The new M Performance exhaust is a tribute to all things ///M and in some ways what it has gotten away from. What do I mean? This new exhaust improves the car in all the ways I imagine the original car should have been equipped from the factory if the engineers did not heed to the Marketing machine or a price point to hit. It is lighter in weight and improves upon the already ferocious sound track the S65 V8 is known for. Read on for the full review.

The M Performance exhaust uses technically advanced Inconel, to decrease the wall thickness of the system by nearly half (from 1.5mm to 0.8mm) without giving up strength or longevity all while decreasing the weight by 20 lbs. That is a significant amount of weight lost for a simple exhaust swap. The bolt on kit uses the factory mounts and requires no modifications to existing hardware all at a price of $4,374 plus installation. After seeing the exhaust in the flesh, this was the same car that was displayed at the 24 hours of Daytona to launch the new line of M Performance parts, I wouldn ‘t be honest if I initially thought it looked impressive.

Having dabbled in welding in my younger years, I wasn ‘t completely sold on the overall visual quality of the handmade German made seems and spots. They looked sloppy and not as good as they could be. I reconsidered my original opinion once I learned more about the metallurgic properties of Inconel (where would I be without the iPhone) and the miniscule thickness of the material into account. I soon realized that actually it was an accomplishment to be able to weld it so effectively. I would be buying the exhaust for the sound and not how it looked from underneath while on a lift, even though the hydro-formed bends and shaping are amazing! In the end the exhaust looks a lot better than I initially gave it credit for and the etched titanium (not blued) tips are fantastic. Unlike the single can look of the stock system there are two interconnected with this upgraded system.

Once fired and up and put through the paces it is obvious to the trained and untrained ear alike that there are several sweet spots throughout the RPM range. Like a nicely aged port it is simply intoxicating, bold yet sophisticated. During my test drive I found myself rolling the windows down to take in the fabulous soundtrack, even with 15 a degree outside temperature and a who knows what wind chill. Anytime there was an overpass, the windows went down and my grin grew. I dreamed of driving through an Alpine tunnel on the Swiss- Italian border though from the crisp breeze in the cabin there was no mistaking New Jersey, it was nice to get away from it all even if just for a few seconds and the sound aloud me to do just that. The windows were back down during deceleration, engine overrun, to hear the burble pop. A kid in the candy store look ensued during each of these encounters. Surely you would think the novelty would wear off when I merged on the highway and the expected drone kicked in; except there was none to be found. A feature that is a key selling point to my ears and one that the M Performance engineers value just as much.

I now have well over 50,000 miles behind the wheel of a V8 Powered ///M3 with the stock exhaust so I consider myself an expert in judging the exhaust note and I ‘d be hard pressed to say there is any difference during standard highway cruising. The M Performance exhaust sounds more aggressive when you want it to, during hard acceleration and high revving situations while being civil enough to not draw attention during normal driving. In short, I wouldn ‘t change a thing; it sounded perfect.

If you are looking for a high tech well balanced exhaust there is little out on the market I would consider before this especially when the competition is significantly more expensive. If loud and obnoxious is what you want, I would suggest looking elsewhere as that is not what the M Performance exhaust is about. Now if only money grew on trees….