amazing. Do I really need to add sound clips? Because to be honest, none of the videos on Youtube do it any justice. It really needs to be experienced in real life to get the full effect.
Ever since I got myself into this platform (took delivery in August 2021), the first thing I knew this car needed was an exhaust. It is just TOO DAMN QUIET out of the factory. There were obviously a few options in the market but I decided to wait for the warmer weather to finally take the dive into investing in one. I really thought long and hard about getting the ER midpipe (my first choice) and an axel back of some sort (either Dinan or Akrapovic), but I hadn't committed to anything at the time.
Thanks to
Pewtinn, timing was perfect and I was able to score his Akrapovic system since he had gotten himself into an F80 LCI (gorgeous car btw) and I was able to pick it up locally. I was so excited to get it installed at the time but life got in the way and I was a bit busy. This past Monday I was finally able to take to the time to get it installed. Special thanks to
MpirePerformance93 for getting me in and busting out the install in an hour.
Now we ran into a small snag when it came to the install (I didn't realize that I had not gotten the springs that are needed for the valve actuators to work), so I had to drive home with the valves fully open the entire time. Blessing in disguise because I found out about a few things that I liked and disliked.
PROS:- The Sound (part one): It's absolutely intoxicating. The low end growl when the valves are open is super deep at low revs. It kind of reminds me of a V8 (though not that deep) but still enough grunt that I havent heard from an I6. I love it. WOT? It screams like an I6 should. No rasp anywhere in the revband whatsoever.
- The Sound (part two): When the valves are closed, this things becomes super quiet... sounds just like OEM. Why is that a PRO? I have a wife and kids. My wife will never put this thing into Sport mode. She'll leave it in Efficient as is and use the car to run her errands for the occasional grocery run. Having the exhaust booming in local streets 24/7 is not necessary. And when doing the school run to pick up/drop off my kids from school or going on long trips for their weekend activities? Having that peace and quiet is a godsend. For the past two days my kid hasn't mentioned a single thing about the exhaust. There was no difference to her which is a huge plus in my book.
- Weight (or lack thereof): I'm a weakling (I have twigs for limbs) and lifting both the midpipe and the axelback was so effortless. It is still mindblowing how light it is compared to the stainless steel exhaust. The beauty of titanium I suppose.
- Fitment: Everything lined up perfectly and the install was super seamless. The precision of which everything was designed is like that of an OEM part or even better.
Now for the
CONS... mind you, this was the first impression I got when I drove home with the valves open the entire time.. and to be honest, it's not really a fault of the exhaust itself.
BEFORE installing the valve actuators (VALVES OPEN): This thing can drone quite a bit at highway cruising speed in top gear... around the 1500-2000 rpm mark. It's not the WORST thing in the world, but the reverberations in the cabin can get old REAL quick. I like to have my cake and eat it too. There's a reason why those valves work when closed because unless you're super young or have no other occupants in the car, that droning can drive you up the wall.
AFTER installing the valve actuators (VALVES OPEN/CLOSED controlled by the car): So I get home and I eventually install the springs/valve actuators when I get my hands on them. Remember how I mentioned that the car gets quiet like stock when the valves close shut? Well the problem is (at least on the Competition models from what I remember reading), the valves are variable, meaning they don't just open and close fully, but they do so partially, letting only a little bit of exhaust gasses out depending on engine mode,speed, load, whatever, etc. Now at WOT, I'm sure the valves will fully open and let the damn thing scream, but around town, I do want the valves to open a little bit more so I can hear the exhaust. I feel like the OEM programming is too aggressive when it comes to keeping the valves partially closed for longer periods of time. I could tell immediately... when the car is in Sport/Sport+ but in Park or Neutral, the valves are opened all the way, so it sounds badass as it should (I guess BMW engineers knew that their doucehebag owners want to show off at a standstill), but the moment the car is in D and any throttle is applied, the valves mostly close muting the majority of the sound. C'mon, I want to be a douchebag as well and be loud when I drive away too. I wish I had a bit more control when it comes to opening/closing the valves when I drive, which is why I'm already in the market of finding an exhaust valve controller. Ugh.
Conclusion: tl;dr
So that's my take on the exhaust. I absolutely LOVE it. What I don't like is the OEM exhaust valve programming. Need valve controller.