Hey everybody,

I am interested in a Borla cat back system for my 2006 R53. I have been contemplating it since I bought my Mini back in 2009, just out of fondness for the Borla on other vehicles and love the tone and performance.

The main issue: There are two available from them!

They have the regular one (aka touring/street) and the aggressive one (aka race) available for it. I have called Borla about the differences, and they said they both are made the same, same power increase, same weight. The only difference is the sound for them, which I could not get a description to my liking for. I have searched every where I can for good clips for sound, but they are all blah...
I have checked if any of my local Mini owners have the system, to no luck for the forum post. I have checked out the links on this forum for the exhaust sounds for all the systems, the one for the 'race' one is poorly done and I can not get a good feel for the sound.
The Borla tech informed me that it is going to be louder in the cabin with the aggressive style (kind of leaning towards it) but I want to know how loud it is.
I would appreciate new sound clips for a Borla system, which ever one, for a R53, preferably inside and outside the cabin. If you have either of the systems, and are willing to upload some clips for me and others to check out, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you.

 

Nobody has a Borla exhaust to help me out with this?

Mainly interested for the in cabin sound level. I would greatly appreciate information. All the videos I find for the R53 do not state which system it is, and only finding two that are good quality.

 

*bump*

 

Hey there, I have a Borla catback although it's on a R50. I have the "street" version. It's got a nice tone, deep and mellow without being too "tinny" or "ricey" even at WOT. It's not obnoxiously loud but you can definitely hear it coming. I understand the "race" is louder. I'd go for the street version on the street car.

Here's mine, it's hard to get a good representation from a camera mic though.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VK9rCmPb2-U

 

Much appreciated! I did see that one, and it is a lot better than most I have found. You can hear it at idle, which is a factor I like to consider instead of just revving the engine. All the ones I am finding are outside the cabin, mainly trying to find audio for inside the cabin for both styles. Wish there was only one choice for the R53 like the R50, would make things easier in choosing.

Thank you for looking out!

 

I've found a few great deals out there for a Race version as well... never followed through because I'd like to keep the car fairly civil. I know that the street has a GORGEOUS sound, but havent found any great clips of the race for comparison. Gonna follow your thread in hopes of a good response from someone who doesn't necessarily equate louder with better.

 

I have the race version but no sound clips. There are tons on Youtube though. I love mine.

 

I have looked at pretty much all of them, but I can not get a good feel for the sound. Outside the car, the race/aggressive one sounds like it is a little harsher on this one R53 one I found (but I don't think the guy know what he is doing)

I have mailed Borla with a proposition to perhaps donate both so quality demos of each can be done, inside and outside the cabin. Also, dyno runs with both to see the gain/loss. Hopefully they go for it, figure it will help them make more revenue if people had better resources to help them decide. I am willing to pay for the dyno runs and the multimedia if they can donate them. I think it will help out their marketing, I hope they think so also.

Being as my car is stock for the engine (warranty, don't want to void you know) for the moment, I think it would be great to see the dyno results without any pulley upgrades or header upgrades. Would be more accurate I believe.

 

I had the Borla Sport/Race on my 2003 MCS. I do not have a good sound clip.
The Borla sound at WOT is beautiful inside and out. It is louder than JCW, Milltek, or Stratmosphere but not too loud. However, it does drone in the cabin at highway speeds in 6th when you put a little load on the engine such as going up a hill. I would sometimes downshift to 5th to get the RPMs up and eliminiate the drone during those times. You do have to talk over the exhaust a little when driving on the highway but it is not too bad. It is worth the trade-off when you zipping around and the exhaust sounds so nice.

I now have a 2006 MCS GP with no back seat and no rear insulation. When I installed the Borla Sport/Race on that car it was a little too loud for highway cruising. So I sold the Borla and went with Milltek. The Milltek is not as sweet sounding as the Borla but it does not drone on the highway.

 

Thank you quikmni! Detailed, appreciate it.

 

I run my Borla race with a JCW center pipe, no cat, and Mynes v2 header. One word for this exhaust setup is loud. But the JCW resonator kills the drone!

 

Power gain?

 

no idea

 

Many years ago a talked with George at Mini Madness (now Madness Motorworks) about adding a header and the sound increase. He suggested a Borla Street when using a header instead of the Borla Sport to keep the sound to a nice level.
So if you are thinking of adding a header at some point you might want to use a little quieter cat-back exhaust such as the Borla Street, Milltek, or Stratmosphere.

I do not think you gain much HP with a header without other engine mods, such as a ported cylinder head. But maybe others have a dyno run with just a header swap.

 

Sound advice (ha ha, that was a joke ).
No header yet, looking at one without a cat and will have to modify the sensor so that SES light does not come on. Guess I got to think to the future though, but how loud is still there cause none are going to be exactly the same.

 

*bump*

 

*bump*

 

Only 3 people who have had or have a Borla exhaust on their Mini on this whole site?

3 out of 325 who have looked at the thread?

I really appreciate every one's input who posted already. Thanks again!
Hopefully some other people will some info.

 

*bump*

 

Sorry, going to keep doing this. I know there should be more than 3 people who have a Borla that can leave their input.

*BUMP*

 

I have a 2006 R53 with an Alta header, Borla street version w/o resonator and it does crackel and pop when letting off the gas, but no highway drone! My Borla was actually for an earlier model and the installer simply had to remove and relocate the hangers on the mufflers. Someone had one for sale here not too long ago. You can not go wrong with a Borla (either one).
Just get one and if your not happy with it after a while sell it here!

 

I've had the Borla street and the race and I really liked the race system the best, even better than what I presently have . I could only find two short clips and they were both on track so what you hear is quite high in the RPM range but its better than nothing

Randy
M7 Tuning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUYtF_iH-Ig

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKdTg8ahCic

 

Thank you! Pretty decent sound quality for what it was, no matter how short it was. Were they the same system for each video?

 

Yes it was , the Borla race . When I added the rear diffusers to my car I had to build a straight thru system and take off the Borla. I really hated to do that as I loved the way it sounded .

Randy

 

OP...

You're kidding right? Stop bumping the thread and just do a YouTube search. 30 seconds and I found 5 videos already.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKMka0DAff4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrqKDz09S_I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHiCwlOjAW0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_44nGnjplQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwdSOpu0fLk