2015 IS 350 f sport; been driving for a few months and not impressed with the stock exhaust sound. Found it really muted and not inspiring at all, almost at the same level as a camry or corolla to me. I have had much lower hp German brands and was happy with their exhaust note. I'm not looking for anything obnoxiously loud, but a bit more throaty with a deeper tone would be good. I'm not looking to spend too much either as this is a lease. From my research it looks like I could get a muffler delete, or used exhaust system but still there would be a huge price diff between the two. Is it worth it to get the exhaust system versus just the muffler delete? Any diff in terms of sound or performance? Much appreciated.

 

Not sure about Canada, but in Texas a muffler delete won't (or shouldn't) pass inspection because there must be a muffler present of some kind. Might be something to look into. An axle-back exhaust will add a different note but not too loud. Neither will add power as that happens further up the pipes. There are many threads comparing different exhausts with sound clips and prices so a little searching should get you what you're looking for! Hope this helps!

 

Another budget option seems to be replacing the stock muffler to a performance muffler like the magna flow brand, if sound is the only concern while the maintaining the same performance. While there are tons of threads on exhaust systems in axle-back or cat-back, there aren't much discussions on muffler, I wonder why...

 

This is an option too, changing the muffler requires cutting and welding though versus a bolt on system that can be easily reverted back to stock if wanted. If you go with mufflers let us know how it goes!

 

It's all personal preference but I prefer the muffler delete. Not because it's cheaper than most aftermarket axlebacks but because IMO it sounds the best. It has a nice clean sound and tone. I could have purchased any exhaust system that I wanted (axleback, catback, headers, etc) but I chose to build a bolt on custom axleback (muffler delete).

If you have a lease, building a custom bolt-on muffler delete axleback is a great option.

My car:

An IS30:

 

That does sound pretty good but i just think it looks weird without actual mufflers at the back end.

 

muffler delete is cheap/quick and sounds good but the drone from daily driving when not WOT is annoying as hell....if it was that easy all those companies selling exhausts would go bankrupt

 

Interesting, my car doesn't have any drone. This is a muffler delete, not straight pipes. This car still has 4 cats and 2 resonators to keep it under control.

 

Weld in a resonator like in the photo below (taken off of google). You'll need to take measurements (drone freq, pipe dimension, etc) but your drone will be gone if done correctly. You would only need one attached to the midpipe.