Z1 touring catback is underwhelming/almost stock sound

[Arashi_z_]

An honest review Z1 touring cat back exhaust-Underwhelming/Gentleman’s exhaust

Quality and fitment 10/10
Impressive how tucked and close this is to keep it from having issues on a lowered car. No issue with vibrations or trying to fit it above the W brace.

Installation EASY (1 person, 2 hours)
A breeze if you know how to use a couple tools and jack a car up. I think I used 15,16 and 17mm sockets and the exhaust mount pressing tool for hangers.

Sound 2/10 (IT’S NOT BAD)
So, the reason for the 2 is because there’s barely any additional sound from this. You can listen to the video. I drove the car for 30 minutes with freeway and city driving-the only sound is when you’re going up through gears until 2500rpm then there’s nothing. The sound between 1k-2500 is minimal, maybe a decimal or two louder than the stock manual exhaust. Almost a deep hum that wants to let you know you’re in gear and nothing more. Underwhelming if you’re seeking some exhaust notes. On the freeway, you don’t hear anything at all-which I find is great for long distance/daily freeway drivers.

Performance idk ??‍
I’m sure the wider piping will help with performance after tuning, but I’m not an expert here.

Overall
It’s a beautiful work of art that has potential to give increased power without waking up the Karen’s in your neighborhood or notifying cops that you’re doing freeway pulls. I’d call this a gentleman’s exhaust, more for the mature vq owners not looking for attention at every gas station and car meet. If you’re looking to hear turbos and or more than the wind coming in the window-this ain’t it bois.

 

[SavedByFaith_]

In my opinion (not having heard any Z exhaust sound in real life, waiting on my car to be picked up in two weeks. But watching every review our there, especially ones with mods done on the exhaust)

The downpipes are the bottleneck (I'd argue full, both the upper and lower)
Without changing the downpipes, many exhaust are not going to "dramatically" change the exhaust notes.

I have the full MAP downpipes and catback exhaust ready to install when I get my car and will gladly report the difference

 

[Arashi_z_]

The manual is especially quiet. I’d bet the auto stock exhaust is louder than the z1. I tried uploading but can’t(30 seconds is too long?). Z1 uses a video to sell this exhaust that they confirmed had other mods…sales tactics man. I’m installing lower ldp this weekend hoping for a difference but I’ve heard it’s not much.

map sounds louder, but I wasn’t sure of the tone being great. Videos are tough to go off of. Let us know!

 

[Donalex]

No wonder they call it Touring...

 

[Mud]

I’d call this a gentleman’s exhaust, more for the mature vq owners not looking for attention at every gas station and car meet.

Do you mean VR owners? ?

 

[BurninateZ]

Sound 2/10 (IT’S NOT BAD)
So, the reason for the 2 is because there’s barely any additional sound from this. You can listen to the video. I drove the car for 30 minutes with freeway and city driving-the only sound is when you’re going up through gears until 2500rpm then there’s nothing. The sound between 1k-2500 is minimal, maybe a decimal or two louder than the stock manual exhaust. Almost a deep hum that wants to let you know you’re in gear and nothing more. Underwhelming if you’re seeking some exhaust notes. On the freeway, you don’t hear anything at all-which I find is great for long distance/daily freeway drivers.

Why Nissan made it so hard to get some character out of the Z exhaust system I don't know. As all the YT videos show, the VR30 can sound great, but it seems like more work than it should be to get there.

 

[Turboad]

have the same exhaust with ams catted downpipes. Sounds really good, big improvement over stock but very driveable and liveable on the street / highway.

 

[takemorepills]

Do you mean VR owners? ?

To get more Z's shipped, Nissan made a few with leftover VQs.

 

[MHockey17]

Why Nissan made it so hard to get some character out of the Z exhaust system I don't know. As all the YT videos show, the VR30 can sound great, but it seems like more work than it should be to get there.

Besides the fact that twin turbo motors are inherently “muffled”, I think a big reason the VR30 is muted is due to the cylinder head design which integrates the exhaust manifold (AKA “headifold”), allowing the turbo to bolt directly to the head.

Supposedly a good design for thermal efficiency and exhaust flow, but eliminates the option to run equal length headers that make for a nice exhaust note

 

[Todd marks]

How is this exhaust in comparison to the hks one? Both sound great from the clips posted on YT.

 

[AlfredoGonzalez]

Hello, I have an auto Z with the Z1 touring exhaust, nothing else. Youre correct, the exhuast sounds nice and aggressive from 1-3k rpm ish, but the difference is its quiet loud inside and outside when say trying to overtake or giving it a bit of gas. The thing is the exhuast kinda dies out after 3k and the stock exhaust 'vacuum' tone kicks in. But judging from your description of sound, especially on the freeway, Id assume the auto is louder than the manual. I think im gonna keep my car the way it is for a couple months and maybe install dps later.

 

[Jah_Happy]

Hello, I have an auto Z with the Z1 touring exhaust, nothing else. Youre correct, the exhuast sounds nice and aggressive from 1-3k rpm ish, but the difference is its quiet loud inside and outside when say trying to overtake or giving it a bit of gas. The thing is the exhuast kinda dies out after 3k and the stock exhaust 'vacuum' tone kicks in. But judging from your description of sound, especially on the freeway, Id assume the auto is louder than the manual. I think im gonna keep my car the way it is for a couple months and maybe install dps later.

Downpipes are really what wakes these cars up. Also going to a larger 3" exhaust will be louder as well (few options out there). Once you have those the Z will scream. Mine is super loud lol.

 

[AlanZ]

Hello, I have an auto Z with the Z1 touring exhaust, nothing else. Youre correct, the exhuast sounds nice and aggressive from 1-3k rpm ish, but the difference is its quiet loud inside and outside when say trying to overtake or giving it a bit of gas. The thing is the exhuast kinda dies out after 3k and the stock exhaust 'vacuum' tone kicks in. But judging from your description of sound, especially on the freeway, Id assume the auto is louder than the manual. I think im gonna keep my car the way it is for a couple months and maybe install dps later.

Can you post a video?

 

[shimsterxd]

An honest review Z1 touring cat back exhaust-Underwhelming/Gentleman’s exhaust

Quality and fitment 10/10
Impressive how tucked and close this is to keep it from having issues on a lowered car. No issue with vibrations or trying to fit it above the W brace.

Installation EASY (1 person, 2 hours)
A breeze if you know how to use a couple tools and jack a car up. I think I used 15,16 and 17mm sockets and the exhaust mount pressing tool for hangers.

Sound 2/10 (IT’S NOT BAD)
So, the reason for the 2 is because there’s barely any additional sound from this. You can listen to the video. I drove the car for 30 minutes with freeway and city driving-the only sound is when you’re going up through gears until 2500rpm then there’s nothing. The sound between 1k-2500 is minimal, maybe a decimal or two louder than the stock manual exhaust. Almost a deep hum that wants to let you know you’re in gear and nothing more. Underwhelming if you’re seeking some exhaust notes. On the freeway, you don’t hear anything at all-which I find is great for long distance/daily freeway drivers.

Performance idk ??‍
I’m sure the wider piping will help with performance after tuning, but I’m not an expert here.

Overall
It’s a beautiful work of art that has potential to give increased power without waking up the Karen’s in your neighborhood or notifying cops that you’re doing freeway pulls. I’d call this a gentleman’s exhaust, more for the mature vq owners not looking for attention at every gas station and car meet. If you’re looking to hear turbos and or more than the wind coming in the window-this ain’t it bois.

Does the AWE affect the sound in the cabin? I notice a lot of brands use the sport 6 speed for there demo videos because it doesn't have AWE

 

[GCZ]

I’d call this a gentleman’s exhaust, more for the mature vq owners not looking for attention at every gas station and car meet.

This is a large part of why I love the car.

I'm 50 now and get plenty of looks because the car is relatively rare and looks incredible.... not because the majority of the general public thinks my exhaust is obnoxious and annoying. I had dozens of modified cars in my younger days. STI, R32, CRX, S2000...

My last car was a tuned RS3 which had plenty of volume. While I'd take that mini V10 5 cylinder sound over most V8 noises all day every day, it's much nicer not to wake the family and neighbors when I start the car at 4am to head to the airport which is a regular thing for work.