Howdy all!

Just read a auto mag long term review recently about an MCS with the dealer installed JCW kit...
They complained long and hard about excessive exhaust noise...

To anyone with this kit installed, can you chime in with your experience???

Too loud?
No problem?
Nice improvement?

Thanks!

 

Most consider that a feature. My MA just took me for a ride in his JCW and kept downshifting to show off the burble
If it's too loud you're too old.

 

Had my kit over a month now and I love it. It is louder, but - duh. The backseat is the worst place to be if you don't like to hear it boom when you get off the gas, but it's still not horrid. Highway cruise is noticeably louder than stock but it doesn't drone and you can still hear the radio and passengers just fine.

In fact last night after I got my weekly dose of V-power (super Tuesday!) I fired up Lewis and the guy walking past totally did a double take. And it wasn't a "supid kids and their stupid loud exhuasts" look, it was a "damn, was that really that little car, that sounded good" look.

 

I love it.. can't really hear it when I drive, mostly because its hot and humid here most of the time so I have the windows shut, AC and stereo on. The whole point of getting a JCW is to get more power, and if you want more power you'll end up with a louder exhaust, otherwise whats the point?

 

Had mine on for about 2 months now and I think the exhaust sound is perfect. By no means loud at cruise speeds but lets you know it is there when you play. The smoothness and added power is well worth the investment!
Only problem is trying to keep your foot out of it...very hard to do!

 

Seriously? Excessive? What did they expect from a tuning kit? A quieter exhaust?

Anyone got a link to this review?

 

It was a year long wrapup, in either Automobile, Car and Driver or Road and Track...I don't remember which, I subscribe to all 3!!!!

 

Did I read that the JCW exhaust that you can add to the MCS sounds louder than the system than comes with the factory JCW?

 

Maybe there is some correlation to age??? Pure conjuecture on my part:
<20 cannot hear anything
20-30 too soft
30-40 about right
40-50 a little loud
50-60 too loud
>60 cannot hear anything

 

Well, I'm 27 and I think it's just right. Plust I'm a chick and I love the shiny tips.

 

The Stage 1 JCW kit is so quiet you'd have to come from a pampered SUV lifestyel to even notice it, let alone complain about it. For a performance kit it's very quiet (European builds are louder & have some burble/pop).
The Stage 2 (factory) JCW kit makes a lot more noise, but it's pure magic to any auto enthusiast.

Most of the noise inside the MCS/JCW comes from the standard runflat tires, a rigid chassis, and a cavernous hatchback shape.

which brings us back to
Rule #1; NEVER believe anything you read in the magazines

 

hee hee hee good one miss L

can hardly wait to get my 09's shiny tips now that the kit is out...

 

Your car's name isn't Albert, is it?

 

Nope, Lewis. Because he's cute, English, and really fast.

 

I've heard it said before that Englishmen are rather fast...

"As I went home on Sunday night as drunk as drunk could be
I saw a lad sneaking out the back, a quarter after three.
Well, I called me wife and I said to her: Will you kindly tell to me
Who was that lad sneaking out the back a quarter after three?

"Ah, you're drunk, you're drunk you silly old fool,
So drunk you can not see
That was just the tax man that the Queen she sent to me.
Well, it's many a day I've travelled a hundred miles or more
But an Englishman who can last till three I've never seen before!"

-- Irish drinking song

 

I'll admit the JCW Stage 1 exhaust is generally awesome. The tonal quality is very nice inside and fantastic outside. Most of the time, it's barely louder than stock. The significant redeeming quality is you can subtley hear the wonderful dual-scroll turbo exhaust note. Hovering about 3k RPM however, it seems to have a resonant peak in volume. It's uncharacteristically peaky for an OEM piece, especially considering how unilaterally silent the stock exhaust is and how minimally different the basic exterior design of the JCW exhaust is to stock.

All that said, you don't buy the JCW Tuning kit to make the car quiet or flaccid, so I can't complain because it does add significant character to the car.


---> n1tr0: The vast majority of current new cars are painfully quiet inside the cabin, so I can understand how a mainstream auto mag would get whiny when they're hopping from their Accord Hybrid to Lexus RX350 to the MINI. The MINI is relatively loud with the JCW Tuning Kit, however as you said, it's not loud per se in the context of a performance-minded enthusiast. It's probably safe to deduce the auto mag's whine is strictly relative to a bored soccer mom's comment in comparison to her Navigator L.

 

agreed !
...but anyone concerned about the noise needs to go listen/drive one for themselves, the magazines get their facts wrong all the time, colors are completely different from the configurator, and so on...