Quote (Andrewmhs @ Jun 18 2015 09:11pm)
It's going to be hard to compare to a 2015 wrx though obviously, since they have ELH. Any 11-15 STi or 11-14 wrx will give ya the same sound (for the most part).
Again, with the way you're describing your use, I'd recommend the Q300. Deep rumble, very minimal highway drone in the front seats / slight highway drone in the back seats, and when you want people to know you're packing a punch- it'll get the job done.
If you want a whole new car experience, get a catless downpipe, the Q300, and an accessport. The OTS maps will do just fine for a few months, but you'd obviously want a protune done within a reasonable time limit.
Yeah I've been looking at exhausts like crazy...literally that's all I want, like every other subibro. Not really interested in going stage 2 until the warranty is up, I've heard enough horror stories about spun bearings, and while it's usually a bad tune, neglect, or just flat-out driver error it still happens quite a bit from what I've seen. Plus there's already a few reports of 15's blowing up stock. I think a majority of the issues involving spun bearings are usually due to stupidity that people aren't willing to admit.
Anyways I really want an exhaust with mufflers because I simply like the look over the canisters with tips welded on which eliminates a lot of systems. They all seem to be rumbly but aesthetically most are kinda lame. I really liked the Magnaflow 15472 3" Sport system, and it's cheap...all exhausts are stainless steel pipes essentially. But I heard a lot of people complaining that it's loud as shit and drones terribly; it has no resonator. So more or less right now I think I have it narrowed down to the Q300 or ARK GRiP, admittedly the ark system is a lot more but supposedly it has zero drone, and the sound clips I've heard are nice.
Any recommendations in terms of maintenance? I wanted to keep it dealer maintained for the sake of less warranty hassle but I figured the catback kinda makes that a moot point now; that being said I'll probably just change my own oil every 3k with rotella t6 like everyone else, and I'll probably change all drivetrain fluids to either Subaru S fluid or Redline. I'm going to leave the factory fill in until 3k since that has a lot of additives in it for break-in. A lot of people are jumping the gun and changing their oil after 1k, I don't think that's necessary at all nor do I think it's that great of an idea because it has all of those additives.