Ok, I have been driving around with R-speed's prototype exhaust on my 02 MCS. I am very very happy with it. It has the right sound, not too ricer, very british. I know sound is subjective, but it is deep enough for me to love it. For those that are fans of the "burbble" this one is great. Let of the throttle from 3k rpm, and burble all the way down. The features I kept waiting for in an exhaust were the flanged, gasketed connectors and a true motorcycle header style y-pipe. I got both with this install. The only down side is that this is a prototype so the rear tips are just a bit out of alignment (worked on it this weekend and it looks fine to me). The fit and finish are ludicrous. Great welds, and it generally looks shinier than my car. Personally, I dont care what an exhaust looks like as long as the material are good and the welds are right, but this thing is beautiful. Anyway here are the pics:



As I said, welds and the y-pipe are the key features. As a special note, the exhaust is almost 2 months old when these photo's were taken

I suck at posting pics, lets see if it works this time.

uber

 

Sounds promising. BTW, your pics don't show up for me.

 

>>Sounds promising. BTW, your pics don't show up for me.

They weren't there for me either but I right-clicked and "view image" and it showed up. They're there, you just need to coax them out of hiding.

 

Looks good. How do you compare the sound to others on the market? Any release date on it?

 

Appears to be offset to the right?

 

Looking good. How's the sound inside the cabin? any drone? expected price and release date?

 

This prototype does dirft to the right (passenger side), I played with the hangers this weekend and it is quite close to center. Given that the box it was shipped in appeared to have been dragged the last 100 miles, it survived remarkably intake. No drone just a steady increase in noise. This is where I actually envy andy@ross, I wish I could measure dB vs RPM. 3000 rpm on the highway is great you can hear the exhaust but there is no drone. I had a custom exhaust on my old volvo, that baby droned.

 

Looks good - I too would like to know the estimated release date & price.

 

>>This is where I actually envy andy@ross<<

The rest of us just walk two steps behind in deference to his greatness.

 

pics go bye-bye...

I would like to see this new exhaust alternative. Are there torque and HP numbers yet?

 

ok, yahoo wasn't playing well with other,
now the pics are on photothu.com

time will tell how long they last

 

Does anybody know how to find a shop that will do performance tuning and MODs for Mini's in San Diego?

 

FYI...

I just got off the phone with Rspeed and they are expecting to have these in stock (with the fitment corrected!) by the end of next month for aprox $595.

In addition, they have another MCS exhaust coming in from Germany in 3 weeks made by the same people that make their Cooper exhaust. This one will sell for aprox $695. Rspeed is going to send me pictures when they become available, so I'll post them here when they arrive.