Q300 vs r400

[charlie_ching]

Hey guys, new here. And this has probably been asked a million times. But I recently purchased my levorg, fa20. And was looking to put a q300 and a cold intake with a tune to match. Just to get some good sound etc.

Now the mechanic/tuner advised not to do the cold intake as he reckons it can cause more dramas than anything on these engines. Which I was fine with. But I'm not a little unsure on which exhaust to go. He said most people that have the q300 are not happy with the sound/volume. Would love to here what your guys experiences have been. I park my car underground, and I leave for work at a ridiculous time each morning. So I don't want something that's going to wake everyone on the ground floor everyday.

Cheers

 

[Guvna]

I have the Q300 (about 4or 5 years now) and am very happy with it. I personally have not heard of this 'most people are not happy with Q300' before. I do however agree with his CAI comments. I would suggest that anyone who is NOT happy with Q300's would only be people who are chasing a much louder sound, as the Q300 isn't terribly loud, which to me is a positive not a negative. It also doesn't drone at all which is good. Bare in mind though, that even the quietest after market exhaust, on cold start up in an underground garage, will be considerably louder than the stock noise levels. It will be heard AND felt.
Varex have mufflers that suit our cars, they have an electronic butterfly valve that allows you to deliver almost stock noise when closed, and louder than Q300 noise when open. I can't attest to the sound quality and drone levels of these mufflers as I have no experience with them, but the idea would suit your situation. You can even program geofence areas into them where it will automatically open/close the valves when you enter certain predetermined GPS areas. They are very expensive too.
As a general rule, the bigger the muffler size, the quieter and deeper the sound should be. Q300 are pretty much stock size so aren't too loud, where as a thin round barrel muffler will be a lot louder and farty, a large barrel muffler will be loud and deeper, not so farty in sound.
I wouldn't want to have stock mufflers on mine since experiencing the Q300, it's a lot more fun to hear the car responding to your inputs with something other than engine noise. Hope this helps.

 

[charlie_ching]

Thanks so much, this really has helped me. Put my mind at ease a bit ha. I'm now thinking if it's worth adding a downpipe aswell.

 

[Guvna]

Down pipe will increase the volume more again and will also require an ECU retune to work.

 

[geeman]

My exhaust is mix and match by that I mean I have an aftermarket J-pipe then a standard mid section then out to ganador mufflers on the back and its pretty quiet, + I have CAI, plumbed back BOV and a tune to boot. Don't want to do anymore than that otherwise gearbox won't be very happy!!
If you want loud/throaty exhaust you can buy my tomei expreme lol!

 

[charlie_ching]

Haha I'll definitely stay away from the tomei expreme. But thanks.
It's so annoying, I've tried to watch/listen to a lot of videos with the q300 and the r400 ( both just cat back), some videos the q300 doesn't sound like anything, while others it sounds good. And then the same for the r400. Some videos it sounds like a good volume, but others it sounds ridiculous. If the invidia catted down pipe adds a little extra noise, I'll probably go for that.
I had a wrx hatch, ej25 with a q300 turbo back plus headers. Which sounded nice, might've been a little on the louder side but not over the top. But that's obviously a different engine and had unequal headers.
I guess I'm just worried that if I get it all installed, I'd be frustrated if it didn't make much difference in sound.
Whose near by that can show me in person? Haha

 

[Guvna]

Haha I'll definitely stay away from the tomei expreme. But thanks.
It's so annoying, I've tried to watch/listen to a lot of videos with the q300 and the r400 ( both just cat back), some videos the q300 doesn't sound like anything, while others it sounds good. And then the same for the r400. Some videos it sounds like a good volume, but others it sounds ridiculous. If the invidia catted down pipe adds a little extra noise, I'll probably go for that.
I had a wrx hatch, ej25 with a q300 turbo back plus headers. Which sounded nice, might've been a little on the louder side but not over the top. But that's obviously a different engine and had unequal headers.
I guess I'm just worried that if I get it all installed, I'd be frustrated if it didn't make much difference in sound.
Whose near by that can show me in person? Haha

Where you at?

 

[charlie_ching]

Gold coast haha

 

[Guvna]

She's a fair drive down to Melbourne then lol

 

[charlie_ching]

It's worth it though ha

 

[Guvna]

It is a nice drive, come down and test out your wipers lmao

 

[charlie_ching]

Haha

I'm gonna go q300 turbo back. And go from there

 

[Guvna]

Haha

I'm gonna go q300 turbo back. And go from there

Just making sure you are aware that you will require an ecu re-tune for a TBE? Catback doesn't require one but Turbo back does

 

[charlie_ching]

Yea, planning on the tune. might aswell get a bit more out of it if I'm playing around with it

 

[charlie_ching]

Forgot to update. Had the q300 cat back installed. Happy with it. And after talking with the tuner, even though they normally don't recommend installing the J pipe when running the cvt, he said my transmission was one of the smoothest cvt's he's worked with and said if I wanted he said going for the J pipe could be the go if I wanted a bit more noise.